PJ Participates in JDAIM 2016

Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month (JDAIM) is a unified effort among Jewish organizations worldwide to raise awareness and foster inclusion of people with disabilities and those who love them. Established in 2009 by the Jewish Special Education International Consortium, JDAIM is observed each February.

A major champion for Jewish Disability Awareness Month is Shelly Christensen, author of the Jewish Community Guide to Inclusion of People with Disabilities, founder and executive director of innovations at Inclusion Innovations, and co-founder of the Jewish Leadership Institute on Disabilities and Inclusion.

“Everyone has gifts to share as well as needs for comfort and community,” Christensen says. “Inclusion is the opportunity for every person to participate in meaningful ways in the life of the Jewish community. How do we know what is meaningful and important to another person? We open our doors, we ask, listen and we take the journey together.”

• Follow JDAIM on Facebook

 
JDAIM READS 2016
This year, PJ Library joins numerous other Jewish organizations in actively supporting JDAIM by participating in the JDAIM Reads program. We have partnered with the Jewish Special Education International Consortium to develop and promote disability awareness programming for families, developed around the PJ Library selection The Mitten String.  

The Mitten String Author:  Jennifer Rosen Illustrator:  Kristina Swarner When her family invites a deaf woman and her baby to stay, Ruthie, a talented knitter of mittens, wonders how the mother will know if her child wakes in the night. The surprising answer inspires Ruthie to knit a special gift that offers great comfort to mother and baby—and to Ruthie herself.

 
In addition, JDAIM Reads features two memoirs for adult audiences:

• Uniquely Human: A Different Way of Seeing Autismby Barry Prizant, PhD
  Filled with humanity and wisdom, this book offers a compassionate and insightful perspective that portrays autism not as a tragic disability, but as a unique way of being human.
• Following Ezra: What One Father Learned About Gumby, Otters, Autism, and Love From His Extraordinary Son, by Tom Fields-Meyer
  This memoir chronicles a family learning to adapt to the unexpected challenges and gifts of raising a child with a disability.

 

SPECIAL NEEDS ENROLLMENT
If you have or know of a child with any special learning needs who is older than the oldest age group of their PJ Library community, but who may nevertheless benefit from the PJ Library materials offered, please contact your local PJ Community Program Professional. We welcome the child's enrollment in any age group deemed appropriate.

• Learn More about PJ Library Enrollment »

 

January 21, 2016