THIS YEAR MARKS the seventh Jewish Disability Awareness Month (JDAM), an initiative that is supported by Jewish special educators and others across the Jewish community, including the Jewish Federations of North America.
A major champion for Jewish Disability Awareness Month has been 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.
“Jewish Disability Awareness Month helps us focus on including people with disabilities in all aspects of Jewish life, from the very youngest to the very oldest,” Christensen says. It reminds us that each Jewish person has a place in the community to learn, to pray, to contribute and to participate as they choose.”
JDAM READS 2015
This year, PJ Library joins Shelly Christensen in actively supporting JDAM by participating in the JDAM 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 Stork’s Landing.
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Stork’s Landing
Author: Tami Lehman-Wilzig
Illustrator: Anna Shuttlewood
Israel has one of the largest populations of migrating birds — in this story, one of them gets stuck in a net in the fish ponds on Maya’s kibbutz and can no longer fly. Maya names the stork who is hurt “Yaffa,” and she and her dad figure out a way to first save Yaffa and then to make the accommodations that Yaffa needs to be part of a stork family. Maya embodies the value of kindness as she learns how to help this beautiful creature find a place in her community. |
For middle and high school students, the selection is:
- Wonder by RJ Palacio
This New York Times bestseller tells the story of August, a 10-year-old with a physical disability, as he transitions from the nest of home schooling to the wilds of middle school.
In addition, JDAM Reads features two memoirs for adult audiences:
Last years’ PJ Library book selection was Cakes and Miracles: A Purim Tale.
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.
February 9, 2015