#disbled

but then, i was disappointed with the end of the sermon. after all this talk about fostering welcoming environments and reaching out to do the work to make people feel part of the community, they took an ableist turn. they said that there’s a magic to being together in person that cannot be replaced by screens and that if you can’t make it that’s fine, But that’s not where the magic of connection happens.

i was glad to see *some* people masked in the livestream, but is that where the work of being welcoming ends? why would someone so focused on discussing community and how the shul could be better about it turn around and be so cold to disabled, chronically ill, and immunocompromised people who cannot be “in the magic”? can you even call it magic at that point? the magic of connection, in religious and secular environments, cannot fully exist until everyone is included in that definition. if people joining through zoom aren’t experiencing the full impact, why is that? how can you incorporate that into your overall goal of being welcome? why is this concept of magic so limited in scope? how can we collectively push past abelist ideas of what creates a spiritual space and connection?

most people live by these abelist ideas that make full accessibility seem like “too much work” or “ruining the spirit of togetherness” (think: companies wanting employees in office for “morale” when there’s a pandemic). i wish these self-proclaimed progressive people and spaces would stop and consider how much magic they’re lacking by not opening their minds and expanding their idea of what community looks like. how much more liberating, caring, and compassionate torah could exist if we abided by our alleged morals. how can someone invoke the act of sarah and abraham stopping their dinner prayers to let someone they didn’t know join them for dinner because they were hungry, when they themselves turn away those who don’t show up in a way ideal to them? are you as righteous and kind as sarah and abraham if your disabled congregants aren’t Able to be present at your dinner table? hungry for connection, exhausted from living in a world made without them in mind, looking for a spiritual home to feel seen and included in everything they are embodying? absolutely not. you’re not even close to the basic act of human dignity the ancestors showed to their guest.

TERRIBLE: Thalidomide Survivors Say They Were ‘Insulted’ By Kent Hehr During Meeting

In a press conference, Thalidomide survivors detailed disrespectful comments they say were made by Trudeau government Disabilities Minister Kent Hehr during a face-to-face meeting. Here were some of the comments the survivors say Hehr made: ‘You don’t have it as bad today as adults as you did when you were kids.’ ‘Everyone in Canada has a sob story. Lots of people have it bad in Canada— disabled…