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January 28, 2005
Understanding disability issues
First annual JFSA program aims to raise awareness and possibly
funds.
KYLE BERGER
More than 200 people filled the Wosk Auditorium of the Jewish Community
Centre of Greater Vancouver (JCC) on Jan. 23 to connect with and
better understand the challenges of those who live with disabilities.
The program, appropriately called Connections, was spearheaded by
the Jewish Family Service Agency (JFSA) and featured a variety of
sessions, panel discussions, information booths and presentations
on a wide variety of disabilities.
The program opened with remarks from Selina Robinson, associate
executive director of JFSA, and Rhonda Schwenk, associate executive
director of the JCC. That led into a presentation by Kids on the
Block, a group that uses puppet shows with various characters to
help people understand challenges like vision loss, learning disabilities
and cerebral palsy. They followed up their presentation with a question
and answer period, in which the puppets answered the audience's
questions.
Participants were given a chance to visit several booths throughout
the JCC that featured information about community organizations
that provide assistance to those who are challenged with disabilities.
Some of those organizations included the Centre for Ability, the
Cerebral Palsy Association of B.C., Yaffa House, the B.C. Epilepsy
Society, the Canadian Hard of Hearing Association and the Institute
for the Blind.
At the same time, two panel presentations took place in JCC lounges.
The first was a panel on housing, which featured Dr. Bob Huber of
Yaffa Housing, Rob Pretli and Anat Toledano of Propriety Care Model,
Martha Barker and Ruth Tschannen of the Cascadia Society and Jill
Russell-Baird of L'Arche. The second panel presentation focused
on Jewish education and featured Roslyn Kushner Belle of the JCC
preschool and day care, Anne Andrew of Temple Sholom Hebrew school
and Florence Lapidus and Sandy Evans from Vancouver Talmud Torah
elementary school.
The featured speaker for Connections was 21-year-old Joel Libin,
who was brutally beaten by attackers with a blunt object while walking
home late one night four years ago. Libin, now a second-year student
at the University of British Columbia, talked to the audience about
his battle to overcome the brain injury he received as a result
of the attack.
"I don't focus on the brain injury," he said. "I
focus on my recovery. Rather than considering myself as someone
with a brain injury, I consider myself as someone who is a changed
person today."
Libin also suggested that he finds it difficult to see himself as
someone who suffers from a brain injury when he knows that he has
accomplished so much more in his life since the incident than he
would have otherwise.
Debbie Havusha, special needs co-ordinator of JFSA, said that running
a program like Connections is something she has wanted to do since
she moved to Vancouver from Israel 14 years ago.
"When we moved here, I was sure my son Oz would be able to
go to a Jewish day school," she said, noting that her 18-year-old
son lives with cerebral palsy. "It's a long story, but it met
with failure and it was a very painful time for me. I decided to
be pro-active and I started the Bagel Club and became a really strong
advocate and volunteered.
"It's really exciting for me to be starting something that's
really needed," she continued. "And that is centralizing
all kinds of information and connecting people and bringing trust
in the Jewish community so we can build. My dream would be that
someone would donate $100,000 to make sure that proper support can
be available at the Jewish day schools. We need the money."
Havusha hopes that more of the community will be involved in Connections
next year, as it becomes an annual event.
Participants in Connections were given an information package upon
arrival that included a pamphlet for a group sponsored by the Jewish
Federation of Greater Vancouver called Advocates for People with
Special Needs (APSN). APSN's goal is to promote community integration
and involvement for all individuals, regardless of age, gender,
physical, emotional, sensory or cognitive abilities.
For more information about any JFSA program, call 604-257-5151.
Kyle Berger is a freelance journalist and graphic designer
living in Richmond.
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