The Ruderman Family Foundation in conjunction with leading international Jewish organizations will bring leaders from philanthropy together to collaborate on new approaches to fostering inclusion in the Jewish community and improving the lives of those with disabilities at ADVANCE 2011: The Ruderman Jewish Special Needs Conference, which will take place on December 6th at Baruch College Conference Center in New York City. The conference will feature an address by Academy Award-winning actress and activist Marlee Matlin, a champion of the rights of people with disabilities, as well as Timothy Shriver, Chairman and CEO of the Special Olympics.
ADVANCE is a project of the Ruderman Family Foundation and the Jewish Funders Network, and is co-sponsored by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, the Combined Jewish Philanthropies, and the Jewish Federations of North America.
Attendance is restricted to organizations that donate $25,000 annually or $10,000 to disability related programs and is capped at 100. Details surrounding registration and timing of events can be found on the ADVANCE website.
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The Ruderman Foundation and all those associated with it are to be commended for all their activities and support for those who are disabled. The numbers of Israelis who are visually impaired is growing and the special teachers for those who need them are dwindling.
It would be a blessing if in their activities and considerations they would delve into this subject area. There are at present close to 30,000 individuals of all ages in Israel who are visually impaired. There are to the best of our knowledge less than 20 teachers who specialize in teaching them how to function effectively. This is tragic and something that must be considered in their deliberations.
Beit Yael has since 1991 offered the only month long rehabilitation course for those who are newly visually impaired or going blind. The fact that there are so few teachers available to instruct the perhaps 2,000 people who are newly certified each year is indeed tragic.
Hopefully funding will be found to encourage those seeking jobs to train as teachers for the visually impaired.