Striving to remove barriers that prevent us from building Vibrant, Diverse, Inclusive, Accessible Communities!
The article insists the Jewish community cannot treat disability inclusion as “nice to have,” because excluding People with Disabilities and their families weakens Jewish communal life and blocks full participation. It points to a documented participation gap—People with Disabilities and their families show up at far lower rates in Jewish communal life than in secular counterparts—showing that stated values without barrier-removal still leave people out, and that Removing Barriers must be the standard, not a slogan.
A central harm the article names is the mismatch between what Jewish organizations say and what they build: many describe inclusion as a core value, yet far fewer have the systems, training, or policies to make it real. When inclusion work is siloed onto a single role or person, it creates bottlenecks and prevents systemic change, effectively normalizing exclusion and reinforcing Ableism inside community spaces that should belong to everyone.
Against that backdrop, the Jewish Community Center movement is presented as a large-scale example of how inclusion becomes possible when it is shared, systematized, and woven through everyday operations rather than delegated. The article describes the JCC Association’s Eight Guiding Principles on Inclusion, the quarterly Inclusion Peer Community, and cross-team partnerships—like work on adaptive fitness and early childhood inclusion—showing how consistent practice and shared language can Raise awareness about accessibility while also changing what programs and professional culture actually do.
The article also confronts a less-discussed barrier—fundraising—arguing inclusion is often deprioritized because of the false belief it is resource-intensive but non-revenue-generating, even as leaders demonstrate major dollars can be raised for inclusion initiatives. It then highlights JCC Maccabi Access, which expanded from a 2022 pilot for seven athletes with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families to 22 athletes from 11 JCC communities, as proof that when institutions choose Advocacy over excuses, marginalized Youth gain real belonging and Community Builders gain a replicable model for shifting power toward access and participation.
Read the Full Article: Want to take inclusion from principle to practice? The JCC movement shows what's possible.
By: Sierra Weiss
