Click on picture to see larger whole image	"INCLUSION" Abby, 45 years old, San Francisco, California, Biographical materials	Picture Details Click on the pictures below to see details of the painting
	Getting to Know Me "I've met obstacles, people not accepting me, job discrimination. People are afraid of difference and their own vulnerability. When you have a disability, people have to get to know you to be comfortable. I want to encourage people not to be discouraged by discrimination from others." "Jewish people with disabilities have felt alienated and disenfranchised because of issues of access and acceptance. Even in the Bible, there are passages that say that 'the blind, the lame and the crippled should not be let into the house of believers.' These feelings go way, way back." "Once people in the Jewish community were made aware that there are Jews out there with disabilities who need services, they became more receptive to working with them. There's an element of fear that people have. That's the kind of barrier that needs to be broken down - and the only way to do that is with more interaction."
Watercolor by Julie Cohn This painting, "Inclusion," is Julie Cohn's interpretation of feelings arising from an interview with Abby. The accompanying text, written by Abby, represents some of her feelings about her life and disability.
"At Jewish Family and Children Services we advocate for people who have been denied services or help people who need assistance with day-to-day support, crisis intervention or finances." "The new JFCS effort provides a way to be disabled and Jewish. This was something that I had never experienced before. I felt I had to leave the whole Jewish experience behind. That is unfortunate because the 'Jewish experience' is extremely important, not only for religious or spiritual reasons." "Our overall goal is to make the Jewish community more accessible, not only architecturally but attitudinally. If someone who uses a wheelchair wants to use a temple and can't even get in the front door, what does that say?" "Although the Disabilities Project is less than a year old, it has already made a big difference in people's lives. We are helping a university freshman who has cerebral palsy that affects the mobility of his hands. His mother on the East Coast was referred to us via Hillel, and we were able to set up a volunteer to help with errands and laundry." "Working with people with disabilities is never simple. It's not like putting a Band - Aid on a cut. You need to know what to ask, how to probe, what else to look for. Having first - hand knowledge of what it is like to have a disability is a tremendous asset."
S.A.W. 28
I touch your plastic key with my fingertip, Your logic turns on. My feelings turn on. You can deduce, infer, rationalize. I can love, hate, become angry. Your logic is cold, calculating, unfeeling. My feelings are warm, tranquilizing, and tender. Your life is a computation, a routine functioning. My life is a poem, a spontaneous event. This is the real world logician. Let me melt your plastic coat.	Feel! Emote! Live closer to me. Be vulnerable. Absorb my love. Squeeze it back to me. Don't store it in your memory bank. You are alive. Prove it! Because when your plug is pulled, you will be left with nothing. - Abby
The Athlete, Abby:
Abby, coordinator of the Disabilities Project at Jewish Family and Children's Services in San Francisco (JFCS), provides a sympathetic ear to people with disabilities. She knows what it means to change her entire life around because of a sudden disease that causes a life-long disability. When Abby was 16, she was affected by the auto-immune disease myasthenia gravis, which causes involuntary muscles to weaken. After surgery and many types of treatment, the course of the illness stabilized. The residual effect continues to be weakness in facial muscles, affecting her speech. Abby's intelligence and articulate manner led her to the path she now follows: providing support to members of the Jewish community who have disabilities. Her services include counseling, support groups, case management, information and referral, advocacy and a volunteer program.During our conversation at JFCS, I was struck by Abby's genuine concern for people. She fit my interview into an extremely tight schedule and yet focused all of her attention on me even as phones were ringing and people were knocking at her door. Of the many interesting things Abby told me, two ideas in particular served as the impulses for this painting Inclusion. First, people who don't understand what it means to have a disability, may fear becoming disabled themselves. Consequently, they may choose not to socialize or work with people who look or function differently from themselves. Second, if a child is encouraged to ask a person with a disability why he or she speaks with an impairment, walks with a different gait or does any thing that appears different, this child will grow up not fearing those who have differences. The more frequently all people are exposed to others who have disabilities of all types - physical, emotional, mental, and environmentally caused - the more comfortable everyone will feel.During the last eight months of interviewing and getting to know people from the disabled community, my negative biases and fears about people having disabilities melted, validating Abby's premise that more exposure leads to better understanding and valuable recognition of every person's contribution to society. Throughout Inclusion, the yellow fish with multicolored markings represent the disabled community. The other schools of fish are symbols for people who don't have disabilities. As the yellow fish meet with the other schools of fish, the latter reflect the yellow fish's light. They illustrate that the combination of different cultures composed of many striking colors enhances the lives of all. The title, Inclusion, indicates the need for the disabled community to blend into a broader society.