Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion

boy in wheelchair stander wrapped in a Jewish prayer shawl (talit) holding a small Torah scroll

I recently had the pleasure of attending the 100th Bar Mitzvah at Gateways: Access to Jewish Special Education, and what a beautiful morning it was! All thanks to a program that promotes Jewish disability awareness and inclusion. First and foremost, a huge Mazal Tov to my friend Adar and his family! Milestones for people with […]

New Life for Old Photos

I was cleaning out my closet and found boxes and boxes of photos and negatives! Do you still have a ton of them packed away somewhere? After an hour or so of reliving memories from different parts of my life, I realized, I really need to do something with these. I’m not talking about putting […]

NOTES FROM THE PHOTO JOURNAL: School Photo Make-Up Day

At the end of the school year I got to (yes- I GOT to, because it’s my favorite thing to do) photograph students at a local special education program. My son Harry’s school, actually. I photographed most of the students at The Education Cooperative last Fall, but some new students have joined this collaborative program […]

PHOTOGRAPHER’S FOCUS: SPECIAL NEEDS

I wish I had a nice photo of my child. This was the topic of conversation in a support group for parents of adult children with autism. The mom leading the group just happens to follow me on Facebook, and she really likes my work. She was more than happy to make a referral to the […]

PHOTOGRAPHER’S FOCUS: SPECIAL NEEDS

I wish I had a nice photo of my child. This was the topic of conversation in a support group for parents of adult children with autism. The mom leading the group just happens to follow me on Facebook, and she really likes my work. She was more than happy to make a referral to […]

NOTES FROM THE PHOTO JOURNAL: School Photo Make-Up Day

At the end of the school year I got to (yes- I GOT to, because it’s my favorite thing to do) photograph students at a local special education program. My son Harry’s school, actually. I photographed most of the students at The Education Cooperative last Fall, but some new students have joined this collaborative program […]

Day Camp for Kids of All Ages with Disabilities

Last Friday I spent the day at Camp Arrowhead with Harrison today, because we did not have a PCA available to go with him for feeding and toileting assistance.  I sat in an air conditioned supply room, eating a pb&j sandwich (because that’s the best brown bag lunch for camp!) and getting work done, so […]

Mitzvah Planning for the Special Needs Family: Part 2

It’s taken me a full week to recover. Physically exhausting, mentally exhausting, emotionally exhausting, and I wouldn’t change a thing.  It was a perfect mitzvah! My son, who is nonverbal, uses a wheelchair, communicates through devices with labor-intensive responses due to poor fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination, and has seizures that interrupt his moments […]

Mitzvah Planning for the Special Needs Family

I finally had my meltdown. Bar Mitzvah is a month away, and I am totally on track with the planning. Invitations went out, responses are slowly trickling in. I might have gotten the last tent in Massachusetts for this particular date. Excellent food choices. DJ, photographer, videographer are all set to go, and they all […]

A Typical Day Out for our Not-So-Typical Family

Harry and I went to opening day at a farm this past weekend. Beautiful weather, farm animals, food trucks, and music…what more do we need? My teenager likes to sleep in on the weekends (I love when he does something “typical” LOL), and I was excited when he got up before noon and I had […]