Tikkun Olam

My daughter, who has been in a wheel chair for almost two years has told me her own horror stories about navigating the Tel Aviv streets and sidewalks.  These--streets and sidewalks--were not built in the early years for accessibility.  No one had any idea what that was. The disabled were in essence shunted aside, and were effectively excluded from  typical activities which we consider to be 'normal' and which are totally accessible in the United States, such as traveling by bus to a restaurant, being able to enter the restaurant and sitting at a table, going shopping at the shuk (outdoor market), going to a movie--just to name a few.  There is very little in this young country which is accessible to people in wheelchairs.  Israel is somewhat like the United States was before the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act ,which was enacted in 1990 and amended in 2009 . The activities which I mentioned above being inaccessible are bad enough, but how a...

I began writing this on November 4th, but it became a draft which I never finished.  My daughter has been here already since November 1st, and she's 'hit the ground running'- figuratively speaking, of course.  More like she's hit the ground rolling, in her wheelchair--going from speaking engagement to VIP receptions to meeting with her former Junior High School principal to talk about old times and set up a day to speak to the students, to doctors, to 3 MRIs and one CT scan in the ER.  In between that we've had dozens of friends for Shabbat meals, people coming in and out visiting and a friend, colleague and professional masseuse giving her two massages already (on her back, not her legs) and hopefully one or two more before we leave for our grandson's bar mitzvah in Florida.  I am posting this because I wanted you to see what a disabled person might have to go through, in a situation where there is no ADA--Americans with Disabilities Act . After a flight fro...