“Imagine you’re out having fun with friends, right in the middle of a game, gossiping or sharing a good joke, when suddenly there’s commotion around you. It turns out that an alarm sounded, and you’re the only ones who didn’t hear it or understand what’s happening. It’s time to ruuuuun! Let’s say you did hear the alarm, and the first thing that comes to your mind is to run to the nearest safe room—makes sense, right? But then it turns out that the nearest shelter is not accessible to you—you’re using a walker and there’s a step, or you’re in a wheelchair and the entrance is too narrow. Do you feel left out? Do you feel like your safety isn’t being considered? Not a great feeling, right? This is what happens to us and a significant portion of the country’s population.”
— A translated excerpt from a Hebrew statement by the Beit Issie Shapiro Young Leadership Group advocating for the accessibility of emergency facilities throughout Israel.
With escalating tensions and statements from Iran and its proxies, everyone in Israel is waiting with anxious anticipation for sirens and the need to make it to a bomb shelter—everywhere in the country. One small group of extraordinary young adults has taken the initiative to do more than worry; they have taken on the role of advocates, leading a national campaign to raise awareness of the serious issue of accessibility to bomb shelters all across Israel.
According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, in 2022, one in nine Israeli residents (approximately) has been recognized by state institutions as a person with a disability and needs accessibility accommodations in their daily lives, especially during emergencies.
The Beit Issie Young Leadership Group is a group of about 10 high-schoolers with a spectrum of physical and cognitive disabilities that meet weekly throughout the school year in Ra’anana. It is one of the five groups from the Beit Issie Leadership Center created to empower those with disabilities to be leaders and advocates for themselves and others.
Each year, they choose an advocacy project related to inclusion and accessibility. This year, as Israelis have endured sirens and rockets, they set their sights on addressing the accessibility—and the lack thereof—of shelters across the country. At the beginning of the school year, they had intended to focus on continuing last year’s advocacy initiative. And then came Oct. 7, and everything for them, like the rest of Israel, changed.
The students discussed their own experiences, which included not having instructions available clearly for those with hearing or sight impairments; a lack of bomb shelters with accessibility; and a
lack of clear marking of designation of which were and were not. As a result, they quickly learned that they were choosing to leave home and engage in normal activities less than their peers. It became clear that the issue wasn’t being sufficiently discussed or addressed, and they knew this was what they would work on instead. They toured shelters and found that their own experiences accurately reflected the bigger picture.
They charted their findings but soon realized it was just a first step.
Before completing the Hebrew statement to the press reference above, they worked together with the students at Tichon ORT Shapira in Kfar Saba’s new media and advertising elective to plan, create and implement a full public-awareness campaign that ran on social media and National Israel television on Channel 12.
Gadi Rothschild is an active 16-year-old entering 10th grade at the Meitarim school in Ra’anana. Although he mainstreamed into a regular Ra’anana school for first grade, he attended the Beit Issie Early Intervention Center until he was 3. He has remained involved with Beit Issie and its services, and has been a part of the Young Leadership Group since starting junior high school.
“The work we do is important because I want to help make sure we all have a place in the world so that we can always feel like we belong,” Gadi said. “And that should also apply to shelters and safe rooms.”
Limor, Gadi’s mother, is proud of the work he is doing: “My son Gadi has been a part of Beit Issie Shapiro since he was a young child in the Early Intervention Center. That environment that cultivated a sense of his unlimited potential and encouraged embracing what one can do has extended into his participation in the young leadership group. So, of course, he is thinking about not only his needs but how he can contribute to making the world better and use his perspective and life experience to bring change and help others. This is what inclusivity paired with empowerment looks like.”
Shir Kettner, the group’s facilitator, said the Beit Issie Young Leadership Group hopes to eventually become an officially recognized part of the Ra’anana Municipality’s Youth Coalition. “They want to be a fully active part of their own peer group. Through advocating for others, they function as peer leaders the way others do.”
Avital Grunberg, 14, also a mainstreamed student at the Meitarim School and a member of the Beit Issie Young Leadership Group, said: “We are also a part of society and believe that we have every right to be able to live safely within our country. We also should have the ability to reach the safe rooms quickly, smoothly and safely. In order for more than one in 10 Israelis to be protected and included, all of the emergency procedures and facilities in the country need to take accessibility into account.”
Media Contact: For additional information, photos, or to schedule interviews, contact Rachel Moore, MCC, rachel@mooreconnected.com, +972-50-655-6613
