UNHRC members learn about inclusion in Shalva visit

During their visit, the visiting ambassadors to the UN Human Rights Council met with several of Shalva’s program participants and professional staff as well as Yossi Samuels.

By ILANIT CHERNICK
Delegates from the UN Human Rights Council visit the Shalva's National Center in Jerusalem. (photo credit: SHALVA)
Delegates from the UN Human Rights Council visit the Shalva's National Center in Jerusalem.
(photo credit: SHALVA)
In a bid to learn about inclusion, a delegation from the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, which represents countries from four continents, visited Shalva’s national center in Jerusalem this week to gain an understanding of disability care and inclusion programs used by Shalva as models of human dignity and inspiration for social services in other countries.
The countries represented in the UN delegation included the Czech Republic, Guatemala, Italy, Japan, Slovakia, and several African states.
The delegation, whose five-day visit here included touring the Knesset and meeting with President Reuven Rivlin, insisted on including the Shalva center in its busy itinerary.
Ambassador of Slovakia to the UN Juraj Podhorsky explained that his country too “has inclusion programs where children without disabilities and children with disabilities are together. We see how this benefits everyone,” he said. “There is much to learn from the optimism at Shalva.”
During their visit, the visiting ambassadors to the UN Human Rights Council met with several of Shalva’s program participants and professional staff as well as Yossi Samuels, who was the inspiration behind Shalva’s establishment.
Samuels was rendered blind and deaf, among other disabilities, following an injury during his infancy.
His parents, Kalman and Malki Samuels, established Shalva to support children and families coping with disability. The 30-year-old organization has developed pioneering rehabilitative programs which today are staples of Israel’s social policies concerning disability care and inclusion.
“From the first time I came to Shalva, years ago, I was so moved,” explained Aviva Raz Shechter, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, who participated in the tour. “I decided that I will bring my colleagues, in whichever capacity, from all over the world, to see this amazing place.”
Among some of Shalva’s most advanced disability accessible facilities are a semi-Olympic size hydrotherapy swimming pool, disability accessible fitness rooms and gymnasium, and a 360-seat auditorium with accessible features for both audience members and stage performers.
Shalva also has several types of rehabilitative therapies, inclusive preschools, and vocational training. It also offers employment opportunities to adults with disabilities, independent living apartments in the community, and support services for over 2,000 individuals with disabilities and their families.
Of the visit, Dr. Ariel Tenenbaum, who is the director of the Hadassah Medical Center’s Down Syndrome Center and serves as Shalva’s medical adviser, said that “There is so much to learn from Shalva, from the professionalism and from the treatment methods.
“I think it’s a wonderful thing that Shalva shares its knowledge,” he said. “What we do does not stay in Shalva. It reaches far beyond,” he added.


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