Jewish Disabilities Advocates

JDA 2025 Theme: Accessibility and Accommodations in Jewish Spaces

JDAIM Community Learning Evening

We enjoyed a great evening learning with wonderful disability advocate Emily Ladau on Thursday, February 6. Watch the recording below to learn from Emily about demystifying disability and advocating for accessibility and accommodations in Jewish spaces.

You can also view the breakout room sessions:

1. Strategies for furthering accessibility and accommodations in Jewish spaces with Erica Baruch.

2. Challenges and benefits of asking for accommodations for you or a loved one with Carol Morris.

3. Using storytelling to build a culture or accessibility and inclusion with Emily Ladau.

Disability Justice Passover Seder

Friday, April 18, 4 p.m. -5:30 p.m.
Temple Emanuel, 51 Grape Street, Denver, CO 80220

JFS Jewish Disabilities Advocates, in partnership with Temple Emanuel, Ohr HaOlam, Hebrew Educational Alliance, and Repair the World, seeks to create a community seder that is open, accessible, and welcoming to all. This inclusive, community-wide event will feature a custom Haggadah, traditional Jewish music, and a warm, engaging atmosphere. Accessibility accommodations include wheelchair access, visual aids, ASL interpretation, quiet spaces, and a virtual attendance option for those who cannot join in-person.

This event is free, open to the public, and intended to bring together the whole community in support of disability awareness, inclusion, and belonging. 

Accessibility and Accommodations in Jewish Spaces

This guide to Accessibility and Accommodations in Jewish Spaces discusses the importance of involving individuals with disabilities in accessibility efforts and offers several steps individuals and organizations can take to improve accessibility. Download a PDF of the guide.

This Purim handout provides suggestions for hosting an accessible Megillah Reading, Purim Shpiel, and Purim Carnival. 

This family activity for Purim provides easy instructions for creating a sensory-friendly grogger/noisemaker. 

This Passover handout discusses how those with disabilities can help lead efforts to transform our Jewish spaces into communities of belonging by sharing their lived experience. The handout also includes several suggestions for hosting an accessible Passover Seder.

JDA Haverim and Best Buddies

JDA Haverim is a group of adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) that connect with each other and with the Jewish community. Jewish Family Service Best Buddies chapter matches Jewish adults with and without IDD in one-to-one friendships that develop and are sustained over many years.

JDA Collaborative and Partner Organizations

The JDA Collaborative works to improve inclusion and belonging of people with disabilities at the organizational level and across the Denver metro area Jewish community. Denver and Boulder synagogues, Jewish communal agencies, and other faith-based organizations collaborate to ensure Jews with a broad range of disabilities and their families can participate in rich Jewish life and culture.

JFS Jewish Disabilities Advocates creates resources throughout the year to raise awareness and understanding of a variety of disabilities and how the Jewish community can engage and support individuals with disabilities and their families. Our resources follow our area of focus for the year.