In the spirit of Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance and Inclusion Month (#JDAIM), Ayala, a resident with severe disabilities from ADI’s rehabilitative and residential village in the Negev, visited Gan Vered, a preschool in the town of Gilat near Be’er Sheva. The children greeted Ayala warmly and showered her with gifts – arts and crafts projects that they had created special for her visit. Gan Vered, a preschool in the town of Gilat near Be’er Sheva, recently hosted a very special visitor – Ayala, a resident of ADI Negev-Nahalat Eran. One of the parents of the preschool children, who works at the village, had previously told the children a story about ADI Negev and its residents. Since then, the youngsters had been waiting anxiously to meet their “friends from ADI,” and frequently asked when that would happen. With Ayala’s visit, their wish came true.In the spirit of Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance and Inclusion Month (#JDAIM), Ayala, a resident with severe disabilities from ADI’s rehabilitative and residential village in the Negev, visited Gan Vered, a preschool in the town of Gilat near Be’er Sheva. The children greeted Ayala warmly and showered her with gifts – arts and crafts projects that they had created special for her visit.

Ayala, who has severe disabilities, was greeted warmly by the preschool children, who showered her with gifts – arts and crafts projects that they had created specially for her visit. After a short discussion about disabilities and the importance of including people with disabilities, the class put the lesson into immediate practice by dancing and singing with Ayala. The children had so much fun with Ayala that they wanted to know when she would return to the school for another visit and when they could visit her at ADI. Though Ayala is nonverbal, she was able to communicate how much she enjoyed the visit as well. We are very grateful to the staff and students at Gan Vered for being so welcoming to Ayala, and to the wonderful people of Gilat for helping us spread the word about inclusion.