Tikkun Olam

By reimagining rehabilitation, ADI is advancing ability for all – empowering children, adolescents and adults with severe disabilities and providing cutting edge therapeutic and recovery services for anyone touched by disability. ADI also provides the community at large with tangible opportunities for encountering disability, raising awareness and promoting acceptance.
 
In 2016, seeking to impact the public on a grand scale and make a real difference for individuals with disabilities, ADI joined forces with Israel’s Ministry of Education to create the “Tikkun Olam” project, an initiative focused on educating the next generation of leaders about disability inclusion.
 
“Tikkun Olam” (literally “Repairing the World”) is an experiential education program that exposes Israeli high school students to peers with disabilities and imparts the importance of acceptance and inclusion through lectures, workshops and hands-on volunteering opportunities. Geared towards students entering the ninth grade (but adaptable for ages 12-18), the program works to bring about a change in societal attitudes towards individuals with disabilities through youth leadership and community engagement.
 
In its first year, more than 10,000 Israeli students from 60 schools participated in the program, leading to a noticeable spike in youth-led volunteerism and social activism initiatives. Since then, Tikkun Olam has reached well over 100,000 students and continues to utilize its trademark “hands-on” approach, as well as eLearning and social media platforms, in the hopes of empowering every student across the country through innovative disability inclusion programming.