Disabilities

Funding for Americans and Israelis with disabilities is a major objective of the Foundation. Whether the person is living with a compromised immune system, wearing a catheter, hearing voices, puffing into a mouth stick that propels a wheelchair, tapping a cane, wearing a cochlear implant, or walking beside a service dog, the Foundation wishes to support any nonprofit organization whose mission is to serve this broad group of people. The populations served include people with physical, sensory, and cognitive impairments such as those with mental illness, autism spectrum disorder, learning disabilities (e.g., dyslexia), physical disabilities, traumatic brain injuries (e.g., Iraqi war veterans), deafness, blindness and visual impairments, and medically fragile children (e.g., cerebral palsy, children with feeding tubes, tetraplegia, muscular dystrophy, spina bifida).

Disabilities Goals:

1. Prevention and Early Intervention:
   1. Preventive Health Care: To improve the health of adults with developmental disabilities and intellectual disabilities: smoking cessation, weight control, exercise, nutrition, substance abuse treatment, depression, sexuality, end-of-life issues, and mental health.
   2. To increase early intervention services (evaluation and treatment) in the least restrictive environment for children with developmental disabilities, especially autism, in the U.S. and Israel (focus on ages 0 to 5), e.g., neuropsychological testing and child care centers that provide habilitation/paramedical treatments.
   3. To increase programs that prevent the abuse of children with special needs, including the training of professionals and the development of interventions for prevention and for treatment.
2. Community-Based Programs To Promote Independence and Integration in the Community:
   1. To increase community-based services for those with psychiatric illnesses in Israel and the United States: psychiatric rehab programs, mental health centers, jail diversion programs, fountain house "clubhouses."
   2. To increase community-based services in Israel and the United States for physical rehabilitation for patients aged 21 to 65, including soldiers who are disabled.
   3. To establish transition programs to help young adults with disabilities make the transition from institutional support to independent living, ages 18 to 21. To establish transition programs to help infants and toddlers (ages 0 to 3) make the transition to the public school system (IFSP to IEP-family service plans to education plans).
   4. To increase and improve supported employment services and job training for adults with disabilities (this goal will fall under Workforce Development).
   5. To increase the number and quality of social and recreational programs (after school, after work) for people with disabilities: accessible outdoor recreation (parks and forests), indoor community centers, sport centers for the disabled, sensory gyms that emphasize "play as therapy," including transportation to these programs and qualified guides and personal aids.
   6. To increase the capacity in the community to provide more parent training for parents with intellectual disabilities.
3. Community-Based Residential Frameworks:
   1. To increase the amount of independent and supported housing and residential services for adults with disabilities over age 21, especially those projects that train young adults in life skills.
4. Technology by and for the Disabled:
   1. To increase technology support to nonprofits that provide direct services to people with disabilities: technology as a treatment tool in the Disabilities field such as electronic case management and web-based neuropsychological testing.
   2. To increase the availability of assistive-technology devices and durable medical equipment: wheelchairs, orthotics, prosthetics, rehab equipment, home modifications.
5. Improving Access to Existing Services and Increasing New Services:
   1. To increase services to people with disabilities in the peripheral regions of Israel-south and north, where there are few services.
   2. To increase the amount of services for adults and children and elders with disabilities in non-traditional settings to encourage independent living, including behavioral supports and training for children and parents at community centers.
   3. To increase access to licensed, inclusive child care and after-school care for children with disabilities so that parents can work.
   4. To increase hands-on and on-site training of child care providers (for children with disabilities).
   5. To increase the use of entitlement demystifiers to improve access to needed services for people with disabilities, including legal assistance in identifying and accessing entitlements such as Medicaid and helping parents with due process hearings and Individualized Education Plans (IEPs).
   6. To increase service coordination for people with disabilities by means of case management, call centers, and referral services to identify quality providers of direct services and to disseminate information to parents.
   7. To increase placements at inclusive summer day camps for children with disabilities
   8. To improve direct services to those with learning disabilities: learning centers, tutoring programs, and camps.
   9. To provide respite programs for families of people with disabilities (after school and weekend-not in institutional settings). There is a lack of respite care providers in Maryland.
   10. To increase access to health care and other services for people with disabilities who have been traditionally denied access owing to a variety of barriers: physical, linguistic, cultural, and financial (also under "Health" goals).
6. Training and Professional Development:
   1. To increase the number and quality of credentialed staff via training and professional development and to prevent burn-out of existing professionals (care to caregivers): case managers, child care providers, social workers, mental health professionals, speech pathologists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, recreational therapists (including art and music) in Israel and U.S. The focus is on direct on-site training because the Foundation, by charter, cannot fund colleges and universities.
7. Buildings: to increase the number of day habilitation and rehabilitation centers for children and adults with disabilities:
   1. To increase the space and capacity of centers that show their ability to generate more revenue, including psychiatric rehab programs and mental health centers.