Jewish education for children with special needs

As a Jew with a disability, I know firsthand what it's like to be excluded from communal activities because I'm different. I know what it's like for people to assume that I can't or shouldn't have equal access to Jewish education. I know what it's like for people to make assumptions about a person's ability to learn because of how they walk. Because of my personal and familial relentlessness, I also know what it's like to be part of the community, to be included and to be part of what makes us strong. It is amazing. Such inclusion would have been easier if MATAN where around when I was young.

In the Torah Deuteronomy 25:17-19 it says: "You shall remember what Amalek did to you on the way, when you went out of Egypt,. How he happened upon you on the way and cut off all the stragglers at your rear, when you were faint and weary, and he did not fear God. [Therefore,] it will be, when the Lord your God grants you respite from all your enemies around [you] in the land which the Lord, your God, gives to you as an inheritance to possess, that you shall obliterate the remembrance of Amalek from beneath the heavens. You shall not forget!

The best way to fulfill this commitment and destroy Amalek is to make sure that we include all Jews in our community, regardless of their perceived abilities. By doing so, we can ensure that there are no stragglers for Amalek to attack, which will in turn, destroy the Amalek way of life. By not leaving others behind, we not only protect them and strengthen ourselves. This in essence, is the message and mission of Matan. A mission, the entire community should embrace.