Sasone is proud to announce the winners of its third essay contest in honor of Jewish Disabilities Awareness and Inclusion Month (JDAIM).
Students were invited to share a one-page essay on the topic, "What does neurodiversity mean to you? How is acceptance of neurodiversity a Jewish value?"
The winner is Logan McNay, a sixth grader at Oxford Middle School. His essay is below:
B’tzelem Elohim in Neurodiversity
By Logan McNay
To me, neurodiversity is having different needs. It may come in different ways for different people but no matter what the needs are, it is important that we do all that we can to help someone and be inclusive in our communities. Judaism teaches us b’tzelem Elohim, all people are created in the image of God which inclusion embodies. In my current school, Oxford Middle School, there are opportunities to work as a peer mentor for classmates who are neurodiverse during elective period. My older sister had this experience when she was in middle school and told me about it. One of the unique opportunities for neurodiverse students is known as Cole’s Coffee Crew where students sell coffee to teachers and visitors to raise money for different activities. Mrs. Cole’s students have their own classroom where they work on their grade level curriculum but also participate in classes with the rest of our grade. I am interested in serving as a peer mentor next year.
In my previous school, there was a LIFT program for students with neurodiversity. These students would sometimes be in their own classroom but also sometimes in our grade level classroom which was a very fun experience because we would all get to socialize together. The students in the LIFT program would also get to come out with the class for recess. My friends and I would always make sure to say hi and hang out with them as much as we could. It was a lot of fun getting to hang out with them since we didn’t always get to do that.
I am preparing for my Bar Mitzvah this coming fall and wanted to have a very meaningful mitzvah project. I decided that I really wanted to help Sasone but since they do not work directly with students, I could not offer direct service. I decided that I was going to raise money for my synagogue’s Sasone fund to support inclusion efforts and resources at my Hebrew school. I am now raising money by selling snacks at the Hebrew school at my synagogue. All proceeds will be donated to Sasone. After the first day, I was very pleased with my choice and look forward to raising more money for Sasone.
Overall, neurodiversity is just having different needs and we should do all that we can to help others and support inclusion.