Ahmir Lerner – CEO, Beit Issie Shapiro
Movies not only present reality, they also change reality and influence it. Cinema that presents the public space as it really is and as we strive to be, is a significant part of the way society learns to accept the other. This is true for ethnic minorities, it is true for African Americans and it is also true for people with disabilities.

Yoav Kraiem – Co-Director of the Community Development and Social Change Unit, Beit Issie Shapiro
Shosh Kaminsky – M.S.W., Knowledge Resource Development manager, Beit Issie Shapiro
Sarah Sadovnik – COO of Elwyn Israel
Gali Schwartz – Coordinator of the self-representation project, Beit Issie Shapiro
Self-advocacy is action based strategy which is driven by people who share a common denominator and who drive the vision and strategy by working together to bring about real changes and improve their quality of life.
This article describes the process of Leadership Development among people with developmental disabilities that was carried out by Beit Issie Shapiro and Elwyn Israel.  Furthermore, this process resulted in the participation of this group in the Parliamentary discussions on the legislative process of self-advocacy.   

Dr. Dana Roth – Director of Research and Evaluation Unit, Beit Issie Shapiro
The Research and Evaluation Unit at Beit Issie Shapiro conducted a digital survey among students with disabilities at higher Education institutions in Israel.  The survey was conducted for the 2017 International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

Carol Kessel – Volunteer Beit Issie Shapiro
This document highpoints the barriers faced by women and girls with disabilities to realize their full potential. Some barriers are specific to the situation of women and girls with disabilities while others are related to the ongoing struggle of women in general towards equal rights and opportunities.
The document focuses on areas of education, sexuality, participation and access to decision-making, discrimination against family, motherhood and family life, social policy, labor, employment, violence and sexual abuse.

Ms. Geft, the director of the Los Angeles Museum of Tolerance, describes in her lecture the goals of the museum, which make its visitors feel the past, witness history, and see and understand that prejudice and discrimination still exist in all societies. Special stress is given in the lecture to the museum’s activity geared towards raising awareness of the lives of people with disabilities.

The lecture describes a study centering on the level of importance given by therapists treating people with intellectual disabilities, to activity geared towards social inclusion.

Ms.  Connie Laurin-Bowie explains how article 19 of the UN’s Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities helps to strengthen communities.

Mr. Kathleen Lync, Ireland’s Minister of State for Primary Care, Mental Health and Disability, describes in her lecture the transition from institutional living to life in the community for people with disabilities that occurred in Ireland in consideration of the wishes of the people themselves. 

Chairman: Prof Patrick Corrigan
Prof Jeremy Turk: Labelling and Classifications in Developmental Disabilities: Curse or Blessing
Prof Lisa Woolfson: The influence of societal stereotypes on attitudes and behaviour of parents and teachers towards children with intellectual disabilities
Dr Katrina Scior: Do they do what they say? Questioning the link between self-reported attitudes towards people with intellectual disabilities and actual behaviour
Dr Shirli Werner: “Equal in Uniform”: Its impact on attitudes of soldiers without disabilities towards soldiers with intellectual disabilities

Dr. Shirli Werner – Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Heli Peretz – Research and Evaluation Unit, Beit Issie Shapiro
Dr. Dana Roth – Director of Research and Evaluation Unit, Beit Issie Shapiro
The research by Dr. Shirley Warner, Cheli Peretz, and Dr. Dana Roth is the first study of its kind in Israel, undertaken at the initiative of Beit Issie Shapiro as a result of the experience acquired over many years of wide-ranging activities and dealing with the attitudes of the community towards people with disabilities. The research compares the attitudes of children in preschool towards children with physical disabilities, children with impaired hearing, and regular children.

From the findings it emerged that children had more positive attitudes, in all aspects, towards children without disabilities by comparison with their attitudes towards children with physical or sensory disabilities. They indicate the importance of education from early childhood, giving age-appropriate information, and including the parents and the educational staff in building and shaping positive attitudes, and creating a solid foundation for an inclusive and accepting society.