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.

Johnson, K., Mino, G., and Hopkins, R.
This article reviews the involvement of self-advocacy groups with intellectual developmental disabilities in Ireland in research on important topics relating to their lives, and what the research meant to them.

Dr. Dana Roth – Director of Research and Evaluation Unit, Beit Issie Shapiro
Dr. Benjamin Hozmi – Academic Director, Beit Issie Shapiro
This article examines the quality of life of residents with intellectual developmental disabilities in an organization that provides them with housing, employment and leisure services, while participating in the investigation, focusing, adapting evaluation tools and formulating practical recommendations for improving their quality of life.

Jean Judes – Executive Director, Beit Issie Shapiro
Beit Issie Shapiro’s Executive Director, Ms. Jean Judes, presented Beit Issie Shapiro’s programs for changing attitudes as leverage for social inclusion.

Dekel Borovsky – Adapted Physical Activity Instructor, Sports Center, Beit Issie Shapiro
The booklet describes a project to integrate people with disabilities in the community through physical activity.

Ronen Cohen – Community Social Worker,
Dr. Dana Roth – Head of the Research and Evaluation Dept., Beit Issie Shapiro
Dr. Aron York – The Bob Shapell School of Social Work, Tel-Aviv University
Dr. Shimshon Neikrug – Research Consultant, Beit Issie Shapiro

The article presents the main findings of a study examining the impact of an intervention program among young people, aimed to change their attitudes towards people with disabilities. The program was planned and carried out by Beit Issie Shapiro, a non-profit organization in the field of disabilities that operates at the community level, and sees changing attitudes as part of the process of social change.

Shosh Kaminsky – M.S.W., Director of Knowledge Management and Social Change, Beit Issie Shapiro
Dr. Michele Shapiro – Director of Snoezelen (former), Beit Issie Shapiro
Children with disabilities and special needs can often only dream about playing in a playground.  Park Chaverim, Israel’s first accessible and inclusive playground, Established by Beit Issie Shapiro in 2005,  gives children with disabilities an equal opportunity for recreation and fun. The playground brings children with different ability levels together to teach them how to play and have fun together while raising community awareness about the importance of inclusion.