Topsy-turvy state: Is the head of a closed institution an "inclusion icon"?

Image Source: Israel National New

Live and learn.

It seems a person who champions the separation of children with disabilities from their families and locks them up in large institutions is none other than an "inclusion icon" ["Corona Cocoon: Inclusion icon shares her quarantine practices"].

No, that was no typo. The Aleh PR team actually dubbed the chief administrator of its Jerusalem branch with that moniker. It's akin to labeling a totalitarian leader "Defender of Democracy" or a drug lord "anti addiction". etc. You get my drift.

Around that time, Bizchut, the Israel Center for the Rights of People With Disabilities, circulated a newsletter which detailed two instances of its intervention to help individuals with disabilities escape institutions. Here is one [my translation from Hebrew]: 

"Dan, 26, has cognitive disabilities, autism and challenging behavior. He shuttled between various residential settings but didn't manage to settle in at any of them. Life in a big, remote institution disconnected him from his family and his community. In sheltered living, he resided with five others and needed to accommodate himself to a strict daily routine. Consequently, he experienced fits of rage or was pumped with psychiatric drugs. Dan's parents returned him to the community. They designed an independent, flexible program suited to his needs and abilities. His medical and emotional conditions improved. His attacks of rage have disappeared. He has friends in the neighborhood. He attends synogogue. He enjoys classes in arts and crafts, sport and gardening. But the subsidies that Dan receives only cover half the cost of the program. His parents have been paying for the rest. How much is that, you ask? Well, interestingly, it's less than his living expenses were at the institution. We approached the Ministry of Welfare with a request to supply people like Dan with services supporting life in the community or, alternatively, to cover the costs of a personal program which is, as stated, lower than the cost of life in an institution. This is the correct way to provide a person with services: funding or a personal basket which he can choose to implement. We will continue to update!"

But the struggle confronting Bizchut is constantly obstructed by our own government, one that encourages, praises and supports institutionalization.  

As we have grown to expect, yet another couple of government officials trotted off to Aleh last week to praise the denial of equal rights to our most vulnerable citizens. Aleh's Facebook page and website informed us that 

"Michael Biton, Minister for Civil and Social Matters in the Ministry of Defense visited the "Rehabilitation Village of Aleh Negev/Nahalat Eran". The chairman of the village, Doron Almog and CEO Avi Wurtzman conducted the visit to the site during which the Minister heard about the endeavors at the village and the educational and rehabilitative activities that are carried out there. He was also impressed by the rehabilitation day center and spoke to a patient who progressed extraordinarily thanks to the dedicated therapy and care of the staff there. The minister visited the therapeutic pool. horse farm, amphitheatre and the site of the rehabilitation hospital which will serve the needs of thousands of Negev residents. Minister Biton praised the employees of ALEH Negev-Nahalat Eran and their dedicated service and listened intently as he was told about the village’s history, its development over the years, its future vision and present challenges. Before departing, the Minister signed the village guest book, writing that, “a visit to ALEH Negev-Nahalat Eran is an obligation for every Israeli. A special thank you for all that you do to benefit IDF veterans with disabilities and the residents of Yerucham and the Negev, so close to my heart.”

Source: Screen Cap

And just two days later another government official, Minister of Diaspora Affairs Omer Yankelevich, enjoyed a repeat performance by PR chief Doron Almog, and CEO Avi Wurtzman. The Minister heard about the major projects, ranging from the construction of that much-touted rehabilitation hospital to the volunteerism of "hundreds of diaspora youths" - you know, to make it all relevant to her domain. 

We learn from Aleh that afterwards the Minister 

"praised the endeavors of the Village... blessed the administration of the place and the staff in the guest book and wrote 'To the warmest, most special, moral and humane home in the world. Thanks to you we learn what a person's role is in the world...Thank you for nurturing values the merits of which take center stage in Israeli society and in the Diaspora...Thanks to you the next generation will be different..." [Source]

The Minister obviously has a soft spot for hyperbole.. And she is also obviously ignorant about the global view of institutions like Aleh. Here is what the COVID-19 Disability Rights Monitor ("the world’s only systematic international shadow monitoring report focusing on disability rights") had to say just one month ago:  

"While the institutionalization of persons with disabilities has always been a human rights abuse,[emphasis added] our survey demonstrates that the emergency measures that were implemented by governments to control the spread of COVID-19 have accelerated the pre-existing abuses of the rights of persons with disabilities in institutions. These abuses include violations of the right to life itself. For instance, persons living in smaller group homes in the USA are contracting and dying of COVID-19 at a much higher rate than the rest of the population. Institutional residents who have contracted COVID-19 were denied access to the same quality of health care that was provided to other citizens."  

I would advise her to peruse this post of mine ["The case for de-institutionalization in the COVID-19 era"] too.

In the meantime, I am still anxiously awaiting a response from the Israeli government's Ministry of Welfare's Freedom of Information section (mentioned here). I requested a break-down of the number of COVID-19 victims with disabilities according to the individual institutions.