Reflecting on the values of the organization, Bruriah’s Yachad committee focuses on spreading inclusion despite differences in school and beyond. The committee met this past week for an informative and entertaining program, run by senior Aliza Walzman and junior Kayla Schachter, the committee’s heads. The girls were paired up and given the task to have a conversation with each other, using instructions on an index card that their partner was assigned. Some examples of card cues were “Talk to me like I can’t understand anything” and “Repeat everything I say.” The girls quickly realized how frustrating it was to try to continue a conversation with a person who was looking at the label of the card they were holding and talking to the card and not to them as an individual. Aliza and Kayla explained how easy it is to unintentionally do the same when talking to an individual with special needs, to mistakenly talk to their disability and not to them. The committee discussed different ways to combat this and to recognize that an individual is not defined by their various abilities or disabilities. All participants walked away from this sensitivity training program with a new understanding of what it means to be sensitive and how to effectively apply the lessons learned to real life situations.

Tali Finkelstein is a Bergen County junior at Bruriah.