In a development that is already having impact in the field, SHATIL has been empowering people with physical and emotional disabilities to take control of their lives and work for society-wide change.

"The impact is felt in the innovative initiatives led by graduates of our disabilities courses and by organizations in the field that are rallying around these initiatives," said organizational consultant and social entrepreneur Israel Sykes, who has been leading the new effort.

One example is the project initiated by graduates of SHATIL's latest disabilities course, Integrated Course for Social Change in the Area of Disabilities, in cooperation with David Yellin College for people with disabilities and special education students. This is the second such collaboration between SHATIL and the College. Two participants initiated a project to encourage people to take advantage of a new employment law allowing people with disabilities to work without threatening their government stipend. The project has been adopted by Israel's Disabilities Right Commission and the Israeli Human Rights Organization of People with Disabilities. At the graduation ceremony, one of the project initiators, who is visually impaired, read a letter in Braille addressed to President Obama about the program.

Scene from the monthly hike organized by and for people coping with psychiatric disabilities

The course included sessions on social change tools, meetings with social innovators and entrepreneurs and with activists in the area of disabilities, and acquiring tools for the development of social projects. Several sessions were led by former SHATIL disabilities course graduates.

At the moving course graduation ceremony April 20, in which graduates presented their projects, there was a spectrum of disabled people including those in wheelchairs and with crutches, with visual and hearing impairments, and people coping with psychiatric disabilities.

SHATIL Director Rachel Liel addressed the participants: "You are the best example that a new, fascinating and fertile collaboration is possible. You constantly teach us that when we combine forces, rise above limiting definitions and together work for social change, we can turn our society into a better, more just one in which people in general and people with disabilities in particular can live with respect and actively participate in and influence a community that is accessible to them."

Rinat Baruch, a lawyer with cerebral palsy, said the course gave her the courage and the tools to transform her dream of full employment for people with disabilities into reality. As her project, she is planning a pilot course, "The Courage to Transform a Dream into Employment," which will begin in October. Another initiative is a monthly hike organized by and for people coping with psychiatric disabilities who have a hard time leaving their homes. "The beauty, openness and quiet in nature as well as the feeling of family created by our joint meals are healing," said Sima Levi, a course participant who developed this project.

Levi describes the course's impact on her life: "The course enabled me to come out of my shell and to see that there are possibilities for change; that there is hope. It also opened my eyes to the challenges people with other disabilities face and allowed me to have more perspective on my own. The frank and equal meeting with the students at David Yellin, our mutual desire to learn and grow together, was cause for optimism."

Also partners in the course are Aleh, the Society of Blind and Dyslexic Students in Israel, the House of Wheels, the Center for Independent Living and Shekel Community Services for People with Special Needs.