SPORTS PROGRAM EDUCATES KIDS IN DIVERSITY - Basketball Helps Shatter Stereotypes About the Disabled

New York, NY: One of the best ways to teach tolerance is on the basketball court. That’s the opinion of Dr. Jeff Lichtman, National Director of the National Jewish Council for the Disabled’s Good Sports program, the only program that brings kids with developmental disabilities together with their non-disabled peers to play rigorous games of hockey, basketball, bowling and other sports.

"Before, I only saw developmentally disabled people on TV. But now I see that these kids are just like us,"

Rachel Horn
age 15
Hillel Academy, NJ

The monthly program, which draws 200 handicapped and non-handicapped athletes, will be held next on Sunday, January 24, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., at the Edward R. Murrow High School, 1600 Avenue L. in Brooklyn. Kenneth J. Podziba, Commissioner of the New York City Sports Commission, will visit the Good Sports Program to get a first-hand look at the mainstreamed sports event.

The Good Sports program will draw eighth grade students from the Sephardic Community Center in Brooklyn and children who have recently emigrated from the former Soviet Union who will be participating under the auspices of the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services.

"Good Sports is one of the most popular community service programs in our school," explained Lynne Hirschhorn, dean of the 8^th graders at the Horace Mann School in Riverdale, NY. "Most of the students have never had contact with the developmentally disabled before. Good Sports gives them first-hand exposure to an entirely new population."

Geared for disabled athletes ages 9-55, the unique athletic program is led by physical education instructors with training in special education. Disabled players, who have mild to moderate disabilities, are grouped according to age and skill. "The developmentally disabled are cognitively challenged but they are not necessarily physically challenged," said Dr. Lichtman, National Director of the NJCD. "But the program is not only beneficial for the disabled population. Teens whose interests would ordinarily be confined to clothes and music are inculcated with patience, sensitivity, humility and compassion while learning about the abilities of people with disabilities."

With 35 chapters throughout the United States and Canada, the NJCD, an agency of the Orthodox Union, is a leading resource center providing information and referral services for those with special needs in the Jewish community. The only organization of its kind, the NJCD provides a unique range of social, recreational and religious interactive activities, serving the needs of nearly 1,000 developmentally disabled children and adults.

For more information on the Good Sports Program or the NJCD, call (212) 613-8229.