By Kirstie Henry
Valentine’s Day is not a Jewish holiday. Far from it. Notwithstanding the occasion to indulge in a box of chocolates, we don’t need it. Love is infused throughout Jewish tradition and liturgy. Nevertheless, millions of people are celebrating love and romance today. Many couples will recall or anticipate their wedding, but for some people in our community, there can be no wedding day.
Disabled Adult Child (DAC) and Supplement Security Income (SSI) are two programs that provide benefits to disabled people. DAC benefits are a type of Title II Social Security Disability benefit available to disabled individuals who are the adult children of Social Security beneficiaries and are unable to work due to their disabilities. Title II disability benefits may also provide Medicare to help cover the cost of medical treatment and prescription drugs.
The policies regulating DAC only allow for marriage to another DAC beneficiary, or to someone receiving Social Security because of disability or retirement. If they marry someone who does not receive DAC or SSI, they lose their benefits, even if they marry someone who earns very little. People receiving SSI also face very serious marriage penalties. Consequently, many disabled people literally cannot get married because they cannot afford to live if they lose those benefits.
In this week’s Torah portion, Yitro (Jethro), we learn that Moses is exhausting himself with the task of settling civil disputes among the Israelites. At the advice of his father-in-law Jethro, Moses delegates this judicial function, by appointing judges “from amongst the people.” It is worth nothing that the Midrash teaches us that most of the Israelites (from whom Moses appointed the judges) were disabled. “When Israel departed from Egypt, the vast majority of them were blemished. Why? It is because they were toiling in mortar and bricks and . . . a stone would fall and sever his hand, or a beam or mortar would enter his eye and he would be blinded” (Numbers Rabbah, Naso 7:1).
Recent efforts to pass legislation addressing DAC and SSI marriage penalties have stalled, in part because policies are dominated by people who are not disabled themselves. In fact, there are very few disabled officials or appointees in government. This is not surprising, considering the physical, logistical, and procedural stumbling blocks to voting and other forms of political involvement in America today.
February is Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance, and Inclusion Month (JDAIM). JDAIM is a call for all of us to act in accordance with our Jewish values. Superficially, it is easy to think that the disability community enjoys robust protections of the ADA and disability benefits programs, but these programs were built on a foundation of inequality and haven’t been reevaluated in several decades.
To learn more about our unconscious bias toward people with disabilities, please take a few minutes to view this video: Purposeful Steps Away from Ableism. (Pairs well with a box of chocolates.)
Kirstie Henry is the Chair of LiNK Jewish Buffalo and a member of the Buffalo Jewish Federation Board of Governors and the Congregation Shir Shalom Board of Trustees. She is employed by the federal judiciary and is adjusting to life as an empty nester, with the loving support of her husband.
