Access Israel has been working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, since the morning hours of October 7 to save lives and assist people with disabilities and the elderly, as well as their families
Ella Lavon, partnered with Access Israel
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Access Israel is a leading orga nization promoting inclusion and accessibility for people with disability, for all disabil ities and in all areas of life, including war and emergency situations. Accessibility Accelerator is Access Israel’s affiliate, broadening the global reach and efforts of the organization.
Helping during the war
Access Israel’s award-winning and life-saving initiative Purple Vest Mission is a leading initiative focused on assisting and rescuing people with disabilities and the elderly in times of war and emergency. “With every alarm, my heart stops beating. I hug David and pray that it will be over,” says Anat Dayan-Feldman, a mother of three from Ashkelon. Her son David (8) was born with a rare genetic disease, and cannot walk independently. The closest shelter to their home is outside the building, and there’s no way they can reach it in the required 30 seconds.
Since the outset of the war, the Purple Vest Mission has evacuated over 1,100 people with disabilities, elderly and their families living in communities under missile attack and without accessible shelter. In addition, over 3,600 people received assistance through the accessible emergency call center and designated website, including food, equipment, medicine, medical devices, clothing, mental health help, alternative housing, and much more.“So far, we have trained 780 Purple Vest volunteers to provide accessible humanitarian aid during times of war and emergency. These remarkable volunteers wearing purple vests come from all parts of Israel and are ready at a moment’s notice to provide assistance or to simply call people and let them know someone cares,” says Yuval Wagner, Founder and Chair of Access Israel.
Vital initiatives for 2024 and beyond
As the war progresses, there has been a growing need for Purple Vest Mission evacuations and support in northern cities such as Nahariya that were not officially evacuated during the first phases of the war. “After conducting a survey of the special needs of people with disabilities in times of war, we improved existing projects and added new urgently needed new initiatives for 2024,” Wagner explains. These initiatives include:
Back to Life: a beacon of hope for over 2,000 citizens and security personnel and disabled IDF veterans grappling with new disabilities incurred during the October 7th attack and the war. The initiative bridges the gap between the rights and services available to those with disabilities and their awareness of these resources. It plays a pivotal role in instilling confidence, providing tools, and offering essential knowledge to empower participants to live independently, integrate into society, and overcome the hurdles that often accompany their newfound conditions. The program includes 11 meetings, each with 10-15 newly disabled participants.
Making the Day After Accessible ByDesign: This project ensures from theoutset that new construction will comply by design with the legal requirements for modern accessibility and inclusion for people with disability andelderly.
Purple Vest ‘I Care’ App: A vital application matching people with disabilities and the elderly with one ofthe trained Purple Vest volunteers,to provide an ongoing direct line ofempathic friendship and customized care, which is very important to cope with loneliness. The app will also enable direct support for people with disabilities and elderly wherever they are currently located.
“After conducting a survey of the special needs of people with disabilities in times of war, we improved
existing projects and added new urgently needed new initiatives for 2024”
As Accessible and Sheltered as Possible: in cooperation with JDC (The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee), a team of experts will go to homes of people with disabilities and the elderly who reside in areas that are under rocket attack and are without accessible shelters. The team of trained experts will try to make the houses as safe and accessible as possible to avoid having to evacuate residents with disabilities.
Help You Help Yourself: A multifaceted Zoom course trains people with disabilities on how to be ready and how to behave in different kinds of emergencies at home, work, or other public spaces.These long-term projects need immediate funding as the need is great.
For more information and to make taxexempt donations to Access Israel Org, visit www.aisrael.org or contact yuval@aisrael.org or jamie@accessibilityaccelerator.org
