Today’s classrooms are more neurodiverse than ever before. In the U.S., over 15% of public school students receive special education services (National Center for Education Statistics, 2024), and many more have diverse learning profiles that go unrecognized. Schools have made strides in supporting students’ academic needs, but far too little attention is given to how disability is perceived and discussed. Stigma remains one of the most under-addressed barriers autistic and other neurodivergent students face, shaping not only how they are treated by peers and teachers but how they come to see themselves.
Shiluv guest speaker Avner Fink, who has low vision, shares his lived experience and demonstrates assistive technology with a classroom of 3rd graders.
The Shiluv Program, named for the Hebrew word meaning “inclusion,” was created to challenge pervasive stigmas and transform how disability is understood in educational settings. Rather than focusing on deficits and framing difference as something to be accommodated out of obligation, Shiluv teaches that disability is a natural part of human diversity. In this way, Shiluv fosters environments in which all students are valued and respected.
The Persistent Impact of Disability Stigma in Schools
Even as inclusion in educational environments has advanced, stigma remains a deeply rooted obstacle. According to a national report, one in three educators believes that learning and attention challenges are sometimes just “laziness” (Horowitz, Rawe, and Whittaker, 2017). These societal misconceptions and biases, often subconscious, deeply influence classroom culture, expectations, and the emotional well-being of students.
Families feel this, too: 43% of parents say they would not want others to know if their child had a learning disability (Horowitz, Rawe, and Whittaker, 2017). Children internalize these attitudes early; research confirms that their understanding of disability is shaped by the language, behaviors, and assumptions they observe from adults, media, and peers (Jones, 2021).
In our work advancing inclusion at Gateways: Access to Jewish Education, we regularly hear from educators about subtle and overt expressions of stigma in schools: students with disabilities being excluded from social groups, classroom materials lacking disability representation, and resistance from colleagues to provide necessary accommodations. While physically integrated classrooms have the potential to foster empathy (Diamond and Huang, 2005), proximity alone doesn’t erase stigma (Lindsay and Edwards, 2012). Without intentional, developmentally appropriate education about disability, children are left to fill in the gaps with assumptions, and those assumptions often lead to bullying, exclusion, and shame (Lindsay and McPherson, 2012).
More than Just Awareness: The Shiluv Approach
Traditional disability awareness programs often rely on simulations, like blindfolding students to simulate vision loss or using wheelchairs to mimic physical disability (Adcock and Remus, 2006). While well-intentioned, these activities often reinforce harmful stereotypes by portraying disability as tragic or burdensome. Simulations offer a brief and superficial experience of limitation, failing to reflect the daily realities of disabled individuals who are, in fact, skilled problem-solvers and lifelong navigators of an often-inaccessible world. Rather than fostering genuine understanding, these exercises elicit pity and a sense of relief among participants that they are not disabled themselves (Lalvani & Broderick, 2013). Ultimately, this approach perpetuates stigma by positioning disability as something “other” instead of recognizing it as a natural and valuable part of human diversity.
Shiluv takes a fundamentally different approach. Grounded in the social model of disability, the program emphasizes that disability does not reside in an individual body or mind, but in the interaction between a person and an environment that may not be designed to support them. This model reframes the conversation from “What’s wrong with them?” to “What barriers can we remove so everyone can thrive?”
The curriculum invites students to start with themselves, exploring their own strengths, needs, and identities. Through multisensory, interactive lessons, they learn to recognize that we all navigate the world in different ways, and that fairness means giving people what they need to succeed, not treating everyone the same.
The Shiluv curriculum follows a developmentally informed progression that builds upon itself to help students retain and internalize its core concepts. Students in kindergarten through second grade begin with a focus on themselves, their families, and tangible aspects of accessibility in their daily environments. As they reach third grade and their capacity for perspective-taking grows, they have opportunities to explore similarities and differences in strengths, interests, and challenges among peers. Then, as students’ abstract thinking develops, they revisit core concepts with greater depth, reflecting critically on societal messages about disability and their own roles in shaping inclusive communities. This layered, cumulative approach helps normalize disability, counteract stigma, and instill a deep understanding that differences are not deficits; they are a source of community strength.
Students in 3rd grade paint flower pots as part of a Shiluv lesson on the beauty and importance of individual differences.
Shifting Student Mindsets Through Hands-On Experiences
Shiluv’s impact is felt in classrooms and beyond. In one first-grade class, some students initially felt it was unfair that certain classmates were getting different accommodations. After a Shiluv lesson, where they learned that fairness doesn’t mean everyone gets the same thing—it means everyone gets what they need—they reframed their thinking and began identifying on their own learning needs. For example, when we asked them to reflect on whether using a fidget helped them focus or was a distraction, they were able to answer truthfully.
In another class, a unit on playground accessibility inspired students to advocate for more inclusive equipment, drafting letters to the principal and proposing design changes. These are not just surface-level moments of kindness; they are signs of a shift in mindset towards communal ownership of inclusion.
Guest speaker sessions, where students meet and engage with people with different disabilities, also have a profound impact. These encounters offer students the chance to connect with someone who brings lived experience to the conversation, creating meaningful, personal relationships that break down stigma and build empathy.
One of the most noticeable shifts after these sessions is in how students talk about disability. As one fifth grade student reflected after meeting a guest speaker with autism: “When [the speaker] said he doesn’t want to be cured and likes who he is, it made me realize that autism isn’t something bad. I think it’s cool that he’s proud of who he is.” Before participating in Shiluv, many view disability as something “sad” or limiting. Afterward, they begin to understand that the real barriers are often societal. Instead of asking, “What’s wrong with them?” students start to ask, “How can we make sure they are included?”
Rory, a Shiluv guest speaker, demonstrates how they work with their service dog for a classroom of students.
Empowering Educators to Lead Cultural Change
Children’s attitudes are shaped not only by what adults explicitly teach, but also by the behaviors they consistently model (Vreeman and Carroll, 2007). For that reason, the Shiluv Program also includes a fellowship for educators, a train-the-trainer model designed to create sustainable, systemic change.
Participating teachers receive in-depth professional development on the social model of disability, respectful language, universal design, ableism, authentic representation, and more. Fellows learn to integrate disability education into their everyday practice throughout the school year, rather than as a one-off unit. They become confident facilitators of conversations around difference, better equipped to respond to students’ questions and challenge ableist assumptions when they arise.
Educators outside the fellowship observe colleagues and students adopting more inclusive language, practices, and mindsets, prompting reflection and change in their own classrooms. Fellows report that Shiluv equips them for productive conversations about inclusion and accommodations with more reticent colleagues. In this way, the program model allows it to reach far beyond the individual classroom, to seed change in schools from within.
This cultural shift reverberates even further as students bring their learning home. One parent shared that after a Shiluv lesson, her child—who has a disability—came home excited to talk about his experiences, focusing on his strengths in addition to the challenges his disability can present. Students emerge from Shiluv eager to embrace their identities and advocate for themselves and others confidently.
A 5th grade student does jumping jacks as part of a Shiluv activity.
Moving Toward a Future Without Stigma
Stigma thrives in silence, isolation, and misunderstanding. Programs like Shiluv break that silence. They invite students and educators into conversations that honor complexity, affirm identity, and build bridges of belonging. They equip communities to move beyond mere awareness toward deep inclusion, understanding, and respect.
Shiluv is not just a curriculum. It is a movement to reimagine what’s possible when we center dignity, equity, and the belief that all students deserve to be fully seen and supported. By addressing stigma head-on through teacher education, we can build school cultures that don’t just include autistic and disabled students, but celebrate them.
Tali Cohen Carrus, M.S.Ed, is Senior Director of Programs at Gateways: Access to Jewish Education. If you are interested in connecting with us, please visit www.jgateways.org or email Tali Cohen Carrus at talic@jgateways.org. We welcome conversations with educators, families, and advocates committed to fostering more inclusive and stigma-free learning environments.
References
Adcock, B., & Remus, M. L. (2006). Disability awareness activity packet. Possibilities, Inc.
Diamond, K. E., & Huang, H.-H. (2005). Preschoolersʼ ideas about disabilities. Infants & Young Children, 18(1), 37–46. https://doi.org/10.1097/00001163-200501000-00005
Horowitz, S. H., Rawe, J., & Whittaker, M. C. (2017). The state of learning disabilities: Understanding the 1 in 5. National Center for Learning Disabilities.
Jones, S. E. (2021). Children’s understanding of disabilities. In Disability, care and family law (pp. 85–98). https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429328015-7
Lalvani, P., & Broderick, A. A. (2013). Institutionalized ableism and the misguided “Disability Awareness Day”: Transformative pedagogies for teacher education. Equity & Excellence in Education, 46(4), 468–483. https://doi.org/10.1080/10665684.2013.838484
Lindsay, S., & Edwards, A. (2012). A systematic review of disability awareness interventions for children and youth. Disability and Rehabilitation, 35(8), 623–646. https://doi.org/10.3109/09638288.2012.702850
Lindsay, S., & McPherson, A. C. (2012). Experiences of social exclusion and bullying at school among children and youth with cerebral palsy. Disability and Rehabilitation, 34(2), 101–109. https://doi.org/10.3109/09638288.2011.587086
National Center for Education Statistics. (2024). Students with disabilities. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cgg
Vreeman, R. C., & Carroll, A. E. (2007). A systematic review of school-based interventions to prevent bullying. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 161(1), 78–88. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpedi.161.1.78
autism acceptance,disability stigma,education,inclusive classrooms,neurodiversity,social model of disability,student empowerment,Summer 2025 Issue,teacher training
