Late last year, I met with the founders of "Special in Uniform" and they are the real deal, so I passed the story along to my friend Louise Kinross, who is a very lovely person indeed, and the editor of Holland Bloorview's gorgeous publication, BLOOM.
Please do read about this wonderful program and spread the word.
"Special in Uniform is a world-first: a four-year training program that prepares youth with disabilities to serve in the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) alongside their peers. No other nation's military trains people with disabilities for service. A decade ago IDF Lt.-Col Ariel Almog argued it was time to include youth with special needs and began “one by one to take youngsters and train them,” says Yossi Kahana, Special in Uniform co-founder. Today the program, funded by private donors and the Israeli government, works with 200 adults with a variety of intellectual and physical disabilities and plans to expand to military bases across Israel."
