When it comes to technology, Israel is well known as a forward-thinking nation. Its entrepreneurs, investors and tech geeks constantly push the boundaries of what is possible, benefitting the lives of people far beyond the small state’s borders. 

But it is not just in the commercial technology field that this enterprising creativity is changing the world. One charity for disabled children, is pursuing a similar model of innovation and international collaboration to help improve the lives of unlimited numbers of people with special physical and mental needs.

Walking round the campus of Beit Issie Shapiro in Ra’anana is an inspiring and positive experience. Despite the very challenging needs of some of the children for whom it caters, there is a palpable sense of ingenuity round every corner and in every classroom.

For more than 40 years Beit Issie Shapiro has pushed boundaries. Not content with building Israel’s first hydrotherapy pool outside a hospital facility, it recently sent its leading experts to Ghana to teach a groundbreaking hydrotherapy training course there. This first-of-its-kind initiative saw 39 professionals in Ghana undergo an intensive four-day training programme to become certified hydrotherapists. Ghana is now the first country in Africa with professional hydrotherapists working with individuals with disabilities.

Michael Lawrence, Chief Advancement Officer, showed me the hydrotherapy pool in its Israeli facility. “You can’t tell when you look in a pool who has a disability and who doesn’t,” he says. “And we bring technology into the pool. So a child who is non-verbal can bring their tablet into the pool: we waterproof it. 

Then they can continue to communicate with communication boards and so on. It’s not therapeutic if the child can’t say ‘I’m cold, I’m scared. I feel good.’”

The pool helps treat a vast array of disabilities. Because the water removes much of the effect of gravity, it relieves the feeling of pressure which many of the children experience.

Ziv’s daughter, Rhea, first came to Beit Issie Shapiro at the age of two. 

“She could barely walk and was very passive and apathetic from a social and communicative standpoint,” he explains. “Soon after her arrival at therapeutic day care, she began to blossom. In the pool she was like a little mermaid.

“The change was nothing short of amazing,” he explains. Parents, as well as children, experience the benefits from the treatments, he says: “Watching the therapy sessions was kind of a mental therapy for me. After each visit, I would leave full with optimism and renewed strengths.”

Whether it’s through tech-driven classrooms, personalised assistive technologies, spreading hydrotherapy know-how around the globe, or pioneering inclusive schools, this pioneering trailblazing Israeli organisation is truly redefining how society can accommodate people with diverse abilities.

Source: The Jewish Chronicle