{"id":16816,"date":"2011-11-29T01:23:46","date_gmt":"2011-11-29T06:23:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/?p=16816"},"modified":"2011-11-29T03:24:23","modified_gmt":"2011-11-29T08:24:23","slug":"scarsdale-mom-advocate-for-the-deaf-lauded-nationally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2011\/11\/29\/scarsdale-mom-advocate-for-the-deaf-lauded-nationally\/","title":{"rendered":"Scarsdale mom, advocate for the deaf lauded nationally"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scarsdale mom, advocate for the deaf lauded nationally<\/strong><\/p>\n

November 28, 2011<\/p>\n

Written by Rebecca Baker<\/p>\n

WHITE PLAINS \u2014 At age 11, Alexis Ander Kashar got to experience a whole new
\nstate when her family moved from New York to Texas.<\/p>\n

But when the deaf child got her first interpreter as a teenager, she got to
\nexperience a whole new world.<\/p>\n

“For the first time I had access to everything,” she said. “I understood
\neverything around me. It changed my life.”<\/p>\n

Her awakening ignited a passion for civil rights that would lead Kashar, a
\nmother of three from Scarsdale, to be one of the most high-profile advocates
\nfor the deaf in the country. She is not only president of both the board of
\ntrustees at the New York School for the Deaf (Fanwood) in Greenburgh and the
\nJewish Deaf Resource Center in Hartsdale, she is the public policy
\nchairwoman for the National Association for the Deaf.<\/p>\n

Her tireless efforts \u2014 all done as a volunteer \u2014 will be recognized Dec. 5
\nby Jewish Women International, which has named her one of 10 “Women to
\nWatch” in the United States.<\/p>\n

“Some people ask me why do you do all of this for free?” she said. “I can’t
\nsit on the sidelines; it’s not my nature.”<\/p>\n

Those who know her say Kashar is a charismatic charmer whose unending energy
\nmakes her a formidable presence .<\/p>\n

Janet Dickinson said she was so impressed with Kashar that she didn’t
\nhesitate to accept the executive director’s job at Fanwood last year.<\/p>\n

“She sold me on the merits of this school,” she said through an interpreter
\n. “If it was not for her, I would have thought long and hard about
\nrelocating from Colorado.”<\/p>\n

When the school’s state funding was threatened, Dickinson said, she and
\nKashar lobbied state lawmakers in Albany together. She said Kashar also
\nspends time on campus, talking with students, helping them with projects and
\nadvising them on life in the hearing world.<\/p>\n

“She’s a wonderful, wonderful role model,” Dickinson said. “There’s a saying
\nthat you should ask a busy person if you want something done. Alexis is
\nprobably the busiest person I know.”<\/p>\n

Kashar’s commitment to deaf advocacy started in Arlington Heights High
\nSchool in Fort Worth, Texas, when she was assigned a deaf interpreter for
\nthe first time. She became a leader in student government and decided to
\nbecome a lawyer, enrolling in law school at the University of Texas, where
\nshe had received her undergraduate degree.<\/p>\n

She met her husband in law school, and they began their careers in Los
\nAngeles. They moved to Scarsdale seven years ago to give their young
\nchildren a traditional suburban upbringing.<\/p>\n

That’s when she left private practice and dedicated her time to volunteer
\nwork.<\/p>\n

She soon found herself involved with the National Association for the Deaf.
\nThrough her efforts, the National Football League provided closed captioning
\nfor nearly all Super Bowl commercials in January.<\/p>\n

“That’s what people talk about the day after the game,” she said. “It’s
\nabout being part of American society. We wanted to be part of the
\nconversation.”<\/p>\n

Kashar also wanted her son and two daughters to have something she never did
\n\u2014 a religious education.<\/p>\n

Her parents, both of whom were deaf, did not belong to a synagogue because
\nit was inaccessible to the deaf, and she was unable to attend children’s
\nreligious classes.<\/p>\n

“There was no access, so I was not educated,” she said. “I didn’t know what
\nthe prayers meant. I didn’t speak Hebrew.”<\/p>\n

As a parent, she ran into similar barriers. Houses of worship are exempt
\nfrom the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Kashar was told she had to
\nbring her own interpreter to the temple. She did at first but was concerned
\nabout others who couldn’t afford it.<\/p>\n

“That’s like saying to someone in a wheelchair, ‘Bring your own ramp,’ ” she
\nsaid. She became involved in the Jewish Deaf Resource Center about four
\nyears ago and was named its president last year. She lobbied the
\nUJA-Federation and secured a $20,000 grant to increase JDRC’s outreach to
\ndeaf Jews.<\/p>\n

“I was struck by her passion and sense of purpose,” said Roberta Leiner, a
\nmanaging director with the UJA-Federation. “I was moved by her sense of
\ncommitment.”<\/p>\n

Bringing deaf interpreters into temples hasn’t been easy. Kashar said
\nConservative Jewish leaders were resistant because the rabbi’s words would
\nbe communicated in something other than traditional Hebrew. Today, some, but
\nnot all, Conservative synagogues offer interpreting services.<\/p>\n

“It’s a step in the right direction \u2014 baby steps,” Kashar said.<\/p>\n

Her efforts toward inclusion became personal when her daughter, Leah, had
\nher bat mitzvah last year. It was the first time her entire family
\nworshipped together. What made the ceremony even more moving, she said, was
\nthat her daughter’s Torah portion was, “You shall not curse the deaf; you
\nshall not put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear God.”<\/p>\n

Leah, 14, started a sign-language club this year at Scarsdale High School
\nthat already has 30 members and is raising money for Fanwood.<\/p>\n

“It’s really important that everyone is equal and no one’s left out,” Leah
\nsaid.<\/p>\n

To that, Kashar smiled.<\/p>\n

“I trained her well,” she said. “Every day you should be able to make a
\ndifference.”<\/p>\n

Source:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.lohud.com\/article\/20111128\/NEWS02\/111280317\/Scarsdale-mom-advocate-deaf-lauded-nationally<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scarsdale mom, advocate for the deaf lauded nationally November 28, 2011 Written by Rebecca Baker WHITE PLAINS \u2014 At age 11, Alexis Ander Kashar got to experience a whole new state when her family moved from New York to Texas.…<\/p>\n

Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[600,11711,11718,4621,11720,8804,201,11713,121,11714,11716,9924,40,11717,3992,9746,11712,11715,7912,9918,523,11721,17,11719],"class_list":["post-16816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deaf-news","tag-advocacy","tag-alexis-ander-kashar","tag-arlington-heights-high-school","tag-article","tag-conservative-jewish","tag-deaf-interpreter","tag-family","tag-fanwood","tag-fort-worth","tag-greenburgh","tag-hartsdale","tag-hebrew","tag-interpreter","tag-janet-dickinson","tag-jewish","tag-jewish-deaf-resource-center","tag-kashar","tag-national-association-for-the-deaf","tag-national-football-league","tag-new-york-school-for-the-deaf","tag-nfl","tag-scarsdale-high-school","tag-texas","tag-uja-federation"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p752R-4ne","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":19091,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2012\/06\/21\/spurred-by-a-torah-portion-alexis-kashar-is-breaking-down-barriers-for-deaf-jews\/","url_meta":{"origin":16816,"position":0},"title":"Spurred by a Torah portion, Alexis Kashar is breaking down barriers for deaf Jews","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"June 21, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Spurred by a Torah portion, Alexis Kashar is breaking down barriers for deaf Jews By Lisa Keys June 13, 2012 NEW YORK (JTA) -- It was an ancient sentence -- a fragment, really -- that changed everything for Alexis Kashar. 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