24 | OCTOBER 14 • 2021 

OUR COMMUNITY

M

ichigan Supreme Court Justice 
Richard Bernstein spoke at 
Michigan State University on 
Tuesday, Oct. 12, about his advocacy work 
in the Middle East. 
 His multi-national efforts, made possible 
by the Abraham Accords, which opened 
new channels for collaboration between 
Israel and its neighbors, are the first time 
the UAE and Israel have collaborated to 
aid people with disabilities, according to 
Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, deputy mayor of 
Jerusalem. She says she hopes this will help 
make the region a more inclusive place. 
“It’s much better when you work in 
regional collaboration,
” she says. “It enriches 
everybody and pushes the agenda forward.
” 
Bernstein spent time in the UAE and in 
Israel earlier this year to help lay the foun-
dation for the establishment of new schools 
and special education programs as well as 
job placement services, adaptive technology 
and athletic programs for people with dis-
abilities. 
He went to the UAE at the invitation of 
the royal families to talk about inclusion of 
people with disabilities and to help people 
imagine more opportunities for their chil-
dren, he says. He’s spent time also sharing 
the story of his life and experiences — he’s 
the first blind judge on Michigan’s Supreme 

Court.
Bernstein went on to Israel, where he 
continued his work, even as he spent 12 
days in a bomb shelter which shook vio-
lently as the Iron Dome intercepted more 
than 1,000 incoming rockets during May’s 
fighting. He was committed, he explains, to 
the ongoing work of helping bring people 
with disabilities from the shadows into the 
light.
“My job is to help cultivate those relation-
ships, show possibilities and then allow for 
partnerships to develop that can create the 
technical know-how to do all that work,
” he 
says. “We’re merging the technical knowl-
edge Israel has with the want and passion 
of other countries to create a better life for 
their citizens.
”
The UAE and Israel are working on pol-
icy that will be cultivated throughout the 
region, he explains, that will allow families 
to see a different world for their children. 
Additionally, he explains, shared common 
experience, which, in this case, is living with 
a disability or having a loved one living with 
a disability, has the power to override other 
political concerns or political pressures and 
bring people together. 
During his talk, he emphasized the 
importance of connection in being able 
to make a difference in the world — the 

impact loving people, caring about them, 
enjoying them and wanting to help them 
can have. 
“
At the end of the day, it all comes down 
to your love of people and your ability to 
have that relationship to people,
” he says. 
“But it’s only through genuine connection, 
empathy and understanding that you can 
really make change.
” 
Bernstein is no stranger to traveling 
around the world to work with families 
who have children with special needs, he 
explains, and to promoting the develop-
ment of policies that help improve their 
lives. 
“Struggle creates relationships, and with 
relationships comes trust and understand-
ing, and once people get to know and like 
each other and become friends who care 

Michigan Supreme Court 
Justice Richard Bernstein 
uses Abraham Accords to 
aid people with disabilities.

Advocacy
 in the
Middle East

KAREN SCHWARTZ
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

ASMA ALI ZAIN VIA JTA

Richard
Bernstein

BY GILABRAND - OWN WORK, CC BY-SA 3.0, VIA WIKIPEDIA

Fleur Hassan-
Nahoum

