November 23, 2023 (vol. 174, iss. 20) • Page Image 26
… United States. “We’re not doing any kind of heavy lifting diplomatically,” he explains of the missions, “but what we’re doing is creating a sense of goodwill, and creating something on the deepest…
… countries who hail from different worlds but have one key thing in common: an understanding of disability and its impact. Here are the various countries that Bernstein has recently visited and the…
… first round. UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Bernstein is no stranger to the United Arab Emirates, where he’s spent a lot of time working with the Abraham Accords, which are bilateral agreements on Arab…
…-Israeli normalization signed between Israel, UAE and Bahrain in September 2020. Specifically, Bernstein helped craft disability components for the Abraham Accords. Yet, most recently, Bernstein was featured on Al…
… impact people in a way that you may have never thought possible. “It serves as a unifier,” he explains of disabilities, which don’t discriminate based on religion, race or where you’re born…
…32 | NOVEMBER 23 • 2023 J N OUR COMMUNITY O ne of the blessings of being born with a disability, says Michigan Supreme Court Justice Richard Bernstein, is that you’re given a chance to…
…. “Everybody has a connection to disability.” In Bernstein’s case, the connection is personal. Born blind, the Jewish justice — who is the first blind justice to be elected to the court — advocates for…
… disability equality and acceptance when court isn’t in session. For others, it may be a family member, friend, neighbor or coworker with a disability. Still, Bernstein doesn’t only advocate on a local…
… level. He travels the globe, often in partnership with the State Department, to foster connections with communities and disabled individuals in countries with strained relationships with the…
…, most personal level that you can possibly imagine.” While the work itself may not directly change relations between countries, it changes relationships between people living in those…
