On Pomegranates And Human Potential

For generations, people with disabilities have been sidelined, underestimated and disparaged owing to an assumption that ability can be ascertained at a glance. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. Rooted firmly in one’s potential, ability must be developed and refined.

ADI’s exceptional professional staff and dedicated volunteers spend their days doing just that: cultivating growth and proving that, while there may be scientific proof that some pomegranate trees are incapable of bearing fruit, this pomegranate paradigm does not apply to humans. As anyone who has spent even a few minutes with our ADI family members can attest, all people can blossom and bear fruit if they are shown lots of love, and given the tools and opportunities they need to draw out their potential.

Every one of our residents and special education students began their rehabilitative journeys saddled with prognoses that were punctuated by negativity and despair. In absolute terms, their families were informed that there was nothing that could be done to advance their abilities.

“He will never walk,” concluded one doctor. “She won’t ever be able to communicate,” asserted another.

Yet, following months of extensive therapy and the determined mastery of specialized mobility equipment, a supposed “wheelchair user for life” takes his first independent step.

With intensive training and state-of-the-art retinal technology, a young woman who cannot speak or learn sign language finds a way to make herself he