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Article Provided by the Interfaith
Disabilities Network, a program of the Atlanta Alliance on
Developmental Disabilities
1. Involve persons with disabilities in all planning for
architectural modifications. Money is wasted when unusable
modifications are made. Use the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
specifications to ensure success.
2. Consider replacing fixed pews with flexible seating. This will turn
your worship space into a multipurpose space, which will allow people
with disabilities to participate fully in the life of your
congregation.
3. Cut the ends of several existing pews so that wheelchair users may
be seated with their families rather than in specially designated,
segregated sections.
4. If there are steps to your chancel and sanctuary, consider having a
communion station on the floor of the nave. This allows young
children, elderly persons, and persons with disabilities to share
communion in exactly the same way as the rest of the congregation.
5. Think about converting two side-by-side bathrooms into one
accessible unisex bathroom. Allow enough space for a wheelchair to
turn around, and be sure to allow transfer space on both sides of the
toilet. Use ADA specifications and ask people with disabilities, who
know what works and what doesn’t, for important insight.
6. Install long-handled door hardware, which is easier for everyone to
use, especially those with impaired hand function.
7. If wheelchair users volunteer in your office, consider raising the
height of your work surfaces so that the wheelchairs can fit
comfortably at a desk or table.
8. Provide a paper cup dispenser near your water fountain. This will
transform an inaccessible fountain into one accessible to wheelchair
users.
9. Suggest that congregants with hearing loss sit close to the front
of the worship space where they can see the worship participants.
Ask worship participants to speak distinctly and slowly
and to look frequently at the congregation since much lip reading
takes place with persons with hearing loss. Seeing the facial
expression of the speaker facilitates understanding of the spoken word
both for people who read lips and those who don’t. Always use the
available sound system. When updating the sound system, be aware of
new technologies which we all have need of as we age.
10. Survey your sound system to make sure it meets the needs of those
with high-frequency sound loss. Install headphones in selected pews,
if necessary. Familiarize the congregation with availability of all
hearing devices.
11. When remodeling or updating the existing facilities, install both
a light and sound-cued fire alarm system. You may not have a person in
the congregation who is deaf or who lives with hearing loss now, but
you may in the future.
12. Check out resources and teaching aids that are available from
public and private schools for children with special needs. They are
usually easy to adapt for religious education programs and can be
generalized/adapted for all ages.
13. Work with local, state, and national
organizations that focus on a specific problem, such as the
Organization for the Visually Handicapped, Mental Illness Network,
American Speech and Hearing Association, Council for Exceptional
Children, CHADD, etc. Ask specifically for names of people who might
be able to help.
14. Formally establish a “Caring Ministry” in your congregation to
maintain regular communication with persons who are hospitalized, have
recently returned home, or are dealing with difficult life situations.
Pastors cannot, nor should not, do everything! Very few people choose
to be “homebound." Being made to feel a
continuing part of the faith community can often prevent losing vital
people to depression and isolation.
15. Include children in plans to visit nursing homes or rehabilitation
centers. But, be aware that a short-term “project” can be hurtful to
people who feel abandoned when it is over. Choose participants
carefully with a gentle timeline established. This can be a wonderful
experience for everyone involved if handled with respect and
compassion.
16. Discover and utilize sources of large print, audio taped, or
Braille books, magazines, and Bibles. Audio taping materials for
persons who are blind or have low vision is a wonderful outreach
program for youth ministry. It is a service project that anyone who
can read can do. No hammers required.
17. Apply brightly colored, textured stripes at the tops of stairs to
indicate that stairs are being approached. This will not only help
persons with low vision, but also any person carrying something which
blocks his/her vision.
18. Make a survey of current lighting to ensure that the wattage is
high enough and that the placement of fixtures ensures maximum
visibility.
19. If you have persons with severe visual impairments in your
congregation, install signage in Braille or raised letters. When
remodeling or updating the building, install signage in Braille or
raised letters. You may not have anyone in the congregation now who is
blind or has a visual impairment, but you may in the future. It is a
sign of hospitality!
20. Make large print materials easy to casually pick up. Requesting
“special” accommodations embarrasses many people. Many communities
have simply raised the font size of print material to a minimum of 15
or 18 point.
21. Consider a Ministry of Respite Care in your congregation. Some
churches have established a drop-in center where frail elderly and
others may stay in safety while caretakers do errands or take time
off.
22. Make yourself knowledgeable of the needs and frustrations of those
persons with invisible disabilities, such as chronic pain, diabetes,
epilepsy, high blood pressure, mental illness, etc.
23. Develop discussion about, and/or group support for, conditions
such as diabetes, cancer, epilepsy, stroke, mental illness, etc. An
adult education session or “second hour” presentation is an ideal time
to share information about these disabilities. People with
disabilities are excellent resources as are health care professionals.
24. Check with local faith communities for materials you may adapt and
projects related to disability access and ministry that you can share.
25. In the context of religious education or perhaps in a sermon,
explore the differences between “healing” and “cure.” All people can
receive God’s healing grace; not all persons will be cured.
26. Plan an adult education segment to discuss the non-architectural
barriers to inclusiveness.
27. Hold all fellowship activities and meetings in areas accessible to
all: for instance, in the narthex, outside when weather permits, etc.
28. Use resources and show one or more of the excellent videotapes
available about disability concerns. Many are available through your
denomination, the Interfaith Disabilities Network, secular press, and
faith-based media searches.
29. Enlist the expertise of your congregants (carpenters, plumbers,
contractors, persons with disabilities, teachers, social workers,
nurses, etc.) to accomplish simple accessibility and awareness tasks.
Always be guided by the specifications of the American with
Disabilities Act (ADA).
30. Develop a section of resources on disability concerns for the
faith community’s library.
31. Look for educational opportunities about disability and disability
issues in your community.
32. Encourage parishioners to designate memorial gifts for
accessibility projects.
33. Visit accessible churches in your area. Establish a mentoring
relationship.
34. Consult with local nursing homes to ascertain whether your church
might establish a ministry to and with their residents.
35. Share your facilities with organizations that serve persons with
disabilities and chronic illness.
36. Consider getting involved in congregate dining, meals-on-wheels,
or your own feeding program to people in need. You may want to share
this with other churches or synagogues in your community.
37. Set aside a bulletin board to display information and materials
related to your accessibility project or issues of disability
concerns.
38. Explore ways of including members who have disabilities in the
education, fellowship, and ministry as well as in the worship of the
congregation.
39. Volunteer time at a day care center, hospital, or rehabilitation
center so that you may come to know and understand persons with
disabilities better.
40. Be respectful of the food allergies and special diets of
congregants. Strictly adhere to food prohibitions when preparing food
for fellowship and sharing. This can be a life-threatening situation!
Be safe and label ingredients!
41. Educate yourself and your parishioners about environmental
illness.
42. Designate your church and meetinghouse a nonsmoking area.
43. Suggest that your congregants monitor the quantity of perfume,
hair spray, or aftershave they use.
44. Since many members of your congregation are employers and
two-thirds of all people with severe disabilities are unemployed,
become knowledgeable about issues around employment of persons who
live with disabilities, both from the employers’ and the employees’
viewpoint.
45. Develop a team willing to contact elected officials to lobby for
legislation in the areas of accessible transportation and housing,
employment for all who wish to work, community-based attendant care,
and deinstitutionalization of people with disabilities. Support the
American with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990-The Civil Rights Act of
people with disabilities!
46. Celebrate Access Sabbath whenever convenient. Liturgy and other
resource materials can be obtained through your denomination or the
Interfaith Disabilities Network.
47. Advertise your wheelchair access, hearing devices, large print
materials, etc., when listing your services in the newspaper or other
directory. This is a symbol of welcome and sign of acceptance to many
people with disabilities who feel alienated from the faith community
and ultimately from God. Use universal access symbols. You can obtain
additional information from your denomination or the Interfaith
Disabilities Network.
48. Support and encourage parents of
children with disabilities and the children themselves. Children with
disabilities can be integrated into education programs and the life of
the community. Resources and a bibliography can be obtained through
the Interfaith Disabilities Network.
49. Contact your denomination’s office and inquire about the Taskforce
or Committee on Ministry with Persons with Disabilities. If there is
none, consider organizing one. The Interfaith Disabilities Network can
help guide you through the process.
50. When you develop or adapt teaching materials, let the Interfaith
Disabilities
Network know. You will become a resource about ministry with Persons
with Disabilities for others!
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There is an
energy in us which makes things happen when the paths of other persons touch
ours.
from the Monks of Weston Priory
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