The Advisory Committee for the Interfaith Disability Connection met on Wednesday, June 2nd to tell our stories and take stock of the gifts, skills and abilities of those in the room.We wanted to begin the work of building a movement for greater accessibility and inclusion of people with disabilities and their families in congregational life.

There were 20 powerful people with and without disabilities in the room! We shared stories about the experience each person has seeing their congregation changed for the better by working for full-inclusion of people with disabilities and their families. There were Presbyterians, United Methodists, Members of the Jewish Community, Muslims, Unitarian Universalists, Baptists,Non-Denominational and Seventh Day Adventists in the room. It was an amazing group of old and new friends of IDN!

After we shared our stories and our successes the group brainstormed a list of accomplishments they had witnessed in their congregations. The list included:

Ramps
Accessible restrooms
assisted listening devices
sign language interpreters
chair lifts
large print
accessible water fountains
more accessible parking
curb cuts
automatic doors
language used in sermons
participation of people with disabilities
expanding leadership of people with disabilities
Shabbat service dedicated to disability issues
Jewish disability awareness month (Feb) is now national (and international)
seminars on autism to educate the congregation
use of internet to broadcast services
captioning in internet services
accessible websites
rabbi toured building using a wheelchair to experience first hand
same approach in educating children and teens
have achieved an atmosphere where inclusion takes on a life of its own
moving from ministry TO people with disabilities to ministry WITH
increased support from senior leadership

The list was an amazing testimony to the stories. expertise and experience in room. The members of the Advisory Committee in the room all said that as a result of their experiences in their congregations they could teach someone in a another congregation to do what they have done.

We are building a powerful movement of advocates! We need you to join this movement with YOUR EXPERIENCE, YOUR STORIES and YOUR POWER! We are building a movement to locate and engage advocates in every congregation so that we can all benefit from being together on this journey. We dream of a day when every house of worship will be a place of love, acceptance and opportunity for ALL People The meeting on the 2nd was exciting, but it was only the tip of the iceberg.

Will you join us on this journey? If you will send an e-mail to Mark@Interfaithdisability.org Tell us a story and join this powerful movement!

You can also tell your story in the comments to this post.

A good resource for learning about Pesach (Passover).

Here is a helpful reflection on Pesach titled: Passover: Why Redemptive Things Happen to Good People.

One of the questions from the article that I find interesting is:

Is freedom escape from pain or is it embracing our challenges and using them as a catapult for inner growth?

I would be interested to know how other people with disabilities experience the G-d of Pesach and what freedom looks like in the live of people with disabilities.

Reading this reflection and looking at the questions it poses Makes me want to share a reflection of my own:

I must first say that I am not Jewish, but as a person who identifies as a Christian with a disability I find resonance and hope in the story of the Passover. Because the Jewish community is about to begin the observance of Pesach I wanted to comment about the significance the holiday holds for me.

The story of passover has always had a resonance with me as a person who lives with a disability. The are ways people with disabilities are made disabled by the barriers communities erect. Some of these barriers include buildings without ramps and systems that do not prepare for the presence and participation of people with disabilities.

Some of the barriers to freedom also include the ways I erect barriers for myself that keep me from realizing the fullness of who G-d has called me to be.

In the light of this, I need to read and hear stories about a G-d who partners with people to overcome the ways we enslave ourselves and others. The G-d of the Passover is a G-d who hears and responds to the cries of G-d’s people.
The G-d of the passover is with us as we work to build communities where everyone, persons with and without disabilities, have opportunities to be who they are without the barriers of shame, inaccessibility, ignorance, fear, and isolation.

At Passover and everyday may we partner with G-d to be agents of liberation, hope, and possibility in communities where hopelessness too often rules the lives of too many.

What are the stories in your life that speak of the the journey you are making toward freedom?

Another helpful question may be to ask are there ways in which my actions and/or inactions are keeping others from freedom/liberation?

The Summer edition of Making A Difference Magazine from the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities features five articles about the power congregations have to be places of inclusion and opportunity for people with disabilities and their families.

Making A Difference Magazine Summer 2009

Thank you to Reverend Bill Gaventa, Ginny Thornburgh, Imam Furqan Muhammad, Pastor Devin Strong, Rabbi Harvey Winokur, Reverend Denny and Varion Spear, Pat Nobbie and many others for their work in lifting the profile of this important issue.

Thank you to The Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities for shining a light on religious leaders and congregations who actively engaging people with disabilities in worship, study, service and leadershi.

Check out the most recent episode of PBS’ Religion & Ethics Newsweekly. The episode features Reverend Bill Gaventa and people with disabilities and their families from Christian, Jewish and Muslim congregations

I am a frequent reader of “Or Am I?” a blog by Rabbi Paul Kipnes. Rabbi Kipnes. Rabbi Kipnes in the Senior Rabbi at Congregation Or Ami in Calabasas, CA. I have read many posts about the congregation’s commitment to welcome people with disabilities and their families. This post was a opportunity for me to read more about Rabbi Kipnes and the congregation’s commitment to the full-inclusion of people with disabilities in the Jewish community there.

The congregation’s web site includes a number of wonderful resources for understanding the foundation of the congregation’s commitment to people with disabilities and their families.

Congratulations to Rabbi Kipnes and the Congregation Or Ami Family on their much deserved EP Maxwell J. Schleifer Distinguished Service Award.

I am inspired by the congregation’s efforts and I hope you are too.

Do you know about a congregation or a leader that is doing wonderful things like this?

This year’s Atlanta Magazine’s High School Essay Contest asked students to respond to the question: What is the most pressing civil/human rights issue of your generation? Harrison Saylor, a junior at Flowery Branch High School answered the question with his essay titled: People First: Rethinking how we think of people with disabilities.

I am grateful for Harrison’s contribution and his involvement in the lives of people with disabilities at his high school. I am thankful for the people at Atlanta Magazine for shining a light on this important issue.

The second episode of the Interfaith Disability Connection podcast features an interview by Mark Crenshaw of Reverend Bill Gaventa; keynote speaker of the upcoming 2009 IDC Summit. The conversation provides a preview of the 2009 IDC Summit and it gives listeners a glimpse of Reverend Gaventa’s passion for the full-inclusion of people with disabilities in congregational life.

Reverend Gaventa serves as the Coordinator of Community and Congregational Supports at the Boggs Center in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Click the play button on the player below to listen to the podcast.

Download this episode (right click and save)

This article was recently sent to me from an Interfaith Disability Connection volunteer. The article discusses the challenges faced by older adults when they seek to attend their congregations of choice.

I am very interested to read the article. The idea of building coalitions between people with disabilities and people who are aging in congregations has long been a fascinating area for exploration and action for me. The concerns that members of these groups have are similar and the opportunities for action and reflection on inclusion of seniors and people with disabilities can lead to interesting discoveries, in my experience.

Are people who are aging out of participation in your congregations on your radar screen? Have you undertaken projects or discussions in your congregation to consider the needs of the population and the gifts your community risks losing if they are not invited, accommodated, and included?

Interfaith Disability Connection Podcast Episode #1:

In this first podcast of the Interfaith Disability Connection Director Mark Crenshaw interviews Ginny Thornburgh, Director of the Interfaith Initiative at the American Association of People with Disabilities in Washington, DC, Thornburgh will serve as an event facilitator at the 2nd annual IDC Summit this Sunday, August 9, 2009 in Atlanta, Georgia. Click the play button on the player below to listen to the podcast.

Click below to download the podcast to your computer:

Download this episode (right click and save)

I had an interesting and enlightening conversation with a college friend last week. This woman is a Christian Pastor, Mom and an Autism Advocate. She posted on Facebook about how she was convinced that in her experience of her son, who lives on the autism spectrum, she was becoming more and more convinced that autism was a cultural thing.

I asked her to say more about this and she talked about how she was convinced that her son spoke another “language”. My friend’s sense was that if she could just commit to learning the “language” she could better understand and support her son.

I had that conversation last week and then I came in this morning to find a link to this article from the New York Times in my inbox. I think the article offers some of the same insights.

I lead disability awareness training often and I think there are definitely elements of cultural competency involved.

What do you think? How much of disability awareness is cultural competency vs. teaching people with disabilities to operate appropriately within the culture of the communities where we seek to be connected?