The 15th Annual Larry Bregman Education Conference is being hosted by Jewish Family and Career Services of Atlanta on March 8 &9 2008. The conference provides opportunities for learning, networking and socializing.

One of my favorite workshops I have ever facilitated was during this conference a couple of years ago. We had a conversation with the workshop participants about their experience in their religious communities. Participants were primarily Jewish people  and Christians with disabilities. They were open and honest. Some folks reported wonderful experiences and others  reported being excluded. There was a good conversation among several participants about the assurance of G-d’s love. It was wonderful.

The take-away from the workshop was that we asked the participants to work together to write a prayer that everyone could agree to pray at the end of the session.

One young Christian woman said, “we can’t pray in Jesus name can we.” She understood that this would exclude over half of the participants.

Participants wrote a prayer where they thanked G-D, asked for comfort for the sick, help for the poor among other things.  It was wonderful!

It reminded me why the work we do with the IDC is so important. People with disabilities are connected to G-d just like everyone else and they want to express that connectedness in communities, just like people without disabilities. I am thankful that I got to witness G-d in that session at Bregman that day a couple of years ago.

The conference provides opportunities for participants to gain knowledge and explore their gifts. If you’re looking for that kind of opportunity you should check it out.

Teri at Barriers, Bridges and Books put together a wonderful post titled: Ten Ways to Avoid Burnout For Disability Advocates. I commend it to you and ask if there are strategies you would want to add?

I just read this story from a person with a disability called Finding A New Church  about his journey to find a new congregation. It seems to me that one of the things we must do if we are to connect people with disabilities to congregations is that we must find/create venues for these stories to be shared. The stories matter. These stories  speak about the importance of belonging. They tell the truth about the successes and failures of churches, masajid and synagogues to reach out an provide hope and help to people with disabilities and their families. the stories speak of a desire on the part of people with disabilities to give and receive, to live in mutually beneficial relationship.

Are you a person with a disability with a story to tell? Are their places in your life and in your community where you can tell the story?These stories of exclusion and inclusion have the power to change our congregations and communities!

I am thankful for the stories that have already been written and spoken and I challenge each of us to continue to create storytelling space from which we can do the work of building congregations fit for us all,

Interfaith Disability Connection

The Shepherd Center and

First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta

Present:
That All May Worship: Beyond The Ramp

A Discussion of Religion, Acceptance and Inclusion

August 3,2008

Shepherd Center Atlanta, GA

Interfaith Disability Connection (IDC), The Shepherd Center and the First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta will present this educational conference Sunday, August 3 at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Titled, That All May Worship: Beyond the Ramp, this one-day event will focus on how religious communities can make their houses of worship even more accessible to those with disabilities. Topics will go beyond eliminating physical barriers and discuss creating services and programs in which all members can easily participate.

The event will be led by Rabbi Lynne Landsberg, Reverend Al Mead, Imam Furqan Muhammad and Ginny Thornburgh; four leaders in religion and disability education.

Leaders in religious communities and disability communities, advocates and friends are invited to take part in this conference on religion, acceptance, and inclusion. Attendees will gain the knowledge, resources and motivation to make positive changes in their religious communities.

Rabbi Lynne F. Landsberg is Senior Advisor on Disability Issues for the Union for Reform Judaismâ??s Religious Action Center and Department of Jewish Family Concerns. She is currently a member of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) Justice, Peace and Religious Liberties Committee and chair of the CCAR Committee of Disability Awareness and Inclusion.

Reverend Al Mead is the Associate Pastor of New Hope Baptist Church and believes â??God has given us all the ability to Transcendâ?. He has served as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the 1996 Paralympic Organizing Committee and as a CBS Sports commentator for the Games. A Paralympic gold and silver medalist Mead was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 2006.

Imam Furqan Muhammad is the Resident Imam at Masjid Al-Muminun in Atlanta. He possesses personal experience that has made him a tireless advocate for the inclusion of people with disabilities in the Islamic community. Imam Muhammad currently serves as a member of the Board of the Interfaith Disability Connection

Ginny Thornburgh is Vice President and Director of the Religion and Disability Program at the National Organization on Disability in Washington, DC. Mrs. Thornburgh is a nationally recognized authority in matters at the intersection of religion and disability. Thornburgh is the author and editor of many insightful guides that focus on the inclusion of people with disabilities in congregational life. These guides include That All May Worship: An Interfaith Welcome To People With Disabilities (written with Ann Rose Davie), Loving Justice: The ADA and the Religious Community, and From Barriers to Bridges: A Community Action Guide for Congregations and People with Disabilities (Written with Janet Miller Rife).

Conference Agenda*

12:30 - 1:30 Registration and Box Lunch (Kosher lunches available)

1:30-1:40 Welcome and Invocation

1:40- 2:20 Reverend Al Mead

2:20- 3:10 Rabbi Lynne Landsberg

3:10- 3:40 Breakout Sessions led by Speakers

3:40- 3:55 Break

3:55- 4:40 What I Wish I Could Say to My Congregation About Welcoming a Person Like Me - Facilitated by Ginny Thornburgh

4:40-4:55 Break

4: 55- 6:00 Interfaith Worship with Challenge and close from Ginny Thornburgh

*Schedule subject to change

Registration details and fee information coming soon.

For more information visit www.interfaithdisability.org or email idc@bobbydodd.org.

This post was written from a Christian perspective. The strategies mentioned can be helpful for congregations of all traditions. Do you live with chronic pain are there other strategies that should be added to the list?

Our congregations and communities do not always no the most helpful ways to respond to disability/ illness that doesn’t “get better.” I think the strategies mentioned above do a great deal to lift up the realities of people who live in silence with chronic pain and disability.

Check out this Recreation Guide from the Metro East Region Georgia Learning Resources System.

The Center for Financial Independence and Innovation, in partnership with disABILITY LINK, Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities, National Disability Institute, AT&T, and the IRS, invite you to encourage your consumers to get their taxes prepared for FREE through our Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program!

Where: disABILITY LINK - 755 Commerce Drive, Suite 105 â?¨ Decatur, GA 30030 â?¨

When: Tuesdays and Thursdays in February (9am-1pm)

Eligibility: Individuals with disabilities, family members/care givers, and those who work with individuals with disabilities who earned less than $41,000 in 2007

What to Bring:

• Photo ID
• Social Security Cards (for all family members)
• W-2 Forms (for all jobs worked in 2007)
• 1099 forms (for other income), including an interest income earned (1099-INT)
• Childcare provider information
• Student expense documents (for full time postsecondary students only)
• Voided check (for automatic deposit)
• Documentation of disability related expenses.

Some may qualify for an Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) of up to $4,716!

Please feel free to circulate the attached flyer and have consumers call Sue Holec to schedule their appointment: (404) 687-8890. 

I saw Praying With Lior on January 20th as part of the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival. It was a wonderful movie and I highly recommend it!  I believe that the film introduces you to Lior and his life in a way that immediately endears the viewer to him.  I believe the film also speaks a word about the value of communities where people can come together to support each of their members to achieve their personal best.

Don’t just take my word for it. Here’s another review of the film Michael Koresky as Indiewire.

The film debuts in New York this weekend. The success of the film in New York will determine whether or not the film will be distributed to a wider audience in the rest of the country.  If you live in the New York metro Area go see the film. 

Praying with Lior will provide a wonderful opportunity for communities to begin a conversation and exploration of the right to inclusion for people who live with disabilities.

See the film! Be inspired! Have the conversation! Change your community!

Less than half of people with disabilities report attending religious services once per month. 65% of people with disabilities are unemployed, even though many of them want to work. 70-90% of people with disabilities will experience abuse at some point in their lives. There is much work to do. There are many dedicated people doing the work already and we need help from energized, dedicated, inspired, knowledgeable people to continue building a world where people are judged by the content of their character and the content of their hearts rather than their level of physical or mental ability.

Continue this work. See Praying with Lior. Be Inspired. Help change the world.