Tonight I entered the 100th site into the Religion, Spirituality and Disability Directory here at Faithability- and I feel like we're just getting started. Thank you to all of you who have submitted sites, hopefully there is something there for anyone who is looking for more information on a specific topic. If you know of any resources that aren't listed yet, please stop by to add them or drop me a note, Thank you!
In everything we do we share our gifts," said Dolores Wilson, a former nun who helped launch the District chapter 20 years ago and who served as a facilitator at last month's dinner at the house in Northeast. "We are sick of labels. We are friends. We are a community.
Equal Access to God is a great article about the efforts of Susan Psalmonds who has founded a nondenominational ministry designed to "to help church leaders, as well as civic and business leaders, better incorporate people with disabilities into their organizations."
Susan gives a good overview of some of the difficulties that persons with disabilities may face in their local congregation. The article concludes with this statement:
"There's no law telling [churches] that they have to do this," she said, "but in my opinion they should be living a higher law. Just look at Christ's ministry and who he served."
This site is an effort to get the word out about resources in the area of disability and religion and unfortunately it relies on people actually visiting it (or others like it) to think about the topic. In order to promote awareness I sometimes take the issue to others in online discussion boards.
I find my faith with people who practice Christianity in everyday settings and not just at Sunday morning church service.
I have friends that've gone over to pagan and wican practices because they are spiritual and have nowhere else to fufill these needs. I can understand why they choose to do that...
Some people really need to get back to the basics of how Jesus instructed us to treat people.
Rayne Ministries provides disability resources for churches
By Sue Sailhamer
CHRISTIAN EXAMINER
Marvin and Teresa Miller have a big dream for their little daughter. They hope that someday she will be welcomed as a full participant in her local church and have an opportunity to serve others in her community of faith. Their daughter, two-and-a-half-year-old Lillian Rayne Miller, has Downs Syndrome.
Harriet Wiegel passed me this story of what looks to be a great event about awareness of the inclusion of persons with disabilities in religion organizaions and I wanted to pass it on. The article is available online (registration required). For those of you who don't want to register, here is an excerpt from the article:
The nondenominational event focuses on unity in faith, honors people with disabilities and their advocates, and encourages churches to include those with disabilities in outreach and ministry plans.
The Alliance for Full Participation is sponsoring a national summit September 22-23, 2005, in Washington DC. Summit 2005: Many Voices, One Vision, is an opportunity for all those committed to making the promises inherent in the Developmental Disabilities Act for Americans a reality to come together to dream, plan and organize around a common vision, to establish national strategic social and policy goals, and to create a proactive and responsive action plan for the future.
L'Arche, Chicago, a faith-based community where people with and without disabilities live, work, play and pray together, seeks an Executive Director/Community Leader. This home to four adults with special needs (core members) and three live-in assistants is a private 403(c) non-profit corporation which is part of the International Federation of L'Arche.
For further information contact: Alexandra Conroy, L'Arche Chicago Search, 1400 S. Austin, Chicago, IL 60804
From the website: "See how faith communities have formed worship support circles, fostered one-to-one relationships, and committed resources to promote inclusion."
I have just added a discussion board for religion, disability and spirituality issues. I'm hoping the message board will be able to be a resource for parents, service providers, organizations and persons with disabilities to come together. However, in order for it to work, I'm going to need some help. The hardest part of getting a discussion board going is finding people who are willing to register and/or post even though few others have.
