Faith Ability Religion and Disability News
100 Websites listed in the Religion and Disability Directory!
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!
Accessible Religion News and Notes
With Groups' Help, the Disabled Carve Out a Place at the Altar
An article about a Faith and Light Group in Washington. From the article:
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.
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Honors Ginny Thornburgh
An overview of the excellent work that Ginny does with the National Organization on Disability. From the article:
The Religion and Disability Program works with local congregations, national faith groups, and seminaries to remove barriers of architecture, communications, and attitudes that prevent people with disabilities from full and active religious participation.
Equal Access to God
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."
I was pleasantly surprised to find this article in a local paper! You can learn more about here ministry at Abundant Hope Ministries.
Forum Topics on Religion and Disability
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.
Last month I posted on a topic on Religion and Disability on the Wheelchair Junkies Forum to try and get some discussion going and received some very enlightening responses, including this gem from charmedchic:
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.
There is another post here and for anyone interested in discussion, don't forget our own discussion boards which still need some help getting off the ground and are just waiting for your insightful comments!
Rayne Minstries Provides Disability Resources for Churches
Rayne Minstries Provides Disability Resources for Churches is a great article from the Christian Examiner about Rayne Ministries. From the article:
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.
Standing in the way of their dream, they believe, is a church culture that is largely under-educated and under-equipped to help the developmentally disabled and their families. It is a status quo the Millers hope to change. The couple launched the Rayne Project, a multi-disciplined collaborative effort to further develop the theologies of disability and create strategic programs in the local church and community.
You can learn more about Rayne Ministries at their website.
"Love Thy Neighbor" Sabbath Celebration
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.
"This is a God thing," said Harriet Weigel, event chairwoman. "It is not about fund-raising, religious affiliation or politics. We want to see congregation members with disabilities included as leaders, and serving as greeters, deacons and everything in between in their house of worship."
Alliance for Full Participation Summit
From the Alliance for Full Participation website:
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.
They are currently accepting applications for presenters and posters, you can download the application here (Word Document).
While there are no specific categories for religion or spirituality, the Rev. Bill Gaventa made note recently that there are many areas that...
...might be of particular interest to faith networks, and/or places where those networks, ministries, and programs can make a real contribution. You will see that the key issues being addressed are advocacy and leadership, self determination and community membership, workforce development, and quality of care. You will not that the words faith and church occur rarely...they are covered under broader categories. You might not think of immediate connections with some of these, but I think they are there.
Again, please visit the Alliance for Full Participation website for more details.
L'Arche Job Opening
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
Believing, Belonging, Becoming: Building Welcoming Faith Communities
Publisher: Wisconsin Council on Developmental Disabilities
Format: Video, 11 minutes
Written and Produced: Lisa Pugh
Photographed and Directed: John Schwartz
The Believing, Belonging, Becoming: Building Welcoming Faith Communities video from the WCDD shows the stories of 4 persons with disabilities and how they participate in their faith communities.
From the website: "See how faith communities have formed worship support circles, fostered one-to-one relationships, and committed resources to promote inclusion."
In addition to the video, you receive a discussion guide, inclusion tips and brief overview of person first language.
The video is tastefully done and the case studies highlighted show real world examples of inclusive faith communities. It does a good job of showing the benefits that come from inclusive practices while acknowledging the risks and fears that may be involved in doing so.
From the video, "...everybody has something of value to share, everybody has a gift. The challenge is sometimes finding people to receive it."
Disability and Religion Discussion Board
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.
If you are at all interested in this kind of a resource, please stop by and drop a note- once I get a few posts I'll work on letting everyone know about it. Once it gets going I think it will be a great resource, it'll just need some help getting off the ground. Thanks!