Monthly Archives: February 2007

“Theology, Ministry and People with Developmental Disabilities” one-week intensive course to be offered

In January 2008, the Chicago Theological Seminary will be offering a course by Craig Modahl called “Theology, Ministry and People with Developmental Disabilities.” This course will explore the multiple issues facing people with developmental disabilities. Central to the course will be the implications for ministry on the part of religious leaders and their communities. […]

Protected: Let’s Get Acquainted

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Accessibility for the Whole Church Family

A Nebraska Conference RECORD focus issue about Disabilities Ministries
This issue of The Nebraska RECORD shares delightful stories about tangible and architectural changes reported recently by United Churches of Christ from Omaha to Chadron and Lincoln to Ogallala. These stories — set in larger, 12-point type – tell of changes which vary in levels of […]

Interpreting for the Deaf

“Today, I knew what was happening. It was like a Thanksgiving song,” Sherryl Yokel’s voice greeted her pastor. Later, Mrs. Yokel added, “I feel more comfortable in church now. I understand the choir’s songs and what Bob says.”
“It is a lot different for us, really a great feeling, to talk together about the sermon,” husband […]

Swiss Court Ruling Allows Euthenasia for Mentally Ill

Monday, February 5, 2007
By Christopher Claire
A RULING by Switzerland’s highest court has opened up the possibility
that people with serious mental illnesses could be helped by doctors to
take their own lives.
Switzerland already allows doctor-assisted suicide for terminally ill
patients under certain circumstances. The Federal Tribunal’s decision
puts mental illnesses on the same level as physical ones.
The […]

Developmental Disabilities - Adventures in Community Camp

The Adventures In Community camper quilt will be displayed at the Disabilities Ministries Art Show at the Conference, Annual Meeting. It symbolizes the special companionship ministry that developmentally challenged partners and companion campers share.
Camp chaplain, Rev. Bob Brauninger, admires the rapport between particularly challenging campers and companion camper Jeannette Blaser. “Jeannette is good at sensing […]

Attitudinal Accessibility - Be Yourself When Meeting a PWD

The other day, as my dog guide and I walked to the mail drop box, we passed three playing children. One piped up, “Are you the blind lady?”
Ignoring an older girl’s attempt to shush him, I said, “Yes, I’m blind, and I’m left-handed, too.”
“So am I,” another child said. We discovered that in our little […]

Clergy With Disabilities - All God’s Creatures

From individuals’ matching-plus of the Disabilities Ministries grant that began Kamp Kaleo’s concrete sidewalks (see earlier Record), to our Interim Conference Minister’s making available “The Accessibility Audit,” to the hiring of another clergy person with a disability, it has been a good year for the church’s recognition of the value and wholeness of all persons.
Second […]

Attitudinal Accessibility - Getting Rid of the Hyphen

Sometimes it takes awhile for the hyphen to disappear. Two words expressing a unit idea first accept a hyphen then release it to form a compound word. Basket and ball were once separate words that became basket-ball, then basketball.
At a wedding dinner, the curiosity of a young boy prompted him to pull up a chair. […]

Query from Joyce Beairsto, Chair of New Hampshire Conference Accessibility Committee

What are other Conference and Association Accessibility Committees doing?
I have been chairing this committee now since 1991. Shortly after the ADA was signed in 1990, there were a number of multi-state conferences sponsored by UCC to begin to look at the role of our churches in light of the ADA. I went to […]