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Buy cheap cialis online, Them vs. Köpa billiga cialis, Us: A Litany
Where do I fit in.
A group of any size can be divided into these two parts for this litany, ordering cialis online legally. Buy cialis, It is based on a poem by Simone Poortman.
Them Us
Where do I fit in, Indiana IN Ind. .
Them: If I am one of “themâ€, they are “us
Us: If I am one of “usâ€, who are “theyâ€, buy cheap cialis online. Order cialis online without prescription, Them: Being one of “us†is only halfâ€
Us: I miss “themâ€`
Them: Only when I am one of “them†can I be part of the
Complete “usâ€
Us: I know both: “them†and “usâ€
Them: How do I dare to become one of “themâ€
To become one of “usâ€.
Us: How do I dare to become one of “themâ€
To become one of “usâ€, New Jersey NJ N.J. . Buy cheap cialis, ALL: We are both them and us.
Amen, comprar en línea cialis. Louisiana LA , This poem was shared during the 2006 World Council of Churches gathering in Brazil. Simone Poortman is from the Netherlands and is part of the WCC Disabilities Caucus, order cialis pills. Köpa rabatterade cialis, From Jo Clare Hartsig, Ed., purchase cialis, Billige cialis apotek, A2A Study Guide. http://www.uccdm.org, cialis online kopen. Washington WA Wash. . North Dakota ND . Koop korting cialis. District of Columbia DC D.C. . Buy cialis online without prescription. Cheapest cialis online. Massachusetts MA Mass. . Cialis without prescription. Buy cialis online. Comprar cialis de descuento. Cialis prices.
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Order Cheap Cialis Online - (06/20/2010)
Order cheap cialis online, The United Church of Christ National Committee on Persons with Disabilities has as its major goal the full integration of persons with disabilities and their families into the life of the church.
Many of us have attended churches where the church bulletin bore the quotations, "I was glad when they said to me, 'Let us go in to the House of the Lord.'" We must be certain that the doors to that house are always open to all, no matter what difficulties they or those they love may face in seeking to enter, so that the gladness and joy of acceptance can be known by all. May it be so, and soon.
In late 1990 we wrote to all Conference Ministers of the United Church of Christ, asking them to nominate programs and persons that, in their judgment, best served the goal of full inclusiveness. The stories herein offer examples of loving and inclusive ministries, ministries which are themselves both visions of hope and models of the inclusiveness of the Kingdom of God.
Churches honored include:
First Congregational Church, UCC in Cadillac, Michigan
First Congregational Church, UCC in Camden, Maine
First Congregational Church, UCC in Great Falls, Montana
Central Congregational Church, UCC in Topeka, Kansas
St, order cheap cialis online. John's UCC in Storm Lake, cialis prescription, Iowa, and First Congregational Church, UCC, in Newell, Iowa
St. Peter's Church, UCC in Washington, Missouri
Three churches in Rhode Island Conference: Chepachet Union Church; Riverside Congregational Church, UCC; and United Congregational Church of Litltle Compton
Individuals honored include:
Rev. Dr. Dallas A. Order cheap cialis online, Brauninger, First Congregational Church, UCC in Hemingford, Nebraska
Rev. Kathi D. Wolfe, Osta cialis, UCC Office of Communication
Rev. Nancy Erickson, Lincoln, Nebraska
Rev. Ronald A. Getsay, Marion, Ohio
Mrs, order cheap cialis online. Roberta Martin and her son Christ Martin of Southwest UCC in Portland, Oregon
First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ in Cadillac, Michigan, has an active ministry with persons who are deaf or hearing impaired. In early 1987, an individual who is deaf offered a sign language class for people in the community. Several people from the church took the class.
During this time it became clear that people who were deaf needed a place to socialize. Order cheap cialis online, First Congregational offered its facilities and the Deaf Fellowship Club was begun. This club has met spontaneously since 1987, For cialis online. People from an area of 50 miles around the church have attended those social gatherings.
Later the church began to offer ten-week sign language classes at the church itself. There was an excellent response to the offer from the community as well as from members of the church. Seventy people attended, and the group had to be divided into two groups, order cheap cialis online. Through publicity about the sign language class, the church became identified with sign language and persons who are deaf.
This sensitivity to the needs of persons who are deaf led in turn to having worship services “signed†at least once a month. Sometimes as many as ten persons who are deaf attend these worship services. Again because of the church’s concern for persons who are deaf or hearing impaired, several have become active members of First Congregational. Order cheap cialis online, Some have served or are serving as deacons, others host dinners and coffee hours, and many have become active participants in worship by signing poems or songs, or sharing prayer concerns.
The congregation has also installed a ramp to make the sanctuary and offices accessible to persons with mobility impairments, has large print bulletins, and has hymns in large print available upon request. It has also installed grab bars in the women’s rest room as well as TTY (telephone for the deaf.)
*
First Congregational Church, Um cialis online, UCC in Camden, Maine. From 1971-1988 the church has provided space for a school for 40 intellectually disabled individuals, who use the Sunday school rooms as classrooms. The school was run in conjunction with the local school board, and lunches provided by the school board were brought to the church each noon during the school year.
All students who attended public school classes at the church are now in a nearby sheltered workshop, and the church building is no longer needed, order cheap cialis online. Every Friday evening, however, a group of persons with intellectual disabilities meet for a social evening. Many of them are people who formerly attended the school held at the church. In April of 1990 a group of these young people put on the musical, Grease.
We saluted First Congregational Church, UCC for providing space for work and play for so many persons with disabilities. Order cheap cialis online, *
In 1987 the Montana-Northern Wyoming Conference passed a resolution asking all the churches in the conference to make their churches accessible; it repeated that request in 1990. First Congregational Church, Montana MT Mont. , UCC in Great Falls, a church with 450 members, responded quickly, with an impressive list of past and present actions and future plans for making their church totally accessible.
Prior to the 1987 Conference Resolution, the church had:
• Reserved parking spaces for persons with disabilities
• An accessible sanctuary and offices
• An accessible restroom
• Hearing aids in the sanctuary, and
• A lift installed to make fellowship hall accessible.
Since 1987, it has added:
• Large print bulletins
• Increased parking spaces for per sons with disabilities
• Additional pulpit microphone for those with hearing impairments
• Accessibility signs on the building and in the telephone book
• The signing of one service per month for hearing impaired. (This is the only local televised service that is interpreted.)
First Congregational now plans to upgrade its accessible restroom from one unisex restroom to making both men’s and women’s restrooms accessible and to add an elevator which will reach the downstairs Christian Education Wing.
When these future plans are completed, First Congregational UCC of Great Falls, Montana will be TOTALLY accessible, order cheap cialis online. We salute them for their fine work.
*
Central Congregational, UCC in Topeka, Where to buy cialis, Kansas has made significant progress in its long range plans to be physically and attitudinally accessible. It has built a ramp to make the sanctuary accessible and prints large-print bulletins each week. It has also hired a signer to include hearing-impaired children of members and others in the Sunday school and worship experiences. Order cheap cialis online, A few years ago the Diaconate instituted a transportation program for shut-ins, which included volunteers who would take the initiative to call and inquire of shut-ins whether they would like to be picked up for Sunday worship. This effort aimed to remove the stigma of needing (and having to ask for_ special care by having the volunteers express the congregation’s desire to include in worship those without their own transportation.
That effort proved so successful that the church purchased a van. Suddenly more persons expressed interest. Because the first van was difficult for some to enter and exit, a second, larger van with a wheelchair lift has been added. The ramp is no longer a passive invitation to those who are able to get to church on their own, order cheap cialis online. Now the congregation is sensitive to the need to be physically barrier-free from door-to-door, and attitudinally barrier-free, from invitation—to welcome- to “see you again!â€
*
St. John’s UCC in Storm Lake, Iowa, and First Congregational Church, Iowa IA , UCC, in Newell, Iowa enthusiastically called the Rev. Peter Wenzel as their pastor. He accepted this call as his first full-time parish and began his ministry with the two churches on March 1, 1990. Order cheap cialis online, Mr. Wenzel was born with spina bifida and is unable to walk without crutches; occasionally he uses a wheelchair to get around. He is a man of many gifts who has been received in the church and community and is becoming active in the Iowa Conference programs.
We are pleased to honor the two churches who recognized his ability for ministry, and to honor the Rev. peter Wenzel, both for his courage and determination and for his devotion to the life of Christ’s church.
*
For many decades, St, order cheap cialis online. Peter’s Church, South Carolina SC S.C. , UCC in Washington, Missouri, has expressed concern for people with disabilities. The consciousness of the church regarding persons with disabilities was raised many years ago by the Wilke family, of which the well-known Rev. Dr. Harold Wilke, a man who was born without arms, is a part. Order cheap cialis online, Over a period of ten years the church has expressed this commitment by building a ramp, installing an elevator and accessible restrooms, and putting in a new amplification system. In addition, many in the congregation have been strong supporters of the Emmaus Homes for individuals who are mentally disabled. They sponsor birthday parties for residents’ birthdays, give other holiday parties, have provided scorekeepers for Emmaus’ bowling league, and have painted, Rhode Island RI R.I. , landscaped, and done other maintenance work projects. They also helped develop and staff a sheltered workshop near the Marthasville campus.
Despite some resistance from the town, they are turning their old parsonage, across from the church, into a group home for six individuals who have been residing at t he Emmaus Home.
The church had also given a ramp for an Emmaus van, and has during the past two years contributed $1,000.00 each year to help underwrite the yearly “Open Your Heart†Dinner, order cheap cialis online. Proceeds from this dinner go into a resident’s trust fund to pay the expenses of those whose families cannot cover their child’s expenses. The dinner costs $20,000.00 to put on, and each guest pays $100.00 per plate. At the last dinner 37 members from St. Peter’s attended. Order cheap cialis online, In 1984, when St. Kopen goedkope cialis, Peter’s celebrated its 140th anniversary, it gave $14,000 as an anniversary gift to Emmaus; during a five year capital fund campaign, St. Peter’s raised $77,000.00 for Emmaus. Numerous members of St. Peter’s have served on the Board of Directors of the Emmaus Hmes and have provided significant leadership. Currently t he pastor, William Schwab, and two others, Delores Borcherding and Elmer Heidmann, are board members, order cheap cialis online. We honor them for their continuing devotion.
*
We honor three Rhode Island Churches:
Chepachet Union Church has removed pews in the front of the church to accommodate wheelchairs; installed an automatic chairlift into the sanctuary; remodeled its bathrooms to make them wheelchair accessible, designated handicapped parking spaces, and installed ramps to the main doorway and to the bathrooms;
Riverside Congregational UCC has installed a handicapped entrance ramp with railings, made restrooms accessible to persons with disabilities, created seating for persons in wheelchairs within the body of the congregation, installed hearing aids for those who need them, buy cialis no rx, and made large print bulletins available on request; and
The United Congregational Church of Little Compton has installed an elevator which goes directly from a ramp entrance into the sanctuary, has renovated the bathroom to provide a wide doorway, and elevated the fixtures to proper heights, and had installed a new speaker system so that those who have difficulty hearing can sit anywhere in the church.
*
The Rev. Dr. Dallas “Dee†Brauninger Order cheap cialis online, served with her husband, Bob, as co-pastor of First Congregational Church, UCC, in Hemingford, Nebraska until acute arthritis affected her jaw to the point that she found it difficult to speak. At present, she is almost entirely sightless, and has a leader Dog. Because she is an excellent writer, however, her ministry now consists primarily by use of the written word.
It was very painful for Dee to have to give up preaching and the active pastoral ministry. Cheap cialis, Yet, she consciously continues her ministry not only by writing but by minimizing her disability. Her goal is to make blindness look easy, so that people see the person first and not the disability, order cheap cialis online.
This admirable clergywoman is constantly looking for ways to minister to those around her. For example, Dee studies the Bible by having friends read parts of the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible to her (just published and she was curious), while she types passages onto her computer. As she does so, she begins to hear various voices of the congregation which combine to form choral readings. She has put together different groups to read to her, such as “family groupings, disputing individuals, combinations of generations and those who needed lifting up as creatures of God.†In this wonderful way she involves those who might not ordinarily participate in worship. Order cheap cialis online, There are many other creative ways this creative lady ministers. She prepared, at the request of the Conference office, a tape for a man who went through a difficult time visually, New Hampshire NH N.H. . The tape dealt with ways to compensate and cope with lack of sight. She also coordinates the taping of UCC News, having a retired RN in the congregation do the reading. The nurse had to retire early due to rheumatoid arthritis. Another of Dee’s projects is a weekly ecology column in the local newspaper, order cheap cialis online. The list of important projects Dee undertakes goes on and on.
Chicago Theological Seminary recently awarded both Bob and Dee Brauninger the degree of Doctor of Divinity for their faithful ministry on a rural setting. We honor Dee Brauninger as an outstanding clergy person, not because of a disability, but in spite of it.
*
The Rev. Order cheap cialis online, Kathi D. Wolfe, a United Church of Christ National staff member with the Office of Communications, is not only a valued member of the National Committee on Persons with Disabilities, Pharmacy cialis, but she has recently been appointed to the President’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities.
In inviting her to serve as chairperson of the Committee, Justin Dart cited her “commitment and dedication to advance opportunities for persons with disabilities.†On the President’s Committee, Ms Wolfe will address disability-related employment concerns, especially those of women, minorities, and older workers.
A native of New Hope, PA, Kathi earned the degree of bachelor of arts in 1975 from Hamilton College, Clinton, NY, and the degree of Masters of Divinity in 1978 from Yale Divinity School, New Haven, Connecticut, buy cialis online without prescription. She was ordained to Christian ministry in 1980 by the Central Atlantic Conference of the UCC. She now is a member of the Euclid Avenue Congregational UCC in Cleveland, and holds her ministerial standing in the Ohio Conference, order cheap cialis online.
As Coordinator for Special Projects for the UCC National Office of Communications, she was the producer of “Reaching for a Dream,†a videotape on people of color with disabilities. Prior to assuming her present position with the UCC Office of Communications, she worked in that office as a staff writer from 1987 to the present.
Kathi Wolfe has held many other positions, including that of Minister of Outreach at First Congregational Church, UCC, in Passaic, NJ; that of social worker with the Social Service Federation of Englewood, NJ; and field representative with the New Jersey Department of Public Advocates on the Division of Advocacy for the Developmentally Disabled. She was the first project access coordinator with New Jersey’s transit bus operations in Maplewood, Goedkope cialis apotheek, NJ, where she set up a program to publicize the corporation’s fleet of wheelchair accessible buses. Order cheap cialis online, Kathi is a published poet, who also serves on the Board of Directors of the American Association for the Blind, and has been a member of the New Jersey Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities.
In nominating Kathi Wolfe for her outstanding contributions as an individual with a disability, the Rev. Curtis Clare, her former conference minister, attested to her sense of humor, her sensitivity, and to the inspiration she gave him when he himself was experiencing vision problems.
*
The Rev. Nancy Erickson is a paraplegic ([paralyzed in both the upper and lower parts of her body). Despite this disability, she is now the first chaplain of the Lancaster County Jail in Lincoln, Nebraska, order cheap cialis online. She holds a B.A. in sociology and psychology (1969), a M.A. (1971) in educational psychology, kjøpe cialis, and a M. Div. Order cheap cialis online, from Yale Divinity School (1989). She was a delegate from Nebraska to the White House Conference on handicapped individuals in 197, was listed in Who’s Who Among American College and University Students in 1969, and in Who’s Who in America in 1980.
During her senior year at Yale, Nancy began to experience the frustration shared by many bright persons with disabilities. Her profile was widely circulated, but she kept receiving rejection letters while her classmates, many of whom had far less experience, found employment in local parishes. In late July, 1989, Rhode Island RI R.I. , a friend suggested that she volunteer at the Lancaster County Jail. She met with the Director and Program Director of the Jail, who agreed to allow her to volunteer as a chaplain and suggested that she attend a Sunday worship to “get a feel for the work.â€
On the Sunday she came “to visit,†the minister scheduled to speak failed to appear, so Nancy stepped in, order cheap cialis online. Her reception was overwhelmingly positive, and in November of that same year Nancy Erickson began her work as chaplain t Lancaster County Jail. Working first with a small salary provided by her church, First Plymouth Congregational, UCC, pastured by Rev. Otis young, and then by the Lincoln Interfaith Church, she has since received a small grant from the UCBHM to enable her to continue this work.
Her tasks as chaplain include leading workshops, counseling, and listening to and praying with those in jail. Order cheap cialis online, She sees a parallel between persons with disabilities and those who are incarcerated, since she believes that if either raised questions about their circumstances, their questions are seen not as legitimate objections but as troublemaking. Her personal experience has led her to question her role in an unjust system, and to cry for justice for all, pharmacy cialis. As Christians committed to justice, we are grateful for Nancy Erickson and others like her who are willing to face and attempt to deal with injustice wherever it appears.
{Editorial Note, 2010: Nancy went on to become an Associate Minister of First Plymouth, the largest UCC in Nebraska. She can be contacted through the staff link at First Plymouth.]
*
The Rev. Ronald A, order cheap cialis online. Getsay is a native of Ohio, having spent his childhood in Warren, Ohio. He attended Heidelberg College and Youngstown University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1962. He is a graduate of united Theological Seminary and was ordained by the Eastern Ohio Association in 1965.
Ron began his ministry in Waldo, Missouri MO Mo. , Ohio where he served the yoked parishes of Sr. Order cheap cialis online, Joseph and St. John’s UCC. Shortly after beginning his work in Waldo, he discovered that he had multiple sclerosis and was hospitalized. After being released from the hospital, Ron gradually resumed his pastoral duties, and for a time it seemed as if his multiple sclerosis had been arrested. In 1968, however, he found the pastorate of two churches too taxing. He resigned and became the pastor of Salem UCC in Marion, Ohio, order cheap cialis online. Then, in 1972, Ron experienced more and more limitations. He struggled, but in February, Vermont VT Vt. , 1976, he realize he could no longer meet the needs of a local parish, and he resigned.
Ron, however, has never given up being a faithful servant of Christ. Since leaving the pastorate because of lagging strength, he has been a leader for persons with disabilities both in the Ohio Conference, UCC, as well as in the Ohio Council of Churches. Order cheap cialis online, During the 1970’s and 1980’s he was chair person of the Ohio Task Force on Disabilities, now renamed Enabling Ministries Together.
C. William Wealand, Minister for Outdoor ministries, För cialis online, stated, “The renaming of the task force was initiated by Ron Getsay, and is symbolic of his own growth. He has been, and is, a principal mover, raising sensitivities about differently-abled persons taking action to change the location of the Northwest Ohio Association and the Ohio Conference office to facilities that are accessible, and working for the inclusion of differently abled persons in positions of leadership in the Ohio Conference.â€
In 1983 Ron wrote a book entitled, An Inclusive Church: Character and Ministry. In it, he wrote:
An inclusive personality is a reality we can help bring into being. In his longing to be free of his affliction, the apostle Paul prayed three times that it would be removed, order cheap cialis online. His prayer was unanswered: “My grace is all you need, for my power is stronger when you are weak.†Our acknowledgment of God’s presence and power in our lives, and our acceptance of our own weakness, offers us the reality of an inclusive personality, παραγγείλετε online cialis. It has been my experience in the past sixteen years, and particularly most recently, that when I allow the grace and power of God to be alive in my being, I can live with myself and others.
Thus we honor Ronald A. Getsay, a man who has truly used his disability for the glory of God and the good of humankind.
*
Roberta Martin Order cheap cialis online, of Milwaukee, Oregon, active and activist church member, has a son, Chris, who was born with Downs Syndrome. Because of the efforts of his mother, Christ, now 36, has been from his earliest years mainstreamed into the life of the Southwest UCC in Portland, OR. Each Sunday Chris Martin rings the bell signifying the beginning of the worship service; he then serves as acolyte, Buy cialis, sets up music stands for the prelude, arranges flowers, helps prepare refreshments, and confers with his pastor, the Rev. Richard S. Kidmore.
The church has been a source of strength for Christ, who has completed a program at Pacific State University for persons with Downs and moved into a group home which provides semi-independent living, order cheap cialis online. Christ now attends a sheltered workshop.
Christ is described as an exemplary individual who gives unselfishly to others, and as a great competitor who loves to win but accepts defeat. Certainly these attributes were fostered and encouraged by his parents, and especially by his mother, Roberta, who has worked tirelessly not only for him but for all persons with developmental disabilities. She has served on the Board od Directors and has been President of the Portland Habilitation Center, Maryland MD Md. , a vocational and residential service program for adults with developmental disabilities. Order cheap cialis online, She has also served on the Board of Rainbow Adult Living Facilities, Inc., investigated the development of statewide guardianship programs, and has provided an advocacy program within the association for retarded citizens of Oregon.
She also has taught at Portland Habilitation Center and served on its Board, where she has been a supportive friend and advisor to many parents who have children with developmental disabilities. She was honored in the 1970’s as “Woman of the Year†in recognition of her tireless efforts on behalf of people with developmental disabilities and their families.
Roberta is the author of C is for Christopher, a book about the relationship between her son and Lloyd Renolds, renowned lecturer, author, and calligrapher. Chris and Lloyd illustrated the book. All proceeds from sales go directly to the Association of Retarded Citizens of Multnomah County, Portland, OR, for the benefit of those they serve. She also developed a very fine brochure for the Central pacific Conference of the UCC on Disabilities and the church.
We salute Roberta Martin for all she has done not only for her own son, Chris, but for all other persons with developmental disabilities and their families.
**
.
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Order Levitra Online Cheap - (03/24/2010)
Order levitra online cheap, The UCC Coalition for LGBT Concerns will meet in San Diego, July 14-17, 2010. Theme of the National Gathering is "Anybody, generic levitra, Alaska AK , Everybody, Christ's Body."
Details and registration information can be found at www.ucccoalition.org, Kentucky KY Ky. . Montana MT Mont. , Carolyn Thompson, former member of UCCDM, buy levitra pills, Billig levitra apotek, will be keynote speaker, addressing “Creation, order levitra online, Order levitra online without prescription, Communion and Community†and the realities of living life with a disability. She will also present a breakout session discussing A2A [Anybody, lowest price levitra, Cheap levitra tablets, Everybody, Christ's Body], levitra ordine on-line. Ordering levitra overnight delivery, Over the years the UCC Coalition has focused on various groups facing double discrimination as lgbt persons and members of a minority. This includes discrimination within the lgbt community against persons of color, köpa billiga levitra, Tennessee TN Tenn. , transgender persons, and now, Rabatt kaufen levitra, Cheap levitra without prescription, this year, persons living with disabilities, buy levitra. Ordering levitra online cheap, "I believe this is a historic first - historic in that the Coalition has not focused at a national gathering on living with disabilities, and a first in that I hope there will be many more opportunities for collaboration."
The Rev, levitra online kopen. Vermont VT Vt. , Grant F. Sontag
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A church without people with disabilities is itself disabled. Buy levitra cod, – Jürgen Moltmann
"The class filled up right away. Not one class member missed even one hour – great discussions, Colorado CO Colo. , Online levitra, " the Rev. Craig Modahl said about his course that will be offered again this January at the Chicago Theological Seminary, kopen goedkope levitra. Buy levitra, After first teaching "Theology of Ministry with People with Developmental Disabilities" in January of 2008, Modahl will again be teaching the course in an adjunct faculty position and the ongoing offering of his course, buy levitra online cheap. Ordering levitra online without prescription, The Dr. Scott Haldeman, Professor of Worship, will co-teach, buy levitra cod.
"Leaders of faith communities and spiritual guides need to be aware of the implications of disability in the lives of all people they support, billig kaufen levitra, Levitra pedido en línea, " Modahl said. "We need to be able to fully embrace individuals of all abilities through our words, Kaufen levitra, Nebraska NE Nebr. , actions and beliefs."
A 2006 CTS graduate, he has worked with the seminary regarding developmental disabilities in a variety of settings over the years, order levitra no prescription. Om levitra online, "Many experiences within the church have not been supportive, helpful, levitra prescription, För levitra online, or inclusive," he said, levitra online kaufen. Where to buy levitra, "That is what brought me to a seminary known for its political activism and inclusion of the excluded."
Through lectures, assigned readings, levitra farmacia a buon mercato, Buy cheap levitra, conversations with advocates and self-advocates, and active engagement, order levitra c.o.d., Buy levitra no prescription, future pastors and ministers will explore the multiple issues facing people with developmental disabilities and their loved ones. Buy levitra cod, Experiential learning is an important part of the week long intensive. Members of the disability community share experiences and insights, pharmacy levitra. Levitra no prescription, Individual student projects involve engaging the lives of individuals with disabilities.
In addition to being executive director of a nonprofit organization serving individuals with developmental disabilities in a variety of community based settings, buy levitra cod, Købe levitra, he and his wife have for the last two decades provided a home for two men with developmental disabilities.
Craig Modahl serves throughout Wisconsin Conference, cheap levitra overnight delivery, having been ordained by the Southeast Association to a disabilities ministries specialty. He is a member of the board of directors of the United Church of Christ Disabilities Ministries (UCC DM), buy levitra cod.
"God also is definitely still speaking at Eden Theological Seminary," Ryan Mathews said when telling about a new course offered at the seminary that will explore injustice, inhumanity, and institutional ableism.
"Disability Justice and Spiritual Health: On the Road to Dismantle Ableism in Faith-Based Practice," will address God’s mission of healing, wholeness and reconciliation in the church and in the world.
Mathews said the primary course goal is the pastoral formation of leadership for communities of faith that practice hospitality, inclusion, mutual interdependence, and right relationship.
"The ability to articulate the relationship between inequity and spiritual loss will be fostered," he said. Buy levitra cod, "Both language and tools will be provided to help in the dismantling of such oppression."
Mathews, a second-year Eden seminarian who also serves on the UCC DM board of directors, noted that one of the co-teachers is a person with a mobility disability.
The course will be taught by the Rev. Dr. Marilyn Stavenger, Eden Professor Emerita of Field Education and the Practice of Ministry and Dr. Karen Hagrup, Assistant Professor, University of Missouri-St. Louis College of Education.
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Buy levitra no prescription, "If inclusive language, or political correctness, is meant to avoid insult, stereotypes, discrimination, or exclusion, that’s a positive thing and I’m on board," writes Ann Pietrangelo in "The Art of Inclusive Language."
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Order levitra without prescription, WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Oklahoma OK Okla. , Senator Barbara A. Mikulski today introduced “Rosa’s Law,†a bill that will eliminate the terms “mental retardation†and “mentally retarded†from the federal law books, buy levitra from canada. U.S. Senator Michael B, order levitra without prescription. South Dakota SD , Enzi (R-Wyo.), Ranking Member of the Health, Education, Idaho ID , Labor and Pensions Committee, Cheapest levitra, is the Republican sponsor of the bill.
Under Rosa’s Law, those terms would be replaced with “intellectual disability†and “individual with an intellectual disability†in federal education, Tennessee TN Tenn. , health and labor law. Louisiana LA , The bill does not expand or diminish services, rights or educational opportunities. It simply makes the federal law language consistent with that used by the Centers for Disease Control, levitra pills, the World Health Organization and the President of the United States, Buy levitra online without prescription, through his Committee on Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities. Order levitra without prescription, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 17, 2009
Contact:
Annie Acosta
The Disability Policy Collaboration
(202) 783-2229/ acosta@thedpc.org
The Disability Policy Collaboration Applauds the U.S. Senate’s Introduction of Legislation to Use the Term “Intellectual Disabilityâ€
Washington, D.C, buy levitra online. – The Disability Policy Collaboration (DPC), Ordering levitra online, a partnership of The Arc of the United States (The Arc) and United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) to advance federal disability public policy, applauds today’s introduction of “Rosa’s Law,†a bipartisan bill introduced by U.S, purchase levitra online. Senators Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Michael Enzi (R-WY). Levitra no prescription, Modeled after a recently enacted law in the state of Maryland, this legislation would substitute the outdated, stigmatizing terms “mental retardation†and “mentally retarded†with the terms “intellectual disability†and “individual with an intellectual disability†in federal health, order levitra online without prescription, education and labor policy statutes.
The term “intellectual disability†covers the same population of individuals who were previously diagnosed with the term “mental retardation,†and “mentally retarded.†Therefore, the change in terminology would in no way alter the eligibility requirements for services and supports, order levitra without prescription. Utah UT , “This bill is very important for people with intellectual disabilities who understand that language plays a crucial role in how they are perceived and treated in society and are actively advocating for terminology changes in federal and state laws. ‘Retard,’ ‘retarded’ and ‘retardation, price of levitra,’ once accepted medical terms, Order levitra cod, are now often used to demean and insult people,†stated Peter V. Berns, levitra prices, Chief Executive Officer of The Arc. Purchase levitra, “The Arc believes that changing how we talk about people with disabilities is a critical step in promoting and protecting their basic civil and human rights.â€
According to Stephen Bennett, President and CEO, UCP, Køb discount levitra, “By using the term ‘intellectual disability, Ordering levitra without prescription, ’ we expect citizens of the U.S. Order levitra without prescription, and the world to understand and treat people experiencing this condition – whether it is a result of genetics, injury, illness or unknown causes – with dignity and respect. The descriptions of people are very important and imply how we value people, and the Senate’s introduction of ‘Rosa’s Law’ is aligned with the aim of UCP and its nationwide network of affiliates to ensure the inclusion of persons with disabilities in every facet of society.â€
Senator Mikulski’s statement to the U.S, Pennsylvania PA Penn. . Senate upon introduction of the bill is available at: http://mikulski.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=319975&. Alaska AK , While the DPC supports the U.S. Senate’s introduction of Rosa’s Law, it is only the first step in a lengthy process towards enactment, παραγγείλετε online levitra. The Arc and UCP will continue to work together to ensure the bill’s introduction in the U.S, order levitra without prescription. House of Representatives and its progression through the entire legislative process. Buy levitra cheap, About the Disability Policy Collaboration
The Disability Policy Collaboration (DPC) is a partnership of The Arc of the United States (The Arc) and United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) to advance federal disability public policy through a merged government affairs office, which combines resources and talent from both organizations. Begun in 2003, the collaboration assures cost-effective performance for its parent organizations, while combining for a more powerful voice for people with disabilities. The DPC leads efforts in mobilizing chapters, affiliates, self-advocates, families and other supporters to become active players in national public policy. Order levitra without prescription, The Arc is the largest community-based nonprofit working through a network of 732 state and local chapters and their members to advocate on behalf of and serve people with intellectual and related developmental disabilities and their families. The Arc works to improve systems of supports and services, connect families, inspire communities, and influence public policy. It is the only organization that supports persons from pre-natal care through end-of-life issues and over 100 diagnoses that may include the effects of intellectual and developmental disabilities, including Autism. For more information, please visit www.thearc.org.
UCP is a leading service provider for adults and children with disabilities. UCP’s mission is to advance the independence, productivity and full citizenship of people with disabilities through an affiliate network, and its services reach over 176,000 adults and children daily through its network of approximately 100 affiliates in the U.S., Canada, Scotland and Australia, order levitra without prescription. For more information, please visit www.ucp.org.
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The Disability Policy Collaboration of The Arc and UCP
1660 L Street, NW
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p. 202.783.2229 | f. 202.783.8250
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Order Cheap Levitra Online - (11/12/2009)
Order cheap levitra online, First Congregational Church, UCC, in Boulder, Colorado, a Rocky Mountain Conference Congregation, requests that readers comment on the content and presentation of two documents below that the beacon church has developed for churches interested in becoming Accessible to All churches.
An A2A study guide prepared by the United Church of Christ Disabilities Ministires for churches who covenant to become Accessible to All churches is available for download at this website.
Comments about the Covenant and the Introduction to the Covenant may be made using the comment box at the conclusion of this article, California CA Calif. . The Introduction reflects theess by which the Covenant was taken to the congregation. Osta levitra online, Below are two documents:
Introduction to the Accessible to All Covenant
and a covenant draft prepared by Dr. Kevin Pettit, Rocky Mountain Conference Disabilities Inclusion Associate and member of First Congregational,
A2A -- Accessible to All -- Covenant
Introduction to the Accessible to All Covenant
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Rhonda Fadum, Moderator
Today I am pleased to present to you a draft of a new covenant for our church to consider, the Accessible to All Covenant, order cheap levitra online. Our church’s covenants are statements of our agreed upon shared values that guide our life together as a community of faith. Presently our congregation has four covenants that have been adopted by a vote of the congregation: Inclusive Language, acheter levitra bon marché, Just Peace, Rabatt kaufen levitra, Open and Affirming, and Whole Earth.
The covenant we are presenting today we will not ask you to vote on until a later congregational meeting, discount levitra. Between today and that meeting we will be providing opportunities for the congregation to engage in dialogue, Cheap levitra, study, and reflection on the issues of accessibility, so that we will be better informed as we vote on the Accessible to All Covenant, levitra online kaufen. Order cheap levitra online, After the reading of the draft of the covenant, I will mention several action steps.
In a moment we will pass out the draft of the covenant and Kevin Pettit and others from the team that worked on this draft will read it aloud. Cheapest levitra prices, We will then entertain any questions or comments you might have at this time. But before we do that, let me give four reasons why we are bringing this covenant to our church’s attention at this time, buy levitra online.
- The issues of physical accessibility have been an important part of our church’s consciousness as we began our vision plan for our church facilities over ten years ago. We have made some progress in making our buildings more accessible, but we realize there is much more to accessibility than ramps and elevators, order cheap levitra online. Om levitra online,
- During our building projects we had small group meetings to raise our consciousness about how many different ways we were unintentionally putting up barriers to full inclusion regarding accessibility in our church, and we became determined to address them. With one of our members, For levitra online, Kevin Pettit, Wisconsin WI Wis. , becoming a Disabilities Inclusion Associate with the Rocky Mountain Conference UCC, we were given a natural opportunity to move forward
- Two years ago, we began our Mental Health Ministry which has been working diligently through education and consciousness raising to reduce the stigma and provide welcome and support to those living with mental illnesses/brain disorders and their families, kjøpe levitra. This effort, Buy levitra without prescription, too, has made us more aware of accessibility issues that need to be addressed. Alan Johnson is the chair of that ministry, Koop korting levitra.
- Order cheap levitra online, For the last 15 years our denomination has been working to bring awareness of accessibility to UCC congregations around the country. In 1995, Acquistare a buon mercato levitra, General Synod passed a resolution calling the UCC at all levels to embrace the spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act, passed by Congress in 1990. In 2005, levitra online stores, General Synod passed the Called to Wholeness in Christ resolution to encourage UCC congregations to become accessible to all, Farmacia levitra baratos, and embody the spirit of the resolution passed in 1995.
To date, very few of the over 5, köpa levitra,000 UCC churches have moved forward in response to this call. Buy generic levitra, Our congregation is poised to be on the frontier of this movement and to be a beacon for other churches.
A2A --ACCESSIBLE TO ALL -- COVENANT
The First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ Boulder, Colorado
We, as members of the First Congregational Church (UCC) in Boulder, Colorado, in recognition of our human differences and various gifts, desire to become an A2A – Accessible to All – congregation, order cheap levitra online. This Covenant expresses our intention to extend God’s extravagant welcome to all persons, seeking to understand, Mississippi MS Miss. , include, Connecticut CT Conn. , and empower people with all differing abilities and disabilities, apparent or unapparent.
The ancient practice of hospitality is presented in the Bible as a mandate for God’s people, New Jersey NJ N.J. . This mandate requires that every body be included in the work and witness of God’s people on earth. Købe levitra, The biblical vision of the Great Banquet is of all gathered at a table dedicated to serving all. Order cheap levitra online, Barriers that diminish the access of any diminish the wholeness of all.
We affirm the 2005 Disabilities Ministries resolution “Called To Wholeness in Christ,†as adopted by the 25th General Synod of the United Church of Christ on July 4, online levitra, 2005, honoring the Accessible to All mandate in the mission of the United Church of Christ. This resolution calls us to embody a philosophy of inclusion and interdependence and to support and implement the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
CALL TO ACTION
- We pledge to offer educational opportunities to understand the implications of this covenant. This includes working with our church’s Mental Health Ministry as well as the UCC Mental Illness Network, and the UCC Disabilities Ministry.
- We pledge to examine our own attitudes and suppositions regarding the issues of accessibility.
- We pledge to do regular audits of our facilities and programs and continue to work toward making them more accessible to all.
- We pledge when calling clergy and other staff to be open to hiring persons with disabilities.
- We shall be listed in the UCC Directory as an A2A congregation and we will display the blue square with the white A indicating Accessible to All.
- The Church Council shall appoint an Inclusion Team to implement and oversee this Covenant. We will include people on this team who have sensitivity to the challenges and joys of people who have a disability, particularly individuals who have a disability or a loved one who does, keeping in mind the slogan, “Nothing about us without us.â€
- We will intentionally partner with persons with disabilities, including but not limited to, physical disabilities, mental illnesses/brain disorders, and/or developmental disabilities. We will also work with disability groups outside the congregation to extend our hospitality and to find opportunities to be in shared mission, ministry, and advocacy together.
- We commit to recruiting, nominating and supporting persons with disabilities to serve in leadership positions within the congregation as teachers, members of boards, congregational officers, candidates for ordained and commissioned ministry, or representatives to wider church ministries.
This vote affirms that we join in the process of always becoming ever more accessible and inclusive of all of God’s people.
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Buy Levitra - (11/06/2009)
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I invite you to make fuller use of our five senses in worship and to infuse them into the elements of your services of worship.
In this series, Kjøpe billig levitra, each column--"'Do You Hear What I Hear?'" or "A Sound of Silence", "A Wink of Color", "Keeping in Touch", buy levitra, "A Whiff of Faith" and "Tasting the Holy"--lifts up one sense. Kaufen levitra, Its core is simple: Worship is a total experience which involves the whole person. However, worship is as complex as the depths of feeling and the holy connections it evokes, buy levitra without prescription. Woven together, Illinois IL Ill. , environment and ritual invite worship to be an active response to an active God.
I am as intrigued by this fabric of worship as by the mystery which is worship, buy levitra. I also am willing to play the fool if this brainstorming leads to your own musing and the expansion of your worship parameters.
Two life-altering physical changes color my understanding of worship, comprare levitra, bringing a fuller awareness of the role of our senses in worship. Buy levitra c.o.d., As sight diminished, I grew more finely attuned to the communication of hugs and touch and to an inner sensing of presence. Unable to sing and speak without discomfort, Minnesota MN Minn. , I listened to the sounds of worship. Buy levitra, Now exploring worship from the pew after twenty-one years in parish ministry, I admire its treasury of sensory resources. Ordering levitra online cheap, We are multi-dimensional people for whom worship happens at many levels. Our worship is both solitary and communal. It proceeds from a scent which evokes memories of early faith-growing, Kjøp Discount levitra. It commences with a chance meeting of the affirming eye of another, Order levitra online, a quiet companion on the spiritual path.
Most worshipers shrink from a barrage of polysyllabic sermons or over-simplified droning, buy levitra. Services become equally prosaic if pastoral prayers lapse into the same themes. Too much stimulation threatens to bring on chaos, levitra generic, to dissolve the order which our liturgies offer and to cancel the delicate waking of the sense of the holy. Acheter levitra discount, So, as worship leaders, we develop the art of creating spaces for the Divine mysterium, cheap levitra. We design worship to balance as a breeze refreshes a summer day. Buy levitra, II
One way to view worship is as a series of continuum. Buy levitra no rx, At first, these appear contradictory. However, halvalla levitra apteekki, worship components lift up a unifying "both/and" image. φτηνές φαρμακείο levitra, As worship leaders, we try to maintain professional symmetry between being participant and guide. Entering into the spirit of worship, Rhode Island RI R.I. , we become part of the worshiping community. We engage our congregations as partners on the worship journey, buy levitra. North Carolina NC N.C. , However, the extremes of moving into solitary worship ourselves or turning a service into a worship production separate us. We remain "present for" our congregations to assist their worship, buy cheap levitra.
When entering the sanctuary, αγοράσετε levitra, worshipers close off the external world. Respite is also a time of preparation for being in the world. Buy levitra, Worshipers enter the church as individuals. We enter disconnected and reconnect; we enter separate from and find unity; we enter alienated (in sin) and leave at-one (in forgiveness), order levitra without prescription. The order of worship guides us through this multi-leveled process. Levitra without prescription, The invocation calls God to be present. Praise--the Psalms, hymns and gifts of monies, levitra, flowers and talents--draws us away from ourselves. We remember God, buy levitra. Cheap levitra from canada, Praise focuses us upon God, yet it also brings us more fully in touch with our own presence.
Interplay of the communal and the individual shapes another continuum. Prayer, scripture and sermon imply dialogue. A time for greetings, unison responses and announcements renews horizontal relationships with neighbor. Buy levitra, While often said together, confession essentially is alone--coming to reality, admitting the weak places in our lives, asking forgiveness. We address the assurance of pardon to the whole congregation; its message speaks to individuals. That we are loved and are lovable echoes in fellowship as we name each other and reaffirm worth as persons.
Within this mystery, worship, we bond together. Worship leads us to stretch beyond ourselves. We become in touch with the incarnate God, buy levitra. Worship moves worshipers toward being one-with or atonement.
Worship provides an intricate pattern of receiving and giving with varieties as broad as minds can create and senses can absorb. Worship carries us to relief and thanksgiving, the readiness and willingness to give it--life, work, relationships--another try. Fortified and grateful, we dedicate ourselves by giving of ourselves. The conclusion of worship brings a blessing as well as a charge, both an ending and a commencement.
Reprinted with permission of the publisher, CSS Publications. From Dallas Brauninger. 1992 Series, "Come to Your Senses," Worship Environment Column in EMPHASIS: A Preaching Journal for the Parish Pastor.
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Buy Soma Cod - (10/27/2009)
Buy soma cod, Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live(Isaiah 55:3a)
This mandate is to hear. I want to live.
What if my ears cannot hear. Soma online, My child, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings (Proverbs 4:20.)
I can lean toward you with full attention; but if I cannot hear you --.
Give ear, O heavens, Arizona AZ Ariz. , and I will speak (Deuteronomy 32:1a.)
Will you avoid speaking should you think I am not listening.
The hearing ear and the seeing eye -- the Lord has made them both (Proverbs 20:12.)
Who made the unseeing eye and the non-hearing ear, buy soma cod.
My ear has heard and understood it (Job 13:1b.)
I wish. Ordering soma overnight delivery, Such is a conceivable litany of the hearing-challenged. Communication is what a church is about. Consider your response upon learning that the crux of your sermon was missed. Buy soma cod, Weigh your frustration when someone fails to catch what you are saying the first or second time you speak. You tuck away the rest of the conversation for later, köpa soma online. Now ponder the patient energy required for that individual to listen to any sermon or engage in dialogue.
For a mutually fair, Cheap soma online without prescription, adequate exchange, phone hearing- challenged persons using voice relay. A human go-between transmits what you say then reads the typed response. Include the TDD number in your church directory and encourage its use, buy soma cod.
Kari greeted her pastor, Alaska AK , "I feel like a thanksgiving song. Today, Purchase soma online, I knew what was happening." One of three worshipers to benefit when our rural church of 200 members hired an interpreter for the deaf to sign twice a month, Kari added, "Now, I feel more comfortable in church, Minnesota MN Minn. . I understand the choir's songs and what you say."
As worship leaders, we can learn several words in American Sign Language. Om soma online, At minimum, engage an interpreter for family baptisms, confirmations, and weddings, ordering soma no prescription. Buy soma cod, Rather than a distraction, signing is a beautiful, enjoyable addition to the worship environment. However, few churches have such access, Soma farmacia a buon mercato, and signing is not universal among deaf persons.
We have additional resources. Use the following check list to review a video tape of your worship service:
• Do you face the congregation directly whenever speaking.
• Do you hold your head up when praying, soma online stores.
• Is your speech clear, buy soma cod.
• Do you enunciate word endings.
• Do you avoid dropping your voice at the end of sentences. Soma pills, • If male, do you keep a beard or mustache well-trimmed.
• How expressive is your face as you speak. Buy soma cod, When worship leaders optimize communication strategies, some with hearing challenges can follow worship without an interpreter. A colleague with a 55 percent hearing loss moves closer to her congregation during announcements, buy soma online without prescription. She repeats information offered.
"There is a difference between understanding what someone is saying, Osta alennus soma, " she says, "and hearing. I may hear the words, but I don't understand what they are."
If an amplification system is so faulty that even the hearing-able sigh, buy soma cod, consider how little hearing-challenged persons can participate. Older sound systems that emphasize bass tones were designed for the male voice, buy soma cod. With a good quality system having an adequate mix, Acheter soma discount, listeners need not strain both to hear and to understand.
Ask what works best. Hearing capacities vary. Encourage experimenting with seat location, comprar en línea soma. Buy soma cod, One worshiper, accustomed to sitting beneath a wall speaker, hears better one pew back. Is lighting sufficient for lip-reading. Place photocopied sermons, Soma discount, choral anthems, and other special materials on the narthex table.
Talk directly to deaf persons, not through someone else, ostaa halvalla soma. They will ask if they missed something. "Rather than instinctively slow down and speak up when I do not catch what you say," one person says, "talk to me normal, buy soma cod. Speak clearly. Buy soma without prescription, When you repeat, use the same words. I can tell a lot from facial expression. When you tell me something you are enthusiastic about, cheap soma without prescription, show me the feeling."
Hearing challenges precipitate exclusion. Buy soma cod, Include the hard-of-hearing in worship even should their speech be unclear. Duplicate parts in short scripture readings for the voice choir. παραγγείλετε online soma, Anyone with differences struggles with self-image. With a distinction as subtle as the angle of a smile, we can dismiss persons as invalid (both meanings), or we can affirm their whole being, soma without a prescription. Hearing-challenged persons might enter church feeling world-isolated; however, when no longer also worship-isolated, Vermont VT Vt. , they abandon frustration at once.
With the affirmation of her wholeness that grew from a worship environment that removes barriers, no wonder Kari emerged from worship feeling like a thanksgiving song, buy soma cod. She had experienced for herself Christ's first response to those unable to listen, actually or symbolically, with their ears: "[A]nd I would heal them" (See Matthew 13:15-16.)
Unbounded enthusiasm is borne of a similarly graceful attitude when a barrier is removed. Let us name a fifth attribute of ability, high-spirited "abandon."
Dallas A. Brauninger. First published in EMPHASIS: A Preaching Journal. 2000-2001 Series Theme: Welcome-ability. March-April, 2001, Column 5. Used with permission of the publisher.
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Buy Soma C.o.d. - (10/21/2009)
Buy soma c.o.d., United Church of Christ Disabilities Ministries, www.uccdm.org - Great site for downloading useful resources, networking, posting questions, reflections, conversations.
United Church of Christ Mental Illness Network, www.min-ucc.org -The Mental Illness Network is a network about Serious Brain Disorders. Connect to find solidarity, Utah UT , help and resources for living with Serious Brain Disorders, such as Bipolar Disorder, Mississippi MS Miss. , Schizophrenia and Depression.
American Association of People with Disabilities, www.dmdaapd.org serves the diverse community of people with disabilities, including family, North Dakota ND , friends and supporters, and to be a national voice for change in implementing the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). California CA Calif. , Interfaith Initiative has resources and ideas for congregations
National Organization on Disability, www.nod.org -works in partnership with businesses, government, and local organizations to promote the inclusion of people with disabilities in society, kjøpe soma. Sponsors programs that promote employment opportunities, raise awareness and marshal resources for people with disabilities, buy soma c.o.d.. Publishes That All May Worship, and From Barriers to Bridges, Cheap soma, resources for congregations.
Bill Gaventa and The Elizabeth Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities, (just Google them, the web address is complicated!), Rhode Island RI R.I. , Editor, Journal on Religion and Disability and Health, Goedkope soma apotheek, many great resources on including people with disabilities in faith communities, autism downloads, CPE program for seminarians and clergy in settings that minister to people with developmental disabilities, excellent Bibliography for religion-related disability resources, Koop korting soma. Available to speak and consult, bill.gaventa@umdnj.edu
The Arc, Buy soma online legally, www.thearc.org - The Arc is the world’s largest community based organization of and for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It provides an array of services and support for families and individuals through more than 780 state and local chapters across the nation. Buy soma c.o.d., The Arc is devoted to promoting and improving supports and services for all people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
National Alliance on Mental Illness, www.nami.org -From its inception in 1979, Maine ME Me. , NAMI has been dedicated to improving the lives of individuals and families affected by mental illness through support, education and advocacy. Soma over the counter, There are state and local NAMI chapters with excellent speakers, trainers, leaders.
Alzheimer’s Association, cheap soma, www.alz.org, The Alzheimer’s Association is the leading voluntary health organization in Alzheimer care, Kjøpe soma online, support and research. Good resources for Caregiver support and training volunteers.
The UCC Fellowship of Architects, Collaborate to help build and renovate spaces for worship, education, and mission where all are welcome, possible consultant for church accessibility projects, buy soma c.o.d.. For more information, call or write to: Violeta de Banate 216-636-3834 debanatv@ucc.org
Nth Degree, Køb billige soma, www.thenthdegree.com , “Awarewear†business founded by disabilities advocate Dan Wilkins. Ordering soma online without prescription, Excellent resource for understanding Disability Culture, finding great posters, stickers, and tee shirts, Tennessee TN Tenn. , and laughing.
Technical Assistance Alliance for Parent Centers, Halvalla soma apteekki, www.taalliance.org, Absolute must for families who are looking for local support and ideas to secure services for children and young adults (birth-age 26). Find local or regional parent resource center. Buy soma c.o.d., Centers sponsor frequent info and support gatherings for families and self-advocates.
Wrightslaw Special Education Law and Advocacy, soma kopen, www.wrightslaw.com Parents, educators, Kentucky KY Ky. , advocates, and attorneys will find accurate, reliable information about special education law, education law, buy cheap soma online, and advocacy for children with disabilities. Key info for parents struggling with school districts to secure resources for their children. Køb discount soma, ADAPT, www.adapt.org is a national grass-roots community that organizes disability rights activists to engage in nonviolent direct action, including civil disobedience, to assure the civil and human rights of people with disabilities to live in freedom, ordering soma pills. Another great insight into civil rights activism.
Specialty Sites – Every disability has an on-line community. Comprar soma baratos, You can learn very specific information about particular disabilities, therapy regimens, relevant assistive technology, treatment and support suggestions, New Jersey NJ N.J. , and local chapters
Don’t forget “Local Heroes†– Many of these groups have local chapters and can connect you to people with disabilities to help your church on their A2A journey.
10.2009 - J.C. Hartsig for Local Church Ministries, United Church of Christ
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Cafergot Over The Counter - (06/13/2009)
Cafergot over the counter, This brochure was compiled to teach us all a few myth-busters and some simple guidelines for interacting with people with disabilities
We encounter people with disabilities every day. We meet them at school, at church, in the stores, and next door. People with disabilities are family members, generic cafergot, friends and neighbors. People with disabilities are people with the same feelings and dreams as everyone else.
People with disabilities, however, Cafergot generic, are often excluded from the community because they are misunderstood. We fear the unknown and we are afraid of offending, cafergot over the counter. The greatest barrier to inclusion in our churches is not architecture, it’s our lack of knowledge and understanding.
This brochure was compiled to teach us all a few myth-busters and some simple guidelines for interacting with people with disabilities (Note: Even people with disabilities can be unsure of appropriate and helpful behavior toward people with other disabilities). Above all, remember to act in love, Kentucky KY Ky. , acceptance and with common sense. AND BE YOURSELF.
Basic Suggestions: Cafergot over the counter, ï€ Always speak directly to persons with disabilities instead of to a companion.
ï€ Don’t hesitate to ask if you can help. Then follow instructions. Buy cafergot without prescription, ï€ Ask first, before assisting. People with disabilities are capable of doing most or many things for themselves and prefer to do so.
ï€ Avoid patronizing, cafergot over the counter. Remember that they are human beings just like you.
ï€ Ask first, before touching, ordering cafergot without prescription. People with disabilities may have difficulty with balance or may be concentrating on moving safely, an unexpected touch can disrupt their concentration.
ï€ Don’t ignore. Cafergot over the counter, Include persons with disabilities in what you are saying and doing.
• Place more importance on inclusion than on politically correct language. Billig kaufen cafergot, At the same time, however, be aware that some people are sensitive to language. As you get to know the person, you’ll learn what they are comfortable with.
ï€ Stress the person, buy generic cafergot, not the disability (example: a person who is blind, deaf, etc., instead of a "blind person" or a "deaf person").
ï€ Relax, cafergot over the counter. Acheter cafergot, Talk as you would to anyone else. Don’t hesitate to use words like see, hear, and walk.
ï€ Be considerate of the extra time it may take a person with a disability to get things done or said. Let the person set the pace, Montana MT Mont. . Cafergot over the counter, ï€ When planning events involving people with disabilities, consider needs. If an insurmountable barrier exists, alert the coordinator ahead of time.
ï€ Remember that guide dogs and assistance dogs are permitted by federal law to go anywhere their human partner goes – stores, restaurants, Cafergot for sale, churches, etc.
ï€ Do not speak to or touch assistance animals – it distracts them from their work. When walking beside someone, walk on the opposite side of the animal.
• Handicap parking is reserved by law for persons who have been designated by the DMV as permanently or temporarily disabled, cafergot over the counter. Only persons with “Handicap†stickers or ID cards may use them, Kaufen cafergot. Also note – the blue stripes do not indicate another parking space – they are there to provide space for vans with ramps. Parking in the blue stripes may block someone’s access to their car.
Intellectual Disabilities
• Speak to the person in a clear voice using simple words and concrete – not abstract – concepts. Cafergot over the counter, Help her/him understand complex ideas by breaking them down onto smaller ideas.
• Avoid talking down or use baby talk to people who are intellectually challenged. φτηνές φαρμακείο cafergot, Gauge your pace and vocabulary in accordance with his/hers.
• When applicable, remember that the person is an adult and, unless you are informed otherwise, they can make their own decisions.
• People with cognitive impairments may be anxious to please and so will tell you what they think you want to hear, ordering cafergot no prescription. Keep questions neutral to elicit accurate information, cafergot over the counter. Repeat each question in a different way to verify their answers.
• It can be difficult for people with cognitive impairments to make quick decisions. Be patient and allow the person to take his/her time.
• Clear signage with pictograms can help a person who is intellectually challenged find their way around a facility. Cafergot over the counter, • Be aware that a change in the environment or routine may require a period of adjustment. Colorado CO Colo. , Hearing Disabilities
ï€ To get the attention of a person with a hearing disability, tap them on the shoulder or wave your hand.
ï€ Don’t shout. Speak clearly, slowly and normally.
ï€ Never speak directly into a person’s ear, ordering cafergot online without prescription. Stand where those who lip read can get a clear view of your face, cafergot over the counter. Form your words carefully, but naturally without distortion.
ï€ Remember that facial expressions and body language may also be interpreted by a person with a hearing disability, but don’t exaggerate. Alabama AL Ala. , ï€ If possible, select a quieter spot, as noise is distracting and makes speech difficult to follow. If more appropriate, communicate in writing or with gestures. Cafergot over the counter, ï€ Avoid changing topics abruptly, as the person uses context to help understand what is being said.
Mental Illnesses
Mental illness is not a behavioral choice, Om cafergot online. It is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. Largely invisible, disorders in the brain interfere with the capacity to feel, think and relate. Buy cheap cafergot online, Symptoms are varied. A person may appear sad, withdrawn, protective, preoccupied, carrying an unusual burden, or, on the other hand, may be highly energized or acting in a way unusual for the person or the situation, cafergot over the counter.
ï€ Come along side, be present, listen. Stand with the person, as if you are looking out at the world together, price of cafergot, ready to offer help, assistance or guidance. Make introductions.
ï€ Persons on medication may exhibit facial or bodily movements which people unaccustomed to this side effect o f drugs may not understand. Cafergot over the counter, Create a space that is calm, reassuring and respectful. Købe cafergot, ï€ A chemical imbalance may cause behavior that is disturbing or disruptive. Engage the person kindly and quietly,
Mobility Disabilities
ï€ When speaking with a person in a wheelchair for more than a few minutes, pull up a chair and sit down so you both meet at eye level. You’ll both avoid a stiff neck.
ï€ A person who uses a wheelchair may be able to walk, buy cafergot overnight delivery. Honor that choice, cafergot over the counter.
ï€ Do not, without permission, move a wheelchair, walker or crutches out of reach of the person who uses them. αγοράζουν online cafergot, They are personal property.
ï€ Don’t lean or hang on to someone’s wheelchair. It is an extension of that person’s personal space. Cafergot over the counter, ï€ If assisting a wheelchair user up or down a curb, ask the person using the wheelchair for directions. The person using the wheelchair knows what works best. Steep ramps can be difficult and chairs can be heavy. If you have any doubts about handling the chair safely, ordering cafergot from canada, get help.
ï€ When giving directions to a person in a wheelchair, consider distance, weather conditions and obstacles such as stairs, Order cafergot, curbs and steep hills.
Speech Disabilities
ï€ Try to give your full, unhurried attention to the person speaking, cafergot over the counter. Take time to appreciate the person talking. If you do not understand, ask for repetition or clarification. Do not courteously pretend to understand as you may be missing important information. Repeat what you think you understand and the person’s reaction will guide you, New Jersey NJ N.J. . Cafergot over the counter, ï€ When necessary, ask questions that require a short answer or a nod or shake of the head.
ï€ Remember, a person with a speech difficulty may use alternative ways of communicating, including writing, mime or computer-generated speech.
ï€ Resist the urge to complete words or sentences for the person with a speech difficulty.
Visual Disabilities
ï€ Very few blind people are fully blind. There are varying degrees of blindness and most have some sight.
ï€ When greeting a person with visual disability, identify yourself, cafergot over the counter.
ï€ If others are present, identify them also (Ex. Joe Smith is on my right and Jane Smith is on my left).
ï€ When conversing in a group that includes a visually impaired person, use the first name of the person you are addressing.
ï€ Be sure to let it be known when the conversation is over and to indi cate when you are moving away. Cafergot over the counter, ï€ Explain where things are located in terms of the proximity to the person. Use the imagery of a clock to help orient the person to surroundings.
ï€ If the person has a guide dog, ask how much room is needed for the dog.
ï€ Ask about seating preference, then walk the person to the seat. Offer assistance when and if needed. Provide an elbow or shoulder if requested, but avoid grabbing or trying to push the person ahead of you, cafergot over the counter.
ï€ When walking with a visually impaired person, alert them to obstacles like curbs, stairs and doors.
ï€ When giving directions to a person with visual impairment use specifics, such as, "left a hundred feet" or "right two yards." If they are not fully blind use landmarks in addition to street names or room numbers – "turn left at the pink house" or "the third door on the left."
In Case of Medical Emergency
ï€ Never attempt to restrain or put anything into the mouth of a person having a seizure.
ï€ Move objects or furniture to prevent injury.
ï€ Make the person feel comfortable after the seizure by helping the person to a comfortable place to rest and offering reassurance. Cafergot over the counter, ï€ Since an incident could be epilepsy, a stroke, or a reaction to medication, find out if medical personnel or an informed family member is present. Call 911.
In case of emergency evacuation, assist all known persons with disabilities.
Compiled by Jacky Schofield for the Connecticut Disability Advocacy Collaborative.
Sources: United Spinal Association: Tips on Interacting with People with Disabilities; Easter Seals and Century 21 Easy Access Housing Program: Disability Etiquette; and the United Church of Christ "Accessible to All" Usher’s Guideline.
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Anybody, Everybody, Christ’s Body - (02/26/2009)
DIA – CT 2008 - (02/24/2009)
Access Manual for Worship - (02/21/2009)
UCC Cornerstone Fund Celebrates Milestone - (01/09/2009)
“50 Years in a Wheelchair: No Time for Pity” - (12/03/2008)
Access Sunday Worship Resource - (10/10/2008)
Practical Helps for Church Ushers - (10/09/2007)
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW . . .
We all know that persons with disabilities and their families should be integrated into the life of the church. We want to be welcoming in every way. However, we often do not know what to do and fear doing the wrong thing. Thus we sometimes appear to be unwelcoming. In reality, we are just uncertain. Many people with disabilities have hidden or invisible disabilities. While we may not be aware of this, we might be alert to people asking for help in order to be welcomed into our churches. This brochure is designed to assist ushers and other church leaders to offer hospitality to all persons with disabilities.Basic Suggestions:
- Always speak directly to persons with a disability instead of to a companion.
- Don’t hesitate to ask if you can help. Then follow instructions.
- Whenever possible, seat persons with a disability with other family or friends.
- Don’t ignore. Include persons with disabilities in what you are saying and doing.
- Stress the person, not the disability (example: a person who is blind, deaf, etc., instead of a disabled person).
- Talk as you would to anyone else. Don’t hesitate to use words like see, hear, and walk.
- Ask a person with a disability to usher, greet or serve on a committee.
Developmental Disabilities
- Some congregational members may be uncomfortable interacting with people who have developmental disabilities. Ask ahead of time who would like to share a hymnal, explain the service, or sit with the person at coffee hour or lunch. Provide training for such individuals in advance.
- Always offer a bulletin. Then the person has the right to accept or decline the offer.
Hearing Disabilities
- Speak clearly, slowly and normally.
- If your church has assistive listening devices, show persons where they are and how to use them. Before the service, check the devices to be certain they are in working order.
- Never speak directly into a person’s ear. Stand where those who lip read can get a clear view of your face. Form your words carefully, but naturally without distortion. If possible, select a more quiet spot as noise is distracting and makes speech difficult to follow. If more appropriate, communicate in writing or with gestures.
- Avoid changing topics abruptly as the person uses context to help understand what is being said.
- Try to seat persons with hearing difficulty in clear view of the pulpit and the sign language interpreter, if the latter is present. Both should be in one clear view for speaking and gesturing cues as well as for the actual interpreting.
Mental Illnesses
The word "mental" itself is stigmatizing. Hereafter we will use brain illnesses -- commonly known as mental illnesses. Largely invisible, disorders in the brain interfere with the capacity to feel, think and relate. The symptoms of brain illness are varied. A person may appear sad, withdrawn, protective, preoccupied, carrying an unusual burden, or, on the other hand, may be highly energized or acting in a way unusual for the person or the situation.- Treat persons with brain disorders and the families just as you do any other member of the Body of Christ. Offer the hospitality of a simple welcome and introduce yourself.
- Come along side, be present, listen. Stand with the person, as if you are looking out at the world together, ready to offer help, assistance or guidance. Accompany the person to a seat with or near someone who is supportive, understanding and companionable. Make introductions.
- Persons on medication for a brain illness may exhibit facial or bodily movements which people unaccustomed to this side effect of drugs may not understand. Create a space that is calm, reassuring and respectful.
- A brain disorder may cause behavior that is disturbing or disruptive. As with any episode of illness, find one or two knowledgeable members to assist by engaging the person kindly and quietly, inviting and accompanying the individual to a less active area of your church where appropriate care and help can be better provided. A good program which offers information about mental illness is helpful.
Mobility Disabilities
- A person who uses a wheelchair may be able to walk and may prefer to use a seat in the pew. Honor that choice. If possible, provide a few shortened pews so persons using a wheelchair can sit with and feel a welcome part of the congregation. Note that standing is a matter of choice.
- Do not, without permission, move a wheelchair, walker or crutches out of reach of the person who uses them. They are personal property.
- If assisting a wheelchair user up or down a curb, ask the person using the wheelchair for directions. The person using the wheelchair knows what works best. Steep ramps can be difficult and chairs heavy. If you have any doubts about handling the chair safely, get help.
Speech Disabilities
- Try to give your full, unhurried attention to a person speaking. Take time to appreciate the person talking. If you do not understand, ask for repetition or clarification. Do not courteously pretend to understand as you may be missing important information.
- Remember, a person with a speech difficulty may use alternative ways of communicating, including writing, mime or computer-generated speech.
- Resist the urge to complete words or sentences for the person with a speech difficulty.
Visual Disabilities
- When greeting a person with visual disability, identify yourself and your role as usher or greeter.
- Explain where things are located in terms of the person. Use the imagery of a clock to help orient the person to surroundings (Example: The choir is seated about 50 feet in front of you at 2 o’clock).
- Explain the order for worship if the person is unfamiliar with your church. Ask a member to join a person coming alone so specific worship instructions can be offered.
- If the person has a guide dog, ask how much room is needed for the dog.
- Always offer a bulletin. Make sure large print bulletins are available. If possible, offer a Braille or large-print hymnal. Offer to read aloud the bulletin if it is not available in an alternative form.
- Ask about seating preference then walk the person to the seat. Offer assistance when and if needed. Provide an elbow or shoulder if requested, but avoid grabbing or trying to push the person ahead of you.
In Case of Medical Emergency
- Never attempt to restrain or put anything into the mouth of a person having a seizure.
- Move objects or furniture to prevent injury.
- Make the person feel comfortable after the seizure by helping the person to a comfortable place to rest and offering reassurance.
- Since an incident could be epilepsy, a stroke, or a reaction to medication, find out if medical personnel or an informed family member is present. Call 911. One usher should call immediately while another stays with the person.
- In case of emergency evacuation, assist all known persons with disabilities.
For further information please contact:
Michelle Hintz, UCCDM 866-822-8224, ext 3845 Email: hintzm@ucc.org www.uccdm.org United Church of Christ Disabilities Ministry C/O Parish Life and Leadership 700 Prospect Avenue East Cleveland, OH 44115 1-866-822-8224 x3845Word Choice Matters - (09/27/2007)
“Effective Color Contrast” - (05/19/2007)
“Welcoming Attitudes Open Older Churches” - (05/19/2007)
Inclusive Language Resource - (05/13/2007)
Attitudinal Accessibility – Be Yourself When Meeting a PWD - (02/07/2007)
Attitudinal Accessibility – Getting Rid of the Hyphen - (02/07/2007)
Congregations Increasingly Seek Ways to Improve Access for People with Disabilities to Participate in Services - (02/06/2007)
Thoughts on the International Access Symbol - (01/29/2007)
Making Buildings Accessible Publications - (12/21/2006)
A Lift to the Spirits - (12/13/2006)
Door Knobs and Yardsticks: A World of Difference - (12/12/2006)
Access Sunday: Blessing of Life-Giving Tools - (12/12/2006)
Seed Money - (12/12/2006)
Necessary Things - (12/12/2006)
Newspapers, Periodicals, E-Periodicals - (12/07/2006)
Book: A Very Special Critter - (12/03/2006)
A Manual for Churches - (12/01/2006)
Book: Creating the Caring Congregation - (11/30/2006)
No Steps to Heaven – Harold H. Wilke - (11/30/2006)
The scene is upper Manhattan, Broadway at Reinhold Niebuhr Place, Union Theological Seminary. Union’s president, Donald Shriver, walks jauntily down the steps to the bustling street and sits down in a wheelchair brought for the experiment, thus putting himself in the place of a student with a handicap. Gazing up from his wheelchair at that imposing entrance and those five insurmountable steps, he says, “OK, carry me in,†and two waiting students -- both of them at least a bit nervous -- carry him into the foyer. Inside, he wheels past a heavy elevator door and then, with the aid of the students, attempts to negotiate the maze that is a magnificent building constructed on the assumption that everyone using it would be not only a spiritual and intellectual giant but an able-bodied athlete as well!Read the entire article, No Steps to Heaven.
Mainstreaming the Alienated: The Church Responds to the “New” Minority – Harold H. Wilke - (11/30/2006)
Appropriate Language in Discussing Mental Illness - (11/21/2006)
Book: Blindsided by Grace - (11/10/2006)
From the Book Jacket
Blindsided by Grace is an engaging exploration of disability for those facing limitation or loss in their lives. A pastor, husband, father and triathlete, Robert F. Molsberry was left parapalegic following a near-fatal hit and run accident in 1997. After a long period of recovery and rehabilitation, he has returned to an active life, including family, ministry and athletics. Molsberry confronts stereotypes surrounding the experience of disability, comparing his adjustment to an immersion in an alien culture. A disability is not just a physical or mental impairment; cultural, political and theological factors are as important as a medical diagnosis in understanding the concept of disability. With honesty and humor, Molsberry uncovers positive as well as negative aspects of his experience. He is the author of many published articles, both before and after incurring his disability.
Hearing God’s Words Is Not Always An Option – Dudley, MA - (09/24/2006)
First Congregational Church in Dudley Offers Worship Service in Sign Language - SHARED IN SPOTLIGHT, THE E-NEWSLETTER OF THE MASSACHUSETTS CONFERENCE UCC
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Hearing impairment is no longer a reason to miss the spoken Word at worship – at least not at First Congregational Church in Dudley. Once a month, the Dudley church offers a sign language interpretation at its Sunday service.
1995 UCC DM Resolution: Concerning the Church and the Americans with Disabilities Act - (07/07/2005)
1999 MIN Resolution: Calling the People of God to Justice for Persons with Serious Mental Illnesses (Brain Disorders) - (07/06/2005)
Background
Text of the Resolution
1999 DM Resolution: The Calling of Clergy with Disabilities - (07/06/2005)
Introduction
Theological Rationale
Text of the Resolution
WHEREAS, in 1977 the Eleventh General Synod approved the Pronouncements, "The Church and Persons with Handicaps," which encouraged all settings of the United Church of Christ to implement full employment of persons with disabilities; WHEREAS, in 1981 the Thirteenth General Synod approved the Proposal for Action, "The Church and Persons with Handicaps," which included Calls for affirmative action in the hiring of persons with disabilities in our local churches and throughout the church; WHEREAS, in 1985 the Fifteenth General Synod approved "Full Participation for Persons with Disabilities in the Life of the Church," which "recommends that local churches, associations, conferences, instrumentalities and other national bodies seek out persons with disabilities to become actively involved in all aspects of the church;" WHEREAS, in 1995 the Twentieth General Synod approved "Concerning the Church and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)," which challenges the United Church of Christ to embrace the spirit of the ADA and hold itself to be morally bound by the provisions of the ADA which prohibit employment discrimination against person with disabilities; and WHEREAS, despite the above General Synod actions, barriers remain within local churches, conferences, and national boards to calling clergy with disabilities to serve; THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that in the next two years, there be an aggressive campaign to assist clergy persons with disabilities in the call process. The Office for Church Life and Leadership and/or its successor body in partnership with the NCPWD is requested to lead this effort; BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Office for Church Life and Leadership and/or its successor body, in partnership with the NCPWD is requested to develop educational programs and resources for the church to address discrimination against clergy persons with disabilities and to include appropriate materials in research committee notebooks. BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that all United Church of Christ related seminaries be urged to remove barriers-- architectural, attitudinal, and cultural-which prohibit persons with disabilities from receiving the same preparation as non-disabled persons. Funding for this action will be made in accordance with the overall mandates of the affected agencies and the funds available. Prudential Resolution: Requires a majority vote for passage.
2005 DM Resolution: Called to Wholeness in Christ - (07/04/2005)
Date Submitted: November 6, 2004 Conference Executive Committee SUBMITTED BY: Minnesota Conference United Church of Christ SUMMARY OF INTENT: The Minnesota Conference calls on United Church of Christ Conferences, Associations, congregations, seminaries, campus ministries and colleges, camps, covenanted ministries and all other UCC organizations to become accessible to all; to embody a philosophy of inclusion and interdependence; and to support and implement the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 -- as called upon by the General Synod resolution passed in 1995, "Concerning the Church and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990", calling the UCC at all levels to embrace the spirit of the ADA.
THEOLOGICAL RATIONALE
BACKGROUND AND SUPPORTING STATEMENT:
TEXT OF RESOLUTION:
Wholeness – Annie’s Idea of Heaven - (12/07/2003)
Challenge by Rita Fiero - (09/02/2003)
Rita Fiero, RN, is immediate past co chair of the UCCDM board. For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Jeremiah 29:11 People with difficult speech, twisted bodies, or damaged brains have an authentic voice much of which is prophetic. From within experiences of disability and chronic illness, we offer the insight that God enters our being at the point of pain and vulnerability. We can model the transcendence of limitations of body or mind as the most powerful way to survive and grow toward wholeness. Hope for disabilities ministries flourishes in many places because we believe God in Christ, the Indiscriminate Host. The church has a committed group of wounded healers. For more than 25 years, UCC Disabilities Ministries has striven to honor Jesus' teaching of the inclusion of society's marginal, children and adults with disabilities and chronic illness. For more than ten years, the Mental Illness Network has educated the church about the plight of people with brain disorders. Inclusion is our right as children of God, also made in God's image, and as members of a faith tradition of servanthood. We need a new and revolutionary, an extravagant and radical, an extreme and uncompromising hospitality in the church if we are to remain faithful to the message of the Indiscriminate Host. We must admit to not recognizing the justice issues that impress the experience of disability euthanasia, genetic engineering, community based care alternatives to institutionalization and insurance parity for brain disorders on equal par with other medical conditions. We need to take seriously Christian education for children with disabilities and a seminary certificate program in Disability Ministry. Let us reach beyond an all inclusive view of disabilities ministry. God still gives us hope through improbable people.
From UCC DM Newsletter ArchiveChallenge by Jeanne Tyler - (01/21/2003)
Jeanne Tyler co-chairs the UCCDM board and is co-pastor of Saint Paul UCC, Lincoln, Nebraska He told them another parable: "The [realm of God] is like yeast which a woman took and . . . ." - Matthew 13:33 Slowly bubbling along with warm water and sugar, yeast grows as it rises into dough and bakes into bread. This image from Jesus' rich parable is especially apt for persons with disability and our call to serve. We have been around forever and have been bubbling slowly ever so slowly into the wholeness of life, bringing the church into the fullness of transformation along with all who have been marginalized, made invisible. With many and diverse gifts, some serve and others are served. Mostly invisible for years, persons with disability are everywhere in every race and culture. We are truly the yeast that is transforming to this church. Yeast bubbles, slowly and persistently raising the dough. Persons with disability slowly and persistently insist on our call to serve. I love the church. Here I first experienced acceptance and affirmation. Here I was included in its life. Here I began pulling my life together and trusting God. I gained courage to claim as mine the call to serve. Taken into community, I claim the community and as a member serve by offering my gifts. The church struggles with discovering us who have been invisible for so long. Called to serve as lay leaders, as ordained, as preachers and teachers, as missionaries, we often feel vulnerable to our own visibility. At times persons with disability make tremendous sacrifices in order to serve. The church has the temptation to see in my body only the image of brokenness and insist it be whole. I call the church to resist this temptation. I call the church to honor our call to serve in all settings of the church. The church that is made whole sees in our bodies the transformation that is called forth by the leaven to rise so that all may serve. The dough rises and is baked only to be broken and shared to make people whole.
From UCC DM Newsletter ArchiveChallenge by Peg Slater - (09/21/2002)
Dear Reader of the UCC National Committee on Persons with Disabilities Newsletter: Are you, an individual with a disability? Did you attend a UCC seminary? If you answered "Yes" to both these questions, I need your help! This newsletter insert contains a questionnaire that asks questions about the experiences of people who have a disability who attended a UCC-related seminary program. Please take a few minutes to respond to the questionnaire -- take even longer, if you could, to share some of your specific experiences. Your response can be returned through the mail, by FAX, or via e-mail. But I would request that responses be returned by the end of June of this year. If you do not have a disability or, are not a UCC seminary alumnus/a but know someone who fits these categories, please pass this insert and its questionnaire along to them. Responses to this questionnaire will provide data for a study that is looking at the question of whether UCC affiliated or related seminaries are accessible to or discriminatory toward individuals who have a disability. The total study project will become my Ph.D. dissertation in the field of special education administration at Gailaudet University. It will also be shared with the UCC National Committee on Persons with Disabilities and with the Issues on Disabilities and Access (IDA) Taskforce of the Central Atlantic Conference (of which I am a former member). I want to thank both that task force and the National Committee on Persons with Disabilities for their interest and support! And I want to thank you, the readers of this newsletter; for your help! Laura-Jean Gilbert PO Box 424 FAX: (603) 495-0359 Washington, NH 03280 E-mail: ljgilb@aol.com (UCC directly-related and affiliated seminaries: Andover-Newton, Bangor, Chicago, Eden, Evangelical (Puerto Rico), Interdenominational (Atlanta), Hartford, Harvard, Howard, Lancaster, Pacific, Union (N.Y.), United, Vanderbilt, Yale) UCC Seminaries and Students with Disabilities QUESTIONNAIRE The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) "defines an 'individual with a disability' as a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, has a record of such an. Impairment or is regarded as having such an Impairment." If you attended a UCC directly-related or affiliated seminary and you consider yourself to have had a disability that fits the ADA definition when you were a seminary student, please help us by taking time to respond to this questionnaire. You may use additional paper to answer these questions or comment on them. 1. Please indicate the type of disability you have (or had) at the time you were a seminary student: 2. Which UCC seminary did you attend? 3. During what years were you a student? 4. What is your birth date: 5. What degree program were you in? 6. Did you graduate? Yes No Still enrolled 7. When you entered the seminary, what was your career goal? local church ministry teaching pastoral counseling chaplaincy other (please explain) 8. When you applied, did you inform the seminary that you had a disability? - Yes No Don't remember 9. Did you request any special accommodation related to your disability when you enrolled or began classes? No Yes (If yes, what accommodation did you request and did the seminary provide that accommodation?) 10. While you were a student at the seminary did you find the buildings and grounds of the seminary to be accessible to you? not at all only a little to some degree mostly accessible totally accessible 11. Did you find the teaching methods used by faculty and/or technologies employed in the classroom supportive of your accessibility needs? . . not at all only a little to some degree mostly accessible - totally accessible 12. Was seminary housing suitable or adapted for a person with your disability? Yes No Don't know 13. Beyond the classroom, were seminary programs, such as community worship, special lectures, or student activities, accessible to you? not at all only a little to some degree mostly accessible totally accessible 14. Were you aware of other people with disabilities in the seminary community? Yes No 15. When you attended the seminary did it offer specific courses related to disability issues? Yes No Don't know (or don't remember) If you answered "'yes," in what areas of the curriculum were the courses offered? (Check any/all that apply.) Pastoral ministry Old or New Testament Pastoral counseling - Christian Education Ethics Other(?) 16. From your experiences in seminary, what approach(es) were taken to disability issues? (Check any/all that apply.) As punishment for sin As a test of faith As opportunities for God's intervention As opportunities for growth and learning As examples of redemptive suffering As examples of God's mysterious omnipotence As examples of the interdependence of the universe As opportunities for Christian community Other(?) 17. Did you seek employment related to your seminary training after graduation? Yes No Already had employment If you answered yes, how much difficulty did you have finding employment? 18. Please share any other comments or specific experiences that you had as a seminary student that might help us understand your experiences as a seminary student with a disability. We are asking respondents to identify themselves so that we might be able to follow up with questions. However, you may reply anonymously if you prefer. No use of the data collected will identify individuals. The report will include identified experiences of a handful of individuals who will be interviewed directly for this purpose. Name. Mailing address: Telephone: E-mail address: I would like to receive a copy of the results of this study. Please return this questionnaire and any other information you wish to append or include by the end of June of this year to: L. J. Gilbert PO Box 424 Washington, NH 03280 Or you may respond via FAX to (603) 495-0359 or mail to ljgilb@aol.com
An Update on the Study of UCC-Related Seminaries and Their Students with Disabilities As announced in the April 1999 issue of this newsletter, the study of seminaries affiliated with or related to the UCC and students with disabilities in well underway. The researcher doing the study, Laura Jean Gilbert, has visited nine of the 14 seminaries located in the continental U.S. and has plans to visit three additional seminaries in the coming month. In the fall of 1999, a letter from David Denham was sent to each of the 14 seminaries explaining the study and inviting their participation. Those 14 seminaries are Andover-Newton Theological School, Bangor Theological Seminary, Chicago Theological Seminary, Eden Theological Seminary, Hartford Seminary, Harvard Divinity School, Howard University School of Divinity, The Interdenominational Theological Center, Lancaster Theological Seminary, Pacific School of Religion, Union Theological Seminary, United Theological Seminary, The Divinity School at Vanderbilt University, and Yale Divinity School. Almost all of the seminaries are participating in the study. Bangor Seminary declined to participate, and Howard has not responded to letters, phone calls, or e-mail communication. Therefore, final results will include six directly-related and six affiliated seminaries. A pilot study was done last fall at Princeton Seminary, and data from that study was used to revise the questionnaires used in the actual study. Princeton had been through a year-long analysis by an architectural firm of its facilities related to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and those findings were made available to our researcher. Our study is considering not only the facilities of each seminary, but also current and recent past enrolled students who have identified themselves as having a disability. It also involves a questionnaire distributed to full-time faculty asking them about their personal experiences with individuals who have a disability in their classes, and it looks for specific recent books about individuals with disabilities -- such as The Disabled God by Nancy Eiesland -- in each seminary's library. The researcher hopes to do an analysis of all the collected data over the summer and submit a final report to UCC Disabilities Ministries by fall 2000. From UCC DM Newsletter ArchiveAccessible Chancels - (06/07/2000)
One Week in a Wheelchair – Donna Schaper - (02/21/2000)
Editor's note: The following article by Rev. Donna Schaper, Association Minister, Massachusetts Conference, originally appeared in Colleague, September, 1999. I took an unexpected class trip last month when I pulled a tendon playing tennis. I found myself at a national convention of my church for a full week rooming with and in a wheelchair. When the tendon insisted that I couldn't walk, I couldn't imagine not going to the Synod, and I couldn't imagine going. Thus the compromise of the wheelchair and the non-stop joke from old, good friends about how "long they had wanted to push me around." The wheelchair was the equivalent of a college degree. I have done "plunges" before to poor communities or broken hearted places, the South Side of Chicago, Bosnia, Beijing. I have taken trips from privilege to non-privilege and had my eyes forced open. The wheelchair was a whole new voyage. It showed me a world I never even wanted to go to; now that I have been, I am astonished at the number of other people already living waist high. They/we are everywhere. I have to confess that I used to think there were too many handicapped parking places, too many large stall toilets. Now I wonder if there are enough. From my erect position, I simply didn't see all the wheels. They were invisible to me -- the same way many other people remain invisible until we walk or wheel in their moccasins. The wheelchair was a class trip because it moved me from the world of able status to the world of disabled status. I never got to that much coveted "differently able" status because I was in shock when I wasn't in denial: I couldn't walk but wouldn't really admit it to myself I found my temporary paralysis so threatening that I denied it in full for three days, thereby increasing my injury substantially. I did learn some different abilities but only by the brute force of curb cuts not being where they should have been. Why curb cuts as higher education? One curb cut can send you home if you can't walk. The city of our convention (Providence, Rhode Island) had curb cuts everywhere around the convention center -- except for one, two blocks downhill and two blocks uphill from my hotel, depending on one's direction. That one meant getting out of the chair, which I could do with serious pain. I wonder what those who can't hobble do. I wonder how they feel about cities that miss cutting certain curbs. Why deny injury? Because some of us always want to be in charge, that's why. We want to push others around, not be pushed around. We want to help, not be helped. For those who have spent longer than a week in a wheelchair, perhaps a life, I apologize. My week was short, and the whole time I knew I would move again. Others' experience is much different: wheelchairs are home. It was amazing to see who had manners and who didn't when they approached my chair. Many people knew me and had not seen me for the two years since our last convention. Some asked accusingly, "What are you doing in a wheelchair?" I told one I had AIDS, just to silence her accusation. Others approached more gently, "Do you mind if I ask what happened?" I was grateful to these; the latter frightened me. What if 76 40925 76 31416 0 0 59163 0 0:00:00 0:00:00 0:00:00 92129I had developed MS or AIDS? How could I tell them with that edge in their voice? Christ's body was broken. Is it a sin to be broken? Is it a shame to be Un-able? Must we be able, always? Is not broken the prelude to open? Are we not broken, open? A little of me opened because of my recent voyage. I got to know how deeply embarrassed I, and many, are at weakness. How much I want to be a controlling giver, not a vulnerable receiver. I also got to know floors and ledges and curb cuts, stairs, elevators, and what happens if you ram your chair into a duck taped group of wires on a floor. (You flip out.) I now love ramps. But a ramp is not enough to provide dignity to people who can't walk: the broken part of them needs affirmation by the broken part in those of us who can walk. There are barriers of architecture, communication, and attitude which also need ramping. I didn't know that till I spent a week in a wheelchair; now I know.
From UCC DM Newsletter ArchiveSurviving Unexpected Challenges – Doris Powell - (02/21/2000)
The Rev. Doris Powell has been the Director of Finance and Treasurer of the United Church of Christ since 1990. In the current structure, she is one of three officers of the Church, along with the President and the Secretary. This is not a position she ever expected to hold. But then, a lot of things in her life have not been as she expected. Until she was in her early 30s, Doris was a physically active person. She loved backpacking, canoeing, camping - any noncompetitive outdoor sport that got her into nature. She looked forward to living some day in Colorado where she planned on hiking to her heart's content. All of that changed when she was diagnosed with severe rheumatoid arthritis. For the first six months, she had constant acute pain. Then, medication and an exercise regimen began to help, and she felt very thankful not to be in as much pain. In the early months of her illness she experienced an identity crisis, asking God, "Who am I? The competent, active person I used to be, or the sidelined person I am now?" She also asked, "Is it better to accept my limitations, or to fight and deny them?" At the same time, she moved to a new community, and her new friends there responded to her as a person with a serious illness, which was not what she was used to. It seemed as if they were responding to a person she didn't even recognize. When she visited her former community, people there were shocked because she was so different from how they had known her. It was a confusing and troubling time. Before her diagnosis Doris thought she knew about tough times. There were periods when she thought life was very hard and she felt very negative about it. Though she acknowledges that this negativism had its pleasures, she began not to like this part of herself, especially how she was taking it out on other people. She felt stuck and prayed for guidance. And, she had a friend who became her role model in finding more positives in life, who coped gracefully with much worse circumstances than Doris was coping with at that time, and who helped her learn to see things in a different, more positive way. This was a significant change in her life. When she was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, she brought that understanding as a resource into this new situation. And she was able, in time, to find the answers to the questions she had been asking. Attending the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, CA, was part of her response to her new circumstances. In leaving her career as a Certified Public Accountant, she acted on her sense of discipleship, wanting to study and understand her faith better, and to learn to deal with the hard questions of life. Her sense of call was unclear when she started seminary, and she expected that it would be clarified as her studies progressed. As she started her third year though, she still had not discerned her call. So, when a friend asked if she could send Doris a 'resume' for the position of UCC Director of Finance and Treasurer, she prayed about it and thought it worth exploring. She was surprised at every step in that process that the Search Committee still wanted to continue dialogue with her. Despite how hard it was to be sure where God was leading her, Doris trusted that if she pursued different avenues to see where they would lead and believed that the other people involved in the process were also trying to discern God's readings, her path would become clear. And, it did. She has been amazed that her gifts in accounting match well with serving the church as Director of Finance and Treasurer. It's not what she had expected, yet it has felt so right. This confirmed for Doris the answers she received to the questions she asked God when she was first diagnosed. After much time in prayer, the answer to "Who am I" was, "You are my beloved child. I know who you are. Who you've been and who you are becoming are both a part of you. Accept what is, but don't let it determine what your life is going to be. This won't determine whether you can be happy or not. You are my disciple, and don't think you're going to sit on the sidelines. I have something for you to do." Doris finds that she appreciates life much more than she had: the beauty of flowers, of sunshine, of many things she didn't really see before. She became more compassionate as she realized that everyone struggles with something that raises these difficult questions in their lives. She understood that we don't have a clue to that of which we are capable of coping until we realize that we must choose to give up or find a way to deal with it. When she has seen other people facing with courage what seemed to be even worse situations, she has found inspiration. She has learned what her happiness really depends upon: living life, despite tough circumstances, with grace and hope. She sees that being friendly, kind, and thoughtful helps others return the same to her. These have been life-changing "Aha!" moments. All these insights have assisted her in coping with her latest challenge: having both of her knees replaced in the fall, 1999, as recommended by her surgeon. She asked many questions and researched rehabilitation facilities to determine what was involved in recovery, and decided to proceed with the surgery. She found the support group at the rehabilitation facility very helpful and observed how much each person's attitude impacted recovery. She also felt humbled to see people dealing with strokes and other devastating injuries whose prospects for recovery were not as promising as hers. Doris knew already that "God gives us support and strengthens us and lifts us up," but she felt an almost miraculous awareness of that when she was in rehabilitation. Her recovery was actually much easier then she had imagined, with every day seeming very doable. She wondered how that could be until she remembered how many people were praying for her. "God holds us up more than we realize all the time. There is so much support there." Now comes another challenge as she waits, along with the rest of the national staff, to learn what the new structure will mean for her. Since her surgery, she has much more energy than before, which gives her courage, to consider roles that previously seemed impossible. She doesn't feel invested in any particular position, praying that she will be led to a place to serve where she will be happy, where her gifts will be well used, and that will have the right amount of challenge for her. As with the many unexpected things that have happened in her life, who knows what the next step will be? Yet in the midst of that uncertainty, what is clear is that, wherever and with whomever Doris serves, the people around her will be privileged to share in the gifts that God has given to the world through this compassionate, strong, faith-filled woman. It is a blessing to UCC Disabilities Ministries that the Rev. Doris Powell is a part of our work. Sidebar: "You are my beloved child. I know who you are. Who you've been and who you are becoming are both a part of you. Accept what is, but don't let it determine what your life is going to be. This won't determine whether you can be happy or not. You are my disciple, and don't think you are going to sit on the sidelines. I have something for you to do." Editor's Note: Since the writing of this article, Rev. Doris Powell has been named staff person for Pastors and Seminarians, Stewardship and Church Finances
From UCC DM Newsletter ArchiveStructural Accessibility – When a Door Becomes a Wall - (09/07/1999)
The Methodist hymn writer Jane Marshall poses a question every Christian ought to have the privilege of asking: What gift can we bring, what present, what token? What words can convey it, the joy of this day? When grateful we come, remembering, rejoicing, what song can we offer in honor and praise? (The New Century Hymnal, # 370) A church that is accessible to all is a church in which everyone is affirmed as a steward of the abundance of God's joy. We all have a gift to bring, a song to offer God in honor and praise. Instead of abundance, however, far too many operate with assumptions of scarcity. There is not enough - not enough money, not enough time, not enough ability. This is particularly challenging for persons who are regularly told by others that they do not have enough. Not enough vision. Not enough hearing. Not enough intellect. Not enough stamina. Not enough strength. Not enough coherence. Not enough memory. Not enough youth. Not enough beauty. Elevators, ramps, signers, large print, Braille, as critical as they are, only make a difference if those who have access are also affirmed as stewards of the abundance of God's joy rather than seen as persons who don't have enough to enable them to bring a gift and sing a song, in honor and praise. What's at stake in this is not only the integrity of ministry found in each of our local churches or even our denomination. The integrity of the whole church rests on this as well. Our ecumenical commitments have helped us to discover this truth as they have explored the various ways in which the body of Christ is divided. Addressing racism, sexism, homophobia, and the exclusion or demeaning of persons with disabilities is as critical to restoring a sense of wholeness to Christ's church as is our work on division resulting from differing interpretations of sacraments and the ordering of ministry. Early in the 1980's the nine member churches of the Consultation on Church Union reminded us in strong and urgent ways that physical access to facilities is an indispensable starting point, but it is not enough. Subtle patronizing of persons with disabilities, the refusal to receive such sisters and brothers as full human beings and contributing members of Christ's body, is a form of apostasy. In those early conversations of COCU people like Harold Wilke and Virginia Kreyer took leadership roles. Today we must ask, has the gift the United Church of Christ offered to our ecumenical community been received in our own church's life? Are we perpetuating notions of scarcity? Is our "accessible to all" church still burdened with the assumption that some people don't have enough of whatever it is that enables each of us to bring a gift and offer a song? Jane Marshall teaches us that we bring our gift and offer our song out of the abundance of joy, God's joy. It is a joy beyond mere happiness, a joy rooted in the wholeness of God in Christ overflowing in the lives of all the baptized. The challenge of the new century for an accessible church will be more than architectural; it will be theological. We must move beyond the apostasy of a belief in scarcity, either for all or for some, and claim the faithfulness of a recognition that in Christ there is abundance for all. Then, out of that abundance, all may ask themselves, what gift can we bring, what song can we offer, and an "accessible to all" church will become a church offering to God true honor and praise.
From the UCC DM Newsletter ArchiveArchitectural, Attitudinal and Spiritual Inclusion of People with Disabilities and Their Families – Rita Fiero - (07/30/1999)
"Nobody escapes being wounded. We are all wounded people, whether physically, emotionally, mentally or spiritually. The main question is not 'How can we hide our wounds? so that we don't have to be embarrassed,' but 'How can we put our woundedness in the service of others?' When our wounds cease to be a source of shame and become a source of healing, we have become wounded healers."An inclusive ministry with persons with disabilities, chronic illness, and their families can be summed up in this excerpt from the writings of Henri Nouwen (Bread for the Journey). Nouwen, priest and scholar, shared his life with people with mental retardation as pastor of the L'Arche Daybreak community in Toronto, Canada. L'Arche is a Christian community in which people with disabilities and their assistants strive to live together in the spirit of interdependence and shared vulnerability. "Vulnerability is our seed to experiencing wholeness," Nouwen had said. His experience in the L'Arche community brought him this insight and is one upon which we need to meditate. The church has limited experience with the realities of people with disabilities living in society. Life within institutional settings has also changed, particularly in the last two decades. People with disabilities have become self-determining, educated, and responsible consumers. They do not want to be defined as passive recipients of care and discretionary charity. Religious leaders can no longer only minister to the spiritual and temporal needs of people with disabilities. They must also be cognizant of and make their presence felt in the disability movement itself. In 1971, The United Church of Christ, under the leadership of Rev. Dr. Harold Wilke and Rev. Virginia Kreyer, early pioneers in Ministry of Disability, developed the model of interactional ministry of and with people with disabilities. The United Church of Christ has much of which to be proud. For example, Harold Wilke, a man who was born without arms, was present at the signing ceremony of The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. He is forever immortalized in the historical portrait as he accepted, with his foot, the pen used by President Bush in the ceremony. The early efforts of these pioneers evolved into the UCC National Committee on Persons with Disabilities. The Bylaws of this Committee call for seven active members and others (associate members). The Bylaws also require that the majority of the members on the Active Committee be persons with disabilities, family members of a person with a disability, and/or an expert on disability issues. Despite this history, matters of Social Justice for persons with disabilities are only beginning to become an issue and do not gain the respect often paid to other minority ministries in the UCC. The term Diversity seldom is used to include disability. There are more than 48 million people with disabilities in the United States. People with Disabilities are the nation's largest minority group and the only one that any person can join at any time. People with disabilities cross all racial, gender, educational, socioeconomic, and organizational lines. The fact that the disability movement in the United States has been fighting for recognition as a valid minority group has been met with more than indifference by most denominations and faith traditions. As the Americans with Disabilities Act made its way through Congress, a coalition of churches, backed by the White House, lobbied for a blanket exclusion on the grounds that to include religious institutions would violate the doctrine of the separation of church and state. Further, some denominations worried about the law's costs. Some fundamentalists were concerned that because the law covers people infected with the HIV virus that causes AIDS, they might be forced to hire homosexuals. This was the ultimate pain of exclusion. We may overcome architectural barriers to our churches, but ministry with people with disabilities involves more than building a ramp. For example, the realities for a 22-year-old young man with traumatic quadriplegia are difficult ones. Jim was a handsome football player in high school and college and loved his motorcycle until the day he was forced off the road by a drunk driver. He had attended church every week with his fiancée. His church has a Caring Ministry group and a member visits with the best of intentions and for all denominations and faith the best reasons. Who is the member making this visit to the hospital? What will he/she say to this young man in the face of such a catastrophic experience? Those of us who have share 100 39829 100 39829 0 0 68670 0 0:00:00 0:00:00 0:00:00 99k d these experiences know that this initial contact will remain with him the rest of his life. It will have been the first contact with his church community after his trauma - an event of profound importance. The church's Caring Ministry can not indiscriminately choose just to "send anybody available" for such an important pastoral call. Basic ignorance of the circumstances of disability and the consequences of uninformed words and actions can be devastating. Those of us with disabilities tell our truths to others who share our reality. We do not share our truths with others who will misunderstand. We do not share stories of thoughtless and, what we perceive to be, spiritual abuse with them. We are embarrassed to say, "You hurt me deeply when you told me if I had more faith I would walk again." We fear our personal stories of exclusion will be minimized, or not believed at all, and dismissed with comments such as, "I'm sure she didn't mean that, Honey." As a community and a culture of persons with disabilities we have shared these stories with each other, but have too often remained isolated and alienated from both the church and, ultimately, from God. Ministry with persons with disabilities is one for which very few, including ordained chaplains and pastors, are sufficiently prepared. Editor's Note: The above is excerpted from a presentation by Rita Fiero at the Convocation on Health and Human Service Ministry, March, 1999.
From UCC DM Newsletter Archive
Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. (Romans 15:7, NRSV)
Recently, after a funeral in a community near Walkersville, NM, the daughter-in-law of the deceased was talking with David Denham. She shared that she grew up in the Glade Reformed Church. He responded by commenting on how wonderful it is that Glade has redesigned its facilities to be accessible, to which this woman responded, "Now my mother, who uses a wheelchair, can go to church again." This mother was present on March 15, 1998 when Glade UCC rededicated and celebrated its modified church facilities. Glade UCC, founded in 1750, a congregation with deep German Reformed roots, is located in Frederick County, MD. The current facilities were built in 1896, a time when church structures characteristically were multi-level. In 1995 the Rev. Dr. Gerald Hanberry, the newly called pastor, arrived. He was seeking the leading of the Holy Spirit for a faith-based project, with a message of being open to all, that would guide his congregation into the Twenty-First Century. Gerry found that people wanted to reshape their facility so that all would be welcome regardless of one's physical capacities. This required the redesigning of an older multi-level structure so that the hallways and pathways, bathrooms and meeting rooms, the sanctuary, with the exception of the chancel area, and educational facilities would be accessible. They did it! Glade found support from the conference and association. The Central Atlantic IDA Task Force (Task Force on Issues of Disability and Accessibility) was a resource for information such as how to engage an architect. The Catoctin Association Church Development Commission provided a $500 start-up grant which was used to hire an architect. The modifications cost $515,000 with the UCC Cornerstone Fund (of the Board for Homeland Ministries, Division of Evangelism and Local Church Development), a resource designed to help local churches proceed with such undertakings, providing a $185,000 loan. After a church makes its facility accessible, it may not realize that accessibility is more than a physical reality. The atmosphere at the church needs to reflect that accessibility and be a warm and inviting place. The pastor, Gerry Hanberry, talked about what has happened at Glade to make that occur. "We have talked a lot about what it looks like, what it feels like, and what it means to move from a welcoming to an inviting to a sending church. We have placed greeters at the entrance doors of the building not just inside the sanctuary. Greeters and ushers wear name tags. We have added large print bulletins as well as hearing devices. With people in wheelchairs almost all the time now, this has raised peoples' awareness. "Before we were accessible the perception was that no one needed the accessibility; (that) there were no people with disabilities. Now that we are accessible, and there, in fact, are people with physical disabilities (participating), the attitude has changed. "Our theme is 'everyone can come in the front door.' We have talked about what that means. We have also had a series of workshops during Lent, 1998 on 'Living Together in Community with our Differences ... in: Age, Race, Sexual Orientation, and Religion.' This was well attended and people were very thoughtful in their responses." (The editor has had occasion to attend Glade for Sunday worship and can affirm that it is a joy to worship and participate in the life of such a welcoming congregation.)
What are the ingredients of change? In the case of Glade UCC, we witness from its people an empowering faith vision. Too, we observe a meaningful network of support from the association, conference, and the wider church. NCPWD is ready to guide your church to needed resources and to lend support. There are written resources to help you get started. There are people resources, persons from other churches who have had experiences with church accessibility issues and with resolving the problems. Within the Division of Evangelism and Local Church Development/United Church Board for Homeland Ministries there are the UCC Fellowship of Architects and financial resources for local churches. Does your conference have a Task Force or Committee dedicated to accessibility like the IDA TF of the Central Atlantic Conference? Such a group is central to developing conference-wide energy focused on accessibility. NCPWD can assist your Conference with starting a Task Force or Committee with the help of someone with experience. From UCC DM Newsletter Archive