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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 without prescription, News Story

Monday, June 01, 2009

By Sandra Basu | U.S. Medicine, June 2009
Used with permission from U.S. Medicine

More support for the family caregivers of those injured in war is needed, billig soma apotek, a panel of wounded servicemembers and family members told Congress. Dealing with severe injury and trauma is not easy, Cheap soma online without prescription, ” Army Lt. Col. Gregory Gadson, an amputee told a Senate subcommittee, buy soma without prescription. “When we consider the myriad of injuries, as well as the unfamiliarity a typical family has in dealing with an injured servicemember, ordering soma online legally, it is easy to understand how difficult a task it is for recovery.”

At a hearing in late April, members of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel asked the witnesses testifying to identify the issues that they were facing. Iowa IA , The subcommittee wanted to know what more the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs could do to improve the care and treatment of the injured. “Only after we identify problems can we work to find answers and provide the highest quality of care for our wounded, ill and injured servicemembers and their families,” Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel Chairman Ben Nelson, Nevada NV Nev. , D-Nebraska, told the panel of witnesses testifying. Cheap soma no prescription, Caregivers Face Challenges

Kimberly Noss, the wife of a servicemember who was severely injured in Afghanistan and remains minimally conscious at the VA’s polytrauma center in Tampa, FL, said that family caregivers can have a tough time making ends meet financially, För soma online. Buy soma without prescription, Often, the spouse quits working to care for their injured loved ones. “If this individual requires 24-hour, 7-day a week care, Acheter soma discount, how can their families who are most likely in the prime of their career afford to quit their jobs and forgo their retirement benefit to take care of their loved one?” she said. “What about the 18-year-old wife who didn’t have an opportunity for education and chose to take care of her severely injured husband instead of putting him in a nursing home?”

She said she plans to care for her husband full time once he leaves the polytrauma center, rather than putting him in a nursing home. Noss said her husband will receive a monthly benefit package and it is “a substantial amount of money, köpa billiga soma,” but that her bills will also be large. “The special care that Scott’s going to have to receive because of his injuries is significant. But what we will pay for bills is large as well, so the net is going to be small,” she said, buy soma without prescription. Maine ME Me. , Lt. Col. Gadson also raised the point about financial difficulties that the families of the injured faced. He said that current policy allows that non-medical attendants for the injured to receive some compensation, buy soma. Buy soma without prescription, While he was receiving care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, his wife was assisting him as a nonmedical attendant and received compensation. Their household was located at Fort Riley, KS. Buy soma pills, However, once the family relocated to the Washington, DC area in closer proximity to Walter Reed Army Medical Center where Lt. Col, köpa soma. Gadson was receiving care, her nonmedical attendant assistance was discontinued.

There should be a set rate given to nonmedical attendants, no matter where they are located, Lt, buy soma without prescription. Order soma pills, Col. Gadson said. “I believe that there should be a set rate for nonmedical attendants, as well as per diem and lodging, buy soma online without prescription,” he said.

First Lt. Buy soma without prescription, Andrew K. Ordering soma without prescription, Kinard, USMC, a double amputee, said in his case his father left his practice as a physician for two months and his mother came for seven months to care for him until he could care for himself after his injury, Kjøp Discount soma.

Colleen Rivas, whose husband sustained a Traumatic Brain Injury while serving in Iraq, West Virginia WV W.Va. , and will likely need some type of long-term care in the next five years, said she was not aware of any income streams available for the family caregivers of injured service-members. “I am not aware of any of this. We lived off his retirement pay and savings, cheap soma online legally, so this is new information to me,” she said.

Sen, buy soma without prescription. Billige soma apotek, Lindsey Graham, R-SC, said that more attention needs to be given to the financial difficulties families face when they care for an injured servicemember of the family who can no longer work. “The country needs to come to grips with the fact that the moment the person is catastrophically injured, cheap soma without prescription, the family changes. I think that most Americans would like an income stream available for family members who provide that support that otherwise would be given by the government, Comprare soma, ” said Sen. Graham.

VA and DoD Address Challenges Buy soma without prescription, The committee also heard from DoD and VA officials. Acting Director of Transition Policy and Care in the Defense Department Maj. Gen Keith W, order soma online cheap. Meurlin, USAF, Cheap soma overnight delivery, told the committee that DoD is proposing legislation for FY 2010 to allow caregivers, such as Gadson’s wife, to be compensated at the monthly rate that home health care aides are in a locality. “What we are looking at is compensation for caregivers that will provide for a benefit for caregivers equal and approximate to what a caregiver commercially would be earning, online soma,” he said. Sen Graham called this a “great idea.”

Overall, DoD and VA officials who testified said that progress had been made in the care, management, and transition of recovering servicemembers. A recent GAO report found that as of April 2009, VA and DoD had implemented 60 of the 76 requirements required by Congress to enhance care for wounded servicemembers, with 16 in progress.

Still, officials said that there is much work that needs to be done. “It’s obvious that we have a ways to go, but we are headed in the right direction,” said Roger Dimsdale, executive director of the Department of Veterans/Department of Defense Collaboration in the Office of Policy and Planning in the VA.

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Order soma online cheap, Parents feel their son's stress disorder

Tim Kahlor comforted his son, Ryan, during a Las Vegas Veterans Day parade. Ryan's experience with post-traumatic stress disorder has turned his father into an antiwar activist. (Rick Loomis/Los Angeles Times) By David Zucchino
Los Angeles Times / December 21, 2008

TEMECULA, Calif. - When Army Sergeant Ryan Kahlor returned from two combat tours in Iraq last year, Køb discount soma, he was a walking billboard for virtually every affliction suffered by today's veterans. He had a detached retina, a ruptured disk, vertigo, Alaska AK , headaches, memory lapses, and numbness in his arms. Fluid seeped from his ears, order soma online cheap.

He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury. He was violent and suicidal. He carried a loaded handgun everywhere, köpa rabatterade soma. He drank until he passed out. Order soma online cheap, He cut himself. He burned his skin with cigarettes. He bit through his tongue just to watch himself bleed.

Kahlor, Billiga soma apotek, 24, admits he came back not caring about anyone - the military, his friends, his family, or himself. But, kjøpe billig soma, pushed hard by his parents, he slowly accepted and then embraced counseling and treatment. Today, he has begun to recover, order soma online cheap.
His parents are still trying.

The Kahlors - a college employee and a nurse - have fought through a series of transformations unfamiliar to most military families. Billige soma Apotheke, Tim Kahlor says he and his wife, Laura, have been left with what he calls, only half in jest, "secondary PTSD." He says his doctor prescribed antidepressants to help him cope with his son's ordeal. And both parents, Um soma online, haunted by their son's physical and emotional breakdown, are fiercely opposed to the war. Order soma online cheap, Tim Kahlor, 50, who had felt a patriotic surge after the Sept. 11, 2001, Osta soma, terrorist attacks, turned against the war after Ryan complained during his first tour about ineffective body armor and poorly armored vehicles. Laura Kahlor, 53, blames the war for her son's psychological and physical torment. Although she is now grateful for the treatment he belatedly received, purchase soma, she - like her husband - wishes they had never let Ryan enlist.

They are still bitter over the several months that their son drifted while they pleaded with both Ryan and the military for effective PTSD treatment. Ryan survived several roadside bomb attacks in Iraq but was traumatized by the violence he saw, order soma online cheap.

"I was so naive. I was this kid from the Bible Belt who thought our country would take care of our soldiers, Kentucky KY Ky. , " Tim Kahlor said. "I have guilt for helping him get into this."

A year after the terrorists struck America, Tim Kahlor drove Ryan, then 18, to the local Army recruiting office to sign up. Although the Kahlors would have preferred that Ryan attend college, ordering soma online without prescription, they were proud of his determination to serve his country. Order soma online cheap, When Ryan wrote about equipment shortages, Tim telephoned and wrote to the Pentagon and Congress. Laura sent Ryan a hand-held GPS device after he complained that military devices kept failing.

Tim Kahlor joined Military Families Speak Out, a group opposed to the Iraq war. Jotta soma verkossa, He marched in protests behind caskets, lined up boots outside the Capitol to represent the war's dead. He put up a sign outside his home: "Support Our Troops - Let 'em Come Home."

He confronted military recruiters. He intercepted young men outside recruiting offices, warning them: "You have no idea what you're getting into." He read to them from Ryan's journal - including descriptions of collecting the gear of a close friend killed by a sniper:
"My stomach soured, order soma online cheap. . . , soma without a prescription. His gear was soaked with blood. Order soma online cheap, My hands could still feel the moisture of his sweat. I felt like something was missing in me."

Tim was thrown out of a political fund-raiser for railing against the war. He approached motorists in cars with yellow ribbons, demanding to know exactly how they supported the troops. Soma online stores, Some days, Tim wears a button to his job as a payroll coordinator at the University of California, San Diego. It features an updated number of the war's dead and a question: "How Many More?"

When Ryan returned in early 2007, "he came back a stranger to me," his father said, acheter soma bon marché. Tim focused on his son's deteriorating mental and physical condition, order soma online cheap. He described delays in treatment as Ryan was put on desk duty, unable to perform simple tasks because of his brain injuries and prone to violent outbursts.

"I was either going to die by my own hand - or someone else's," Ryan said. Acquistare online soma, But through it all, he said, "my dad fought tooth and nail for me, knowing people in the military can't speak for themselves always. My dad pushed me to get help. Order soma online cheap, He doesn't let me cut corners, and he's always on my butt."

In November 2007, Ryan was sent to be treated at San Diego's Naval Medical Center. His therapists say he is making remarkable progress after months of physical and speech therapy and mental health counseling, Massachusetts MA Mass. .

"We look at Ryan and we say, 'Thank God, we got a good one here,' " said Colleen Leners, New York NY N.Y. , a nurse practitioner who is his primary care manager. "Ryan wanted to get better."

To treat his PTSD, Ryan was referred in May to the National Center for PTSD in Palo Alto, Calif., run by the Veterans Administration. He completed an intensive 65-day group program with veterans from wars in Iraq, αγοράζουν φτηνά soma, Afghanistan, and Vietnam.

There, Ryan said, he learned to recognize his "stuff points" - traumatic experiences in Iraq he was afraid to confront, order soma online cheap.

"There's no time to grieve in combat, so you just stuff it, Farmacia soma baratos, " he said. "You see your friend die and then you go back to work."

Without treatment, Ryan said, "I'd be sitting in a dark room somewhere - or dead."
Ryan said he suffers from survivor's guilt and intends to seek more counseling. He is still being treated for vertigo, for speech and memory difficulties, order soma online without prescription, and for fluid and ringing in his ears.

The military has provided him a hand-held organizer to help him organize his life and remember appointments. Order soma online cheap, He draws maps to help him locate his parked car. "As many times as I've been hit in the head, a lot of stuff that seems simple on a daily basis becomes difficult, Generic soma, " Ryan said.

Even so, he chose a challenging subject - the Russian invasion of Georgia - for a speaking exercise in group speech therapy.

Laura Kahlor considers her son a newly minted person, just as she considered the tormented young man who returned from Iraq a different person from the son she sent off to war - the one who had "Duty, Honor, Louisiana LA , Country" tattooed on his leg.

"He came back so violent," she said, recalling the images of bloody Iraqi corpses Ryan brought home on his laptop. "I was afraid he'd use his gun on himself."

Today the gun is locked in a drawer, and Ryan is evolving into the caring, gentle son his parents remember, order soma online cheap. Alabama AL Ala. , At the request of a counselor, he often talks to other soldiers with PTSD, encouraging them to seek treatment.

Ryan does not publicly discuss his father's activism or his own feelings about the war. He says only: "That's what we're fighting for - for people's rights to speak out."
When his enlistment ends in March, Ryan plans to leave the Army, order soma from canada. He is shopping for a new house and intends to enroll at a community college. Order soma online cheap, He wants to become a history teacher or physical therapist.

After all that has befallen him, would he enlist again.

"Probably not," Ryan said. "But since I did it, I'm glad. It's matured me. It's made me stronger, more confident."

His mother said that although she's grateful for Ryan's counseling and for the travel and educational benefits the military has provided, "it still wasn't worth it."

Tim Kahlor, sitting in his living room at dusk, flanked by his wife and his tall, strapping son in Army fatigues, reflected on his family's six-year ordeal. He paused and said, finally, "I wish he had never gone in."

© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.

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To read this article, visit http://www.stauros.org/notebooks/articledetail.php?id=12. Harold Wilke was a forefather of United Church of Christ Disabilities Ministries.

Order aricept without prescription, Many churches around the country are developing community gardens. An article in The Herb Companion offers numerous ideas for adapting a garden for gardeners who are blind or live with other visual needs, kjøpe aricept. Utah UT , Read the article at http://www.herbcompanion.com/Seeing-With-Other-Senses-Gardens-for-the-Blind.aspx. From February, Alabama AL Ala. , District of Columbia DC D.C. , March 2007 Issue. Buy aricept. För aricept online. Buy aricept online. Kjøpe aricept online. California CA Calif. . αγοράσετε aricept έκπτωση. Osta aricept online. Buy aricept no rx. Köpa billiga aricept. Koop korting aricept. Aricept pharmacy. Billige aricept apotek. Florida FL Fla. . Cheap aricept online without prescription. Kjøpe billig aricept. Ordering aricept without prescription. Minnesota MN Minn. . Order aricept no rx. Billige aricept Apotheke. Order aricept overnight delivery. Order aricept without prescription.

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Buy aricept online cheap, Confirm Supreme Court Nominee Sonia Sotomayor --- President Obama's Pick Looks Good for Disability Rights

(Washington, DC) ADA Watch's "Campaign for Fair Judges" is calling on their organizational partners and colleagues from the disability, mental health, education, civil rights and social justice communities to support Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama's nominee to fill the seat of Supreme Court Justice David Souter.

A woman, Connecticut CT Conn. , Comprar en línea aricept, a Latino and the daughter of immigrants, Judge Sotomayor -- diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 8 -- is also a person with a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), aricept. Buy aricept online cheap, With the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee having set July 13th as the date for the start of confirmation hearings, lowest price aricept, Aricept for sale, ADA Watch's president and founder, Jim Ward has indicated that Judge Sotomayor will receive the full support of ADA Watch, Michigan MI Mich. , Cheapest aricept online, National Coalition for Disability Rights (NCDR) and many of their coalition partners.

For nearly a decade, Mississippi MS Miss. , Buy aricept c.o.d., the ADA Watch coalition of national, state and local disability, comprare aricept, Aricept no prescription, mental health, education, ordering aricept no rx, Jotta aricept verkossa, civil rights and social justice organizations has educated the disability community and the general public regarding the impact of the judicial nominations process on the civil rights of people with physical, mental, aricept online kopen, Billiga aricept apotek, developmental, sensory and cognitive disabilities, West Virginia WV W.Va. .

Ward was among a handful of disability community leaders that recently met with the White House Counsel's Office to outline the priorities of the disability community regarding judicial nominations, buy aricept online cheap. Ordering aricept overnight delivery, Ward stated, "In picking Judge Sonia Sotomayor, cheap aricept, Generic aricept, President Obama has upheld his commitment to choosing a nominee with a firm grasp on the law and the role of the judiciary and has responded to the hopes of those in the disability rights movement for Supreme Court Justices that understand disability rights and the intent of Congress in passing vital civil rights protections for people with disabilities. Legal research and analysis of Judge Sotomayor's opinions reveal a comprehensive understanding of the language and purpose of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), buy aricept online, Køb discount aricept, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Rehabilitation Act, αγοράζουν online aricept, Aricept discount, Social Security and more."

"Furthermore," Ward continued, South Dakota SD , "in interviews and opinions, Judge Sotomayor reveals an understanding of disability discrimination forged by the personal experience of being diagnosed with diabetes at a young age."

In nominating Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court, President Obama said "It's my understanding that Judge Sotomayor's interest in the law was sparked as a young girl by reading the Nancy Drew series. And that when she was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 8, she was informed that people with diabetes can't grow up to be police officers or private investigators like Nancy Drew. In essence she was told she'd have to scale back her dreams." Instead, Obama said, her perseverance shows that "no dream is beyond reach in the United States of America."

Sotomayor, of course, went on to graduate from Yale Law School and was Assistant District Attorney in New York City. Buy aricept online cheap, She was nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York by President George H. W. Bush in 1991 and confirmed in 1992. In 1997, Sotomayor was nominated by President Bill Clinton to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and was confirmed in 1998. If she is confirmed, Judge Sotomayor would fill the seat being vacated by Justice David H. Souter, who has had a mixed record on disability rights.

For more information regarding Judge Sotomayor's legal opinions, see Bazelon's review and analysis of Judge Sotomayor's opinions in disability cases (PDF) at:

http://m1e.net/c?91346605-efnrgy0oCi8hg%404353343-XTE2wnJKzO016

Printed here with the permission of ADA Watch?NCDR.

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Disability 101: I Have A Voice

Posted By Jim On March 20, 2009 @ 3:02 am In Disability Newswire, Opinion | 3 Comments

By Sandy Lahmann
Daily Summit County, Colorado

I’ve been racking my braintrying to figure out how to explain this to you. I guess it’s about a dumbing down, Kjøpe cafergot, a denial of respect, a denial of dignity, a loss of voice, where to buy cafergot.

I have a voice. Cheap cafergot pills, I have a well thought out opinion. I have valuable knowledge. I am capable of making sound decisions, buy cafergot without prescription.

But some people apparently think I don’t and I’m not, cafergot online. Just because I use a wheelchair. Maine ME Me. , There’s a stereotype, an assumption, that people who use a wheelchair, Iowa IA , people who are blind, Cafergot online cheap, people who are deaf, and other people with disabilities are not very intelligent.

As a result, buy cafergot cod, some service providers, Cafergot sale, family members, co-workers, and community members feel compelled to tell us what to do, cafergot discount. Buy cafergot without prescription, They feel a need to instruct us, guide us, inform us, explain to us, decide for us, and lecture us about how we should live our lives. And then they want to speak for us. Order cafergot from canada, In other words, they treat us like children who must be protected for their own good. How terribly patronizing, Koop korting cafergot. It curls my toes. It sets me to screaming in frustration, buy cafergot without prescription. παραγγείλετε online cafergot, I am 46 years old. I have a college degree with a 4.0 GPA. I am a successful professional, comprar cafergot de descuento. I raised two children into two awesome and successful adults. Buy cafergot without prescription, I am not a child. Georgia GA Ga. , Despite the fact I use a wheelchair.

I don’t need you to tell me how to manage my disability, what health care to pursue, order cafergot no prescription, what prescription drugs I should be taking, Cheap cafergot online legally, what supplements I should be taking, what food I should be eating, what exercise I should engage in, cheap cafergot online without prescription, what extracurricular activities I should be participating in, Kentucky KY Ky. , where I should be living, whether or not I should be applying for social security benefits, what I should think, halvalla cafergot apteekki, what I should believe, South Carolina SC S.C. , what I should do, and how I should breathe.

I really can figure these things out for myself, cheap cafergot online. I am capable of doing my own research. And I have, buy cafergot without prescription. Louisiana LA , I am capable of seeking out and evaluating the opinions of professionals. And I have. I am capable of weighing all the evidence and deciding for myself, köpa cafergot. And I have. Buy cafergot without prescription, Why is it some people without a disability automatically think they know better than a person with a disability about how to live with a disability. Pharmacy cafergot, It just doesn’t make sense.

Then some people without a disability want to speak to other people without a disability about what it’s like for people with a disability. How about if people with disabilities speak about what it’s like for people with disabilities.

I have a voice.

TASH, a civil rights organization for people with disabilities (www.tash.org [1]) shares the following verse:

“You do not know what I see, what I believe, what I dream, what I know, buy cafergot without prescription. You do not live my life. You cannot be my voice. - From the Voice of the Highly Regarded (If I ever do want you to speak for me I’ll give you a call.)”

T-shirts with the saying are available from The Nth Degree at www.thenthdegree.com [2] [3]; .

Sometimes I might have an opinion with which you might disagree. Buy cafergot without prescription, Sometimes I might make a decision with which you might disagree. Sometimes I might take a risk and do something that’s not totally safe. And that is my right.

There is dignity in formulating my own opinions. There is dignity in making my own decisions. There is dignity in taking risks, buy cafergot without prescription. Not to mention a life well lived.

Show me respect my granting me this dignity.

Published: http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20090315/NEWS/903159975/1078&ParentProfile=1055&title=Disability%20101%20%20I%20Have%20a%20Voice

[4]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Article printed from ADAWatch.org: http://adawatch.org

URL to article: http://adawatch.org/?p=314

URLs in this post:

[1] www.tash.org: http://www.tash.org/

[2] www.thenthdegree.com: http://www.thenthdegree.com/

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Nancy Eiesland Is Dead at 44; Wrote of a Disabled God
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Strengthen and Make Whole the Body of Christ by Empowering Children With Disabilities Can the church from the beginning of life be that place where justice is practiced, surrounding children with disabilities with the breadth and strength of such a network of support that it is simply empowering for life? I am convinced the answer is "yes." Lorie Peters has a gifted mind, an engaging personality and excellent instincts. She lives on her own near Baltimore; manages her own affairs; enjoys her cat Nicky; hosted a Christmas party for over eighty friends: lobbied in Maryland and West Virginia, talking with legislators about how she made changes happen in her life. Now in her mid-thirties, Lorie has been challenged all her life with severe physical disabilities. She has no legs, very small hands and a generally small body. She navigates by wheelchair or crawling. For years, medical labels imposed by her disabilities kept her from living as she does now. October 31, 1991 was the first night Lorie lived on her own in her apartment. She had grown up in Children's Hospital in Baltimore, living there twenty years. Then she was transferred to a nursing home. Lorie wanted to live on her own. Only her social worker seemed to be listening. Listening? Too many service providers failed to listen, including the staff at the nursing home. She burned the stump of her leg with hot tea. She told the staff to check her leg. They did not. When a friend came to visit, Lorie asked her to check her leg. Lorie had to be hospitalized, and more of her leg had to be amputated. Lorie concluded that the staff did not listen to her. I met Lorie shortly after this incident while she stayed at a friend's house. Lorie had made many friends as a child growing up at Children's Hospital. She would sit in the lobby to greet and chat with people, including Helga, in whose home she was staying. Another person she met as a child in the lobby at Children's Hospital was Rev. Brian, an associate pastor at a large church. Brian found another temporary place for Lorie to live, and then the permanent location into which she moved. The church in mission became an instrument of justice. The church was able to cut through a lifetime of perspective that Lorie needed to be "cared for" in an institution and capitalize on Lorie's own childhood connections. The church in a loving and caring way was able to offer the breadth and strength of its vast network of support. Then, the course of Lorie's life changed dramatically to an empowering way of life. Can the church from the beginning of life be that place where justice is practiced, surrounding children with disabilities with the breadth and strength of such a network of support that it is simply empowering for life? I am convinced the answer is "yes." The following story about an early English settlement can serve as a model of how the church can respond as an agent of justice. Historian Nora Groce studied the history of a small community of people who immigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Martha's Vineyard in 1690. In this small, relatively isolated community, about 10 percent of the people were born unable to hear. They communicated with a unique sign language brought to them from England. Everyone in the community knew this language. Nora Groce found no significant differences between those who could hear and those who could not in the rates of graduating from high school, marrying, bearing a similar number of children, finding jobs and income levels. In a parallel study on the mainland where services were considered to be the best, non-hearing individuals graduated 25 percent less than hearing persons, married 40 percent less, and had children 40 percent less. They earned about one third as much as the general population and their range of occupations was more limited.' What happened? In one place where there were no services, the result for children growing up was that there were no differences; they spoke a unique language that everyone understood. Today in the church, separated from government regulation, we speak our own language, a gospel language that says "Come all," and we are empowered to do what it takes for any individual to participate in and contribute to the life of the church. The best hope for children with disabilities is for the church to adapt, much like the family adapts when a child with a disability is born. Harold Wilke was born into such, family and church. Many within the UCC know Harold, a gifted minister who was looking over the shoulder of President Bush in 1990 at the Rose Garden signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Harold finds great meaning in the hymn "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms," particularly since he has no arms himself. Having roomed with Harold on many occasions, I am inspired simply by seeing how able he is in put on his clothes. Harold reports: "I remember once, when I was two or three years old, sitting on the floor of my bedroom trying to get a shirt on over my head and around my shoulders. I was having an extraordinarily difficult time. While I grunted and sweated, my mother stood watching. Her arms must have been held rigidly at her side; every instinct in her wanted to reach out and put my shirt on for me. Finally, a neighbor who was visiting asked in exasperation why my mother wasn't helping. My mother responded through gritted teeth, 'I am helping!'" Harold's parents intervened lovingly and with care in specific ways offered Harold formative guideposts that shaped and empowered the church to become a positive formative network. At the service of confirmation, his ministry offered an individual prayer for confirmand. His pastor's prayer for him at age fourteen was child go to theological to become a minister of the church." Harold already had a deep desire to enter ministry even after being discouraged by a previous pastor. His church surrounded Harold as a child and later as a youth with affirmation, asking him to teach Sunday school in his late high school years. He was active in the youth fellowship, and was asked to preach a sermon. As I reflect upon sharing a room with Harold, I understand that in the way he learned to get dressed, his mother made a difference. With Harold the teenager, his own pastor was nurturing and empowering. Family and church were extraordinary instruments of justice in his life. Most often this simple kind of godly justice does not mean starting a new church program. Rather, it is the individual church member or committee that acts on what it takes to bring in or keep a young person involved in and contributing to the life of the church. Sunday school is a major agent of justice in the life of our churches. Ginny Curringa, Associate Pastor of Pioneer UCC in Sacramento, California, tells of what happened one Sunday when her mother picked her up from Sunday school after church services ended. "The Sunday School teacher told her that she could not bring me back unless she was willing to teach!" Ginny loved Sunday school, and was challenged by the gospel stories. She thought that Superman was better than Jesus. Why not? Superman could fly; Jesus only walked on water. And Ginny got the support of the class on this issue. Next Sunday, there was a new teacher. The new teacher became an agent of justice for Ginny. In that time, Ginny would have been considered "hyperactive." Today, Ginny knows she has dyslexia. She developed an attitude of making her own rules. Why? Because the school rules did not work for her. They made her feel dumb, placed her in low level reading and math groups even after testing revealed how bright she was. The local and wider church noticed Ginny's gifts. She was appointed a youth leader on a task force of women who wrote a resolution on inclusive language. Ginny says, "It was so wonderful to be empowered by the church!" "Very reluctantly," Ginny went to seminary. After all, academia had not been her favorite place in life. Her education was spread over six years, not being able to carry a full load. Childhood memories of church brought a feeling of home, and it was her church work during seminary that nurtured her self-esteem and affirmed her call to ministry. Because of Ginny's presence, many churches have improved their accessibility, both architecturally and attitudinally. Now fifteen years later, after serving several churches as associate pastor, Ginny has discovered the assets of her life's journey as a person with a disability. She finds her sensitivity heightened to people's ability to view situations from perspectives, and a sense of comfort and gifts for facing conflict and change. While she still struggles with feeling inadequate, Ginny found empowerment through the church and is now offering that gift back to others. In each of these stories, the people of the church were agents of justice when they empowered children for a lifetime. Like the people of Martha's Vineyard, church members discerned the suitable actions necessary and did them. In a society that tends to pass on such situations to a specialized service delivery system, the church can be that haven where community is primary, and where that community of faith constantly adjusts to be whole by including each individual. What if the church that offered the benefit of its network to Lorie had said "No"? What if Harold's and Ginny's family and church had not discovered their gifts, and encouraged them to enter Christian service? Praise God for the ways things did happen! We grieve that there have been times that our churches have failed to respond justly, and lives have not been empowered. Don't rush to set up a special program. Rather, survey your church, your Sunday school membership, and the extended life of your church (scouts, senior citizens, community groups). Find individuals whose needs are not being met. Discover a child with Down's Syndrome or with an emotional disability. Ask someone (maybe you!) to advocate for them and encourage them. Help others see that a child's behavior or needs might be a plea to be understood and to be viewed as they really are. Encourage the church to be flexible and to adjust. Tell fellow members the Martha's Vineyard story, and say "Our church can be that kind of community." Our church's just response to children with disabilities will empower them for a lifetime. It did for Lorie, Harold, and Ginny! Notes 1. The Martha's Vineyard Story is from John McKnight, "The Professional Service Business and Why Servanthood is Bad," reprint (Washington, DC: Cathedral College of the Laity, n.d.), pp. 1-2. (Also found in The Other Side January/February 1989).) Written by David E. Denham. Published in New Conversations (Issue Title: "A Church Responsive to God's Call – Building a World Fit for Children. Pp. 69-71 Written by David E. Denham and used with his permission. From

New Conversations

(Issue Title: "A Church Responsive to God's Call – Building a World Fit for Children. Pp. 69-71

"On a typical Monday morning at an atypical high school, teenage boys yanked open the glass doors to the First Baptist Church of Decatur, Ga. Half-awake, iPod wires curling from their ears, their backpacks unbuckled and their jeans baggy, the guys headed for the elevator. Arriving at Morning Meeting in the third-floor conference room, Stephen, his face hidden under long black bangs, dropped into a chair, sprawled across the table and went back to sleep. The Community School, or T.C.S., is a small private school for teenage boys with autism or related disorders. Sleep disturbances are common in this student body of 10, so a boy’s staggering need for sleep is respected. Nick Boswell, a tall fellow with thick sideburns, arrived and began his usual pacing along the windows that overlook the church parking lot and baseball diamond. Edwick, with spiky brown hair and a few black whiskers, tumbled backward with a splat into a beanbag chair on the floor." Read the full article by Melissa Fay Greene at www.nytimes.com, it is necessary to register (free) on www.nytimes.com. Search Melissa Fay Greene or Reaching an Autistic Teenager Publication date October 17, 2008

Camp of the Heart at Hartman Center A United Church of Christ Conference, Camp and Retreat Center Milroy, Pennsylvania My name is Kara Druckenmiller. I’ve been a special education teacher for four years. During college, I worked at Hartman Center as a counselor and met a family that had several children, one of whom was autistic and mildly mentally retarded. He always wanted to stay when his brother and sister came to camp, but never could. It was my inspiration and motivation to try and make it so he could come to camp. So three years ago this summer, I started the first summer camp at Hartman Center for special needs individuals from ages seven to adult. The campers had various disabilities including autism, Down’s syndrome, mental retardation, some physical handicaps and other various disorders. The maximum number of campers was 12. Campers were allowed to bring a family member or caretaker if they wished. If not we had volunteers, enough for one-to-one companionship. We also had our own nurse who went everywhere with the camp. We stayed in a handicap-accessible building, where we slept, had Bible/study time and sang songs. We went to the dining hall, which is accessible, to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner with the other campers from various other themed camps, that is, hiking camp, junior camp, junior high camp and family camp. We also went fishing. To get out to the pond, which is quite a distance, some of the campers walked, while others were driven in the camp’s golf cart. We went on hayrides. We swam, did crafts, participated in the talent show, cookout, had campfires, played games and enjoyed many other activities. Bible studies included a scavenger hunt looking for various nature things: flower, sticks, pine cone, rock, etc. We then talked about how these items represent God and how we could see God and Jesus in nature. Campers, volunteers, camp staff and other campers from other camps involved with Camp of the Heart have said how much it has changed them, how much fun they had and how rejuvenated they felt in mind and spirit after camp. This camp is rewarding for those who are involved. Camp of the Heart is the perfect name for it because the camp is just that. Everybody shares a piece of their hearts, as well as a piece of God because God shines through us all. Campers have returned consecutive years. More and more interest is being gained to join Camp of the Heart. What an awesome ministry for the campers and for the volunteers.

Written by Gary Presley, Special to The Washington Post, and borrowed (because it is too good to miss) for uccdm.org. Tuesday, December 2, 2008; Page HE06 This month I began my 50th year of riding a wheelchair through life. In case you're wondering, everything is all right down here. That's what I found myself thinking recently as I sailed through a shopping mall. "Look, Mikey! It's magic!" a tiny girl exclaimed to an even tinier boy as she spotted me. It was a reminder that most of the creatures I greet at eye level are either small children or large dogs, two of the better examples of God's work. What that little girl believed about my power wheelchair was true for her and true for me. It is a magical thing. This one, my seventh, I call Little Red. She is a sturdy tool, very different from the fragile roll-about I came home with from the rehabilitation center five decades ago, having been left nearly quadriplegic by polio. Little Red is 10 years old, chipped and nicked and bent, but so powerful, so reliable, that the phrase "confined to a wheelchair" is not only demeaning but inaccurate. The wheelchair is freedom. Over the years, we have become one, Little Red and I: cyborg. After all this time, she seems to move in response to my simplest wish -- cradling me sweetly, all power and promise, rolling me toward another adventure. Yes, everything is all right down here, "boob-high to the world," as my wife calls the place I occupy. Of course, like almost everyone else, I ache in spots I didn't 20 or 30 years ago, and I'm always a little short of money. But I have no reason to complain. I find the world growing a little friendlier each day. Architects and builders are talking about universal design, a concept that could turn a visit to a friend's house into something other than a ramp-toting expedition. President Bush signed the ADA Amendments Act, which clarifies and broadens the definition of disability to better protect people with disabilities from employment discrimination. We're making headway in corporate America, in entertainment and in politics: more visible and accepted, a few more of us productively employed. On the other hand, maybe life has always been good down here, at least for me, and I have been slow to recognize it. Maybe it took me too long to understand Mr. Lincoln's opinion that "most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." So if you see me rolling through your life, smile. I'll smile in return. Good karma, right? Don't be a boor. Don't lean over me and ask, "What's wrong with you?" Only small children can ask that question and get a fair answer from me, one I try to fit to their level of understanding. Their mothers are sometimes embarrassed, but I don't mind. I smile and open the child's eyes to the magic in my world. For people who should know better, who see me as an object of curiosity, I have nothing to offer but a bland smile. I suppose I could explain that I am more like you than you want me to be: an embodiment of the secret fear that the world often spins out of control. But you need to discover that for yourself. Do one more thing for me. Forget pity. I hate pity. Put your pity into words, and you will fracture someone's carefully crafted self-image. I defend my own self-image by refusing to be angered if I sniff pity coming my way. Letting go of anger is one more in the never-ending series of riding lessons I've learned over the years. Don't pity me, and don't worry about me. Of course, like most people with mobility impairments, I will always appreciate more curb cuts and ramps, more accessible bathrooms and automatic doors, uncluttered store aisles, tables with knee clearance in restaurants, and especially more houses, condominiums and apartments built for accessibility. Hey, I even appreciate simple little courtesies like not jumping up and blocking my view when the Eagles are in concert. I may be sitting down, but I intend to dance through life until hell freezes over. And like other people who have evolved from being "an invalid confined to a wheelchair" to a man advocating for such important issues as MiCASSA (the Medicaid Community-Based Attendant Services and Supports Act), as I have done for the past 10 years, I cannot forget that people with disabilities are among the last awaiting full integration into society. I am one of a group once segregated by circumstance. That's the significance of my story: that people with disabilities have made great progress in the last generation, and even though there's much left to do, especially in the realm of employment, things continue to change for the better. But for me, rest assured: Everything is all right down here. Gary Presley is the author of "Seven Wheelchairs: A Life Beyond Polio" (University of Iowa Press). Comments: health@washpost.com. Special to The Washington Post, and borrowed (because it is too good to miss) for uccdm.org. Tuesday, December 2, 2008; Page HE06

The United Nations Postal Administration has issued six new stamps on the theme of "Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The two U.S. stamps include a 42-cent and a 94-cent disability stamp. The 42 cent stamp has a deep blue background with the wheelchair symbol and the word "Accessibility." The 94-cent stamp has a gold field with the letters U N in white Braille. I wonder if the dots are raised! If your local post office does not have them yet, the stamps can be ordered on line at http://www.unstamps.un.org

A few weeks ago, on the Saturday of the Washington state presidential caucuses, I was just leaving the church after a morning long meeting with our visioning committee. We had spent several hours exploring our calling as a congregation. Who are we? What is our ministry? Though Many, We are One  Text: Romans 12: 5,2 and 9-21  Introduction  A few weeks ago, on the Saturday of the Washington state presidential caucuses, I was just leaving the church after a morning long meeting with our visioning committee. We had spent several hours exploring our calling as a congregation. Who are we? What is our ministry?              As I left the building the doors were wide open and literally hundreds of people were streaming down the sidewalks, coming to attend their local precinct caucus. The fellowship hall and the parlor were packed with neighbors. I was struck by the number of young people in the crowd. People carried hand lettered signs and wore badges and tags designating their candidate. As I stood at the door, I spontaneously began greeting and welcoming people. “Glad you could come to day … Thank you for coming… Glad you are here… welcome.” As folks passed by with their Obama signs, I wanted to say. “He’s part of this church. This is a UCC congregation.”   I’d heard Barack Obama speak last summer at our national meeting in Hartford. Barack Obama is a member of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. We are part of the same branch of the Christian family. For me the link is more personal. I was preparing for the ministry at the Chicago Theological Seminary, in the late 1960’s. I lived and worked in the Black community on the South Side. I learned the nuts and bolts of ministry sharing in the life of churches and grass roots community organizations rebuilding Kenwood-Oakland, a South Side neighborhoods that had been ravaged by racism, terrorized by organized crime, exploited by the local political machine, cruelly impoverished by slum profiteers, robbed of educational resources and routinely brutalized by elements of the Chicago police force.   I remember vividly a night when I was dragged out of my apartment by a plainclothes police squad, taken to an anonymous interrogation station, and held incommunicado, while five young black men taken from the same building were beaten. I asked to make a phone call and talk to a lawyer. A naïve 23 year old white seminary student, I said, “This is America; people have rights.” I will never forget what the police squad leader said in reply. “This is our America. No phone calls, no lawyers for you. This no TV show. This is the real world you’re in.   Out of such profound oppression, Trinity United Church of Christ has grown. Trinity Church gives rise now, to a Barack and Michelle Obama and their children, part of our family of faith,  following a call to realize this country’s highest aspirations as a nation reconciled, with justice and dignity for all, a nation whose great and good resources are well and wisely used for peace and good will in our troubled and challenging world.   It was of these deep concerns of the heart and soul that Barack Obama spoke in Hartford to members of the United Church of Christ, gathered from across the country.  I.        The United Church of Christ  Many of us received an email this past week from John Thomas, the coordinating minister, if you will, of the United Church of Christ. He alerted us that the IRS had sent a letter announcing an investigation into the United Church of Christ for inviting Barack Obama to speak at our General Synod last summer. The US government is looking into the UCC.  Before we speak further about that, permit me to say a few words about John Thomas and who we are as a family of faith.   John sits in a unique position. He is in dialogue with the nearly 6,000 local congregations of our denomination and in regular conversation with the church’s wider ministries -  the work of some 40 state and regional conferences,support for a wide range of local church and community missiona strong peace and social justice witness and            service around the world in partnership with a rich array of ecumenical efforts.              John has the title of President, but we are not a hierarchical organization. No one speaks in any absolute sense for the whole body. We don’t have a single creed or set of beliefs which serve as a test of faith. We live by covenant,               by intentionally forming, in each generation                        new moments of faithful commitment                                    with God and one another.              Day by day, week after week, down through the years, we become the body of Christ                        again and again and again, and once more again,                                    informed by the gifts and guidance of the Holy Spirit.              In gatherings large and small, we express our faith. In meeting with one another, we share God’s infinite love. Together we take up the challenges of our day.              The record of the United Church of Christ is not an account of doctrines and dogma.Our history is the story of faithful gatherings with each person speaking sensitively, from the heart, with minds ever open to renewal and transformation.   We are not conformedTo this world as it is.              Our gathering together seeks the “will” of God; the Spirit’s leading in the ways of healing, peace and justice. Each time we come together, we are part of a movement stretching back through history to the earliest of earth’s people.              Our ancestry roots in the journeys of the first human beings, finding their way with God.              As with Adam and Eve, we struggle to realize our gifts and potential. We know the temptations and the terrible forces which work to break us apart from one another and from God.  Our eyes are open to the very real power of evil in the world, even as we hold the high vision of salvation, of wholeness, of plenty and well being for all.              With Abraham and Sarah, we live into unknown futures. We are never fully settled, faced with ever changing challenges and conditions, but trusting deeply in God’s abiding promises as we stand up and step forth.              With Miriam and Moses, we are part of the long struggle for human liberation, the deliverance from captivities, the release from bondage in its many forms.                         We are heirs to Joshua and Deborah and the tradition of the judges, judicious, thoughtful leaders raised up in times of collective threat and crisis, to help chart a path to common good  and an enduring peace.              We are descendents of the prophets, wary of overreaching monarchy, walking with the last and the lost and the left behind, willing to speak uncomfortable and eye opening truth to power.              Our model for ministry is the community of Christ.              We shape ourselves, as did Mary and Martha, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the companions and followers of Jesus. We too are disciples, students of the way. We too walk with the teacher, sharing the good news of new life, the ultimate promise of resurrection, the invitation to participate now, in the commonwealth of God.               We say in a million and more varied voices: our salvation, our wholeness as persons, rests in God’s gracious holding. Our souls are constantly renewed by God’s loving touch. Our life together in the church and in the world is formed in God’s constant presence.   II.      Let Us Answer the Question            It may come as a bit of a surprise, when John Thomas, our general minister, alerts us that the UCC is being investigated by the IRS for misbehavior as a church. We certainly don’t claim to be perfect or flawless in practice of faith. But what have we done that might be considered a violation of the law.               The allegation? Senator Obama’s presentation at the Synod in Hartford was a campign event, the church sponsorship of a political speech – a violation of the church’s responsibility as a tax exempt religious organization. That’s what I understand.              The lawyers and the courts will address the legal questions raised here.               Our task in the face of this investigation is to know and affirm, to be as clear as we can be about who we are as a church, beginning at the level of the local congregation.               Have no doubt about it. The questions are just beginning. It is not just the IRS. The media too are beginning to nose around. Let the IRS investigate us. Let people ask questions about what manner of God’s people we are and how we live Christ’s life in our time across this land.     Let us be clear also from the beginning that in this church we are many. We speak with varied voices, come from some vastly different backgrounds. We are made one, through the movement of the Spirit in our lives, slowly weaving a shared and common fabric from the torn scraps, the diverse threads and the manifold patterns among us. We are not some neat, machine loomed tapestry, hung on the wall. We are a patchwork quilt, constantly worn and being used, continually being repaired and re-stitched.  Senator Obama came to the Synod, came to our national gathering in Hartford, came to speak before 15,000 people to share his faith and tell his story. I was at Hartford last summer and in the large meeting hall when  Barack Obama spoke. He was introduced as a member of the body, one of the many, one of us, a twenty year member of Trinity in Chicago. Senator Obama was invited to speak about the intersection of his faith and his life as a politician, just as Charles Townes, a member of First Congregational Church in Berkley was invited to speak about the intersection of his faith and his life as a Nobel laureate physicist.              Barack Obama spoke, as all of us spoke that week, some of us in the great hall, most of us in much smaller gatherings, about our soul lives, the deepest and fullest movement of the Spirit in our stories. This was not an academic symposium. Participants were not presenting theoretical discussions about God and the world. We talked about the communities we live in and the needs of our neighbors, our calling to serve and our responsibility as citizens. We talked about our faith and our work.              I met a colleague from almost thirty years ago, whom I had not seen for a long while. I did not know that he too struggled with depression. During a quiet lunch we found ourselves sharing with each other our experience of healing and our determination to insure that the care we had experienced would be available to all. We talked of our life and our faith and our work and of our sisters and brothers in the church and in the world. This is the UCC in Hartford and here and in Chicago and across this country.              I spent a good deal of my time at Synod at a table displaying resources for ministry with those of us who face disabling conditions in our life – mental illness, brain injury, hearing impairment, challenges in sight or mobility, the journey with a developmental disability. Next to me was a young Latino man from Texas with Downs Syndrome, who played an exquisite classical guitar. Several young adults in their wheel chairs carried on a lively and laughter filled conversation. We were kept company by several gentle and skilled service dogs. An interpreter helped us understand the vivid sign language of a colleague. The speaker was a man both hearing impaired and wheel chair bound, who was telling us how he had piloted a single engine plane from Ohio to Connecticut to attend Synod. Think about that. This is the UCC in Hartford and here and in Chicago and across this country.               Many members, one body, coming together from the most diverse and unexpected places and against what might seem insurmountable obstacles.               A few tables down in the display and resource hall, the Council on Health and Human Service Ministries celebrated the work of hospitals, homes for youth at risk and elders in retirement, and centers of community renewal which have been started and grown up over the years with UCC roots. Across the way Synod participants shared information about disaster relief and international development efforts supported by our churches, At one end of the room, representatives from the colleges and universities and seminaries founded by the UCC from coast to coast, shared their stories. A few steps away sat our colleagues Barbara Baylor and her team who work on the health justice and wellness project. And next to them were the UCC parish nurse organization and a table at which chaplains – hospital, college and military – shared their ministries. Barack Obama was part of this UCC in Hartford, a UCC made up of more than a million, six hundred thousand members, here and in Chicago and across this country.   Many members, one body - engaged in the world               We are not the largest part of the body of Christ, but we are among the most open and diverse of God’s people. Men and women in ministry, a rich procession of culture and communities, young and old, the able bodied and those of us physically and emotionally vulnerable, a great “maniedness” of gender and race, sexual orientation and social status, composed the UCC in meeting in Hartford, and makes up our membership here and in Trinity, Chicago, and across this country.               Read the stories of Jesus walk and work. Who was in the crowd?  Blind Bartimeus yelling from his tree, the poor, the widowed, the sick, the elderly, the cast offs and left behinds of the time. Who was that Matthew?  - a reviled tax collector. Who did Jesus reach out to? – the woman officials had condemned and were about to stone. Who did Jesus sit down at table with? - the most unpopular and least in society. How did Jesus describe the realm of God? – a great feast whose guests are homeless souls gathered in from the bushes and people ill, the unwashed, the suffering and forgotten.   This is our church – modeled after that first and original body of Christ, the disciples, the early Christian communities from scattered from Jerusalem over into Africa and around the Mediterranean and on to the great city of Rome.  Many members, one body - engaged in the world, a countersign of inclusiveness, humility and compassion. The church was, as we are, mostly small congregations, with no large organization, peoples gathered seeking the passionate guidance and encouragement of the Spirit in a too brutal and dangerous world.  Listen. This is the Apostle Paul, writing to the little mission congregation in Rome. Paul is encouraging one of the earliest Christian communities, a fledgling church, forming itself in the heart of the empire with the greatest military force on the globe.   The church in Rome meets in member’s homes, at least in the homes of the few members who had enough space. The church in Rome meets in a city filled with temples of religion and government, towering monuments and vast arenas dedicated to cruel entertainment and violent glory.  Listen; listen to what Paul writes to the diverse sisters and brothers, those early and far distant followers of Christ. These are the practices, the spiritual exercises, by which the many became one.  “Let love be genuine”  “Love one another with mutual affection.”  “Outdo one another in showing honor.”  “Be aglow with the Spirit, serve God.”              “Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”              “Contribute to the needs of the community.”              “Practice hospitality.”             “Bless those who persecute you.”              “Live in harmony with one another; do not be arrogant, but associate with the lowly.”              “If possible, so far as it depends upon you, live peaceably with all.”              “Beloved, never avenge yourselves.”              “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink.”              “Do not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”              Paul is calling upon this little local congregation at the heart of the greatest power on earth, to be a seed of profound transformation.                This is not a ready made, tightly knit community of like minded folk who have known each other for generations, who all basically grew up the same way and agree on most everything. The church in Rome is a hodge-podge of new members, people with differences in background and class and education, life experience, vocations, needs and gifts.             Paul is nudging this small diverse band to learn how to live a shared and supportive life together, being many, but becoming one – through daily acts of love, respect, inspiration, service, hopefulness, patience, prayer, reconciliation, compassion, humility and consensus building, noble vision, peacemaking, forbearance, and a divine gracefulness in the face of evil and destruction.               Paul knows that to be a community unified in the life and teachings of Christ is a process, a learning and a growing into something quite different, radically different.               Don’t be conformed to the world around you, says Paul. Form yourselves in a new way of being human, of being neighbors, of being citizens. Practice new ways of seeing and understanding yourself and others. Be part of a world rooted in God’s infinite love and care.               Perhaps it should be no surprise that someone in government is investigating the United Church of Christ. At our best, like that early small church in Rome, who we are, how we act, our meetings together don’t easily fit the usual mold, or conform neatly to worldly political practice and policy.               We recognize and honor different gifts. We don’t expect everyone to be the same. We seek to build community through genuine love and affection. We are called to bee humble, let go of conceit, the need to be the first or the greatest. We hear a call to associate with the lowly, the despised, the unlovely and outcast. We take up this seemingly impossible task, to love our enemies. Share with them your food and drink. Repay no one evil for evil. Live so far as it depends upon you, peaceably with all.               This is a remarkable description of what it means to be God’s people, to be the church.              We are far from perfect in finding our way as congregations in the UCC. We have far to go in realizing the Christian vision. It is an unfinished work in every generation.               Indeed precisely because we know we are finite and flawed, we work together, seeking to share power, encouraging dialogue and discussion and making decisions, carefully, prayerfully, thoughtfully, beginning at the most local level. We are always in this church, learning and growing and growing into our souls, never fully arrived. We are none of us yet whole or complete.               Flawed we may be, nevertheless, let us welcome any investigation. Let us invite scrutiny into the United Church of Christ. Let us encourage questions about who we are as local congregations and as a national body. Let us be prepared to tell our stories of faith and life and work.               We have nothing to hide and much that is good to share.                        Let us say to the world, look well into the United Church of Christ. Look into its many congregations and into its many members and into its many preachers, and into its many ministries.             You will find that we are an extraordinarily diverse people, with a fair number of differences among us. We question our pastors and our pastors raise challenging questions for us. We are not easily defined on the world’s terms. We are Republicans and Democrats, independents, conservatives, liberals and progressives. We are of many hues and backgrounds, workers in many fields, traditionalists and creators. Our beliefs, interpretations of scripture, passions and practice may differ dramatically from person to person and from congregation to congregation. We may debate long and hard. We may not in fact agree on how to meet the difficult challenges of our day or how best to do justice or dwell in peace.               But we are one in Christian companionship,                        One, in the Spirit’s touch upon our lives                                     One in daily covenant with one another, and with God.   Rev. Craig RennebohmProspect Congregational United Church of ChristSeattle, WashingtonMarch 9, 2008

This article raises an important question. It is not designed to give "The" answer, but to encourage discussion around a very real and growing issue we as people with disabilities and society face today.   What is Normal? Recently, while wandering through my local grocery, I turned the corner, heading up the cereal aisle. I had no more walked ten feet when I caught the attention of a stranger--a young man in his mid-twenties--walking toward me. Upon seeing me, his face lit up and a smile spread from ear to ear. I smiled in return, his pace quickened and he marched straight over to me and with a welcoming voice said, "Hello, how are you?" I stopped, we exchanged a few friendly words and then after a hardy “goodbye,” he moved on to greet the next person similarly. Within a moment, an elderly couple followed, keeping an eye on the young man who, I quickly surmised was their son. The grinning mother said, "He's very friendly!" I laughed, that was an understatement! I stood there silent for a moment, my spirit energized by this unusual and yet most human of encounters. This young man was very different from me as I don't normally greet the strangers I meet each day in such a friendly and familiar manner. His congenial nature was heartwarming and he seemed to have a sincere appreciation for other people simply because they were - well - people. This man was, simply stated, better than I. Oh, he was different; he had Down syndrome but as a human being, he was still better than I. He loved without reservation or condition; he did not judge others based on what they looked like or what they were wearing; he understood the gift of human touch and kindness and was ready to share this gift with everyone he could. He was not the least bit self-conscious much less self-absorbed. There was no guile in this man. He was far closer to innocence than those of us who are "normal." I thought about that young man as I read that the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has begun recommending broader prenatal testing for Down syndrome among younger pregnant women. As Joni Eareckson Tada recently reported in World Magazine, "Up until this year, they recommended that only older women who were pregnant be tested. But now, all mothers-to-be are routinely tested. The results? Over 90 percent of pregnant women who are given a Down syndrome diagnosis choose to have an abortion." That's right, 90 percent of children diagnosed in the womb with Down syndrome are being killed before they can be born. There is a subtle and sinister shift underway in our culture that is redefining the basis of human dignity and what it means to be human. The Judeo-Christian basis for human dignity rests on the belief that since all men are created by and equidistant from God they are therefore of equal worth before God. Gilbert Meilaender, the Duesenberg Chair in Theological Ethics at Valparaiso University and member of the President's Council on Bioethics adds, "We are equal to each other, whatever our distinctions in excellence of various sorts, precisely because none of us is the 'maker' of another one of us. We have all received our life--equally--as a gift from the Creator." However, this aforementioned "shift" in thinking seeks to establish a new basis for human dignity that is cut off from this theological and religious foundation. Secular society still seeks to uphold human dignity, however set adrift from its religious moorings there follows a serious crisis in the structure of society's beliefs and its ability to uphold an equitable and true basis for human dignity. Under the new scheme, human dignity seems to inevitably rest on a "comparative" basis. Meilaender points out that this comparative basis does not see human dignity as a democratic idea equally applied to all but rather "it directs us to speak in terms of worthiness, honor, and nobility: In all its meanings it is a term of distinction. ... In principle, it is aristocratic." While there is no doubt that some excel above others in areas of performance and potential, these are distinctions of human excellence not human dignity. Under the comparative basis, full dignity depends on the extent to which one realizes [or is able to realize] their potential for human excellence. The biblical basis is "non-comparative" and egalitarian. This brings us back to those infants diagnosed prenatally with Down syndrome. Using the comparative basis for human dignity; those with Down syndrome are obviously limited in their ability to achieve excellence in some areas of performance and potential. The result? These children are not afforded full human dignity and thus the decision to terminate their lives is justified. You may be tempted to think that this is all very philosophical and has little to do with you personally. Not true. If you are a follower of Christ, then there is the matter of truth, which you and I are bound to assert and defend. The truth revealed to us in Scripture gives us insight into what it means to be human--a creation of God for God. Knowing this we can then assert and demonstrate an egalitarian basis for life and human dignity that affords proper care and consideration to all human beings including those with disabilities, either congenital or otherwise. On a practical note, if these comparative distinctions become the consensus then you yourself may become the victim of such thinking when you grow old and your "potential" is exhausted. Finally, Meileander offers this, "In a speech of 1858, Abraham Lincoln, while granting many human inequalities, also captured something of the problem we have with an inegalitarian concept of dignity: 'I have said that I do not understand the Declaration of Independence to mean that all men were created equal in all respects.... But I suppose that it does mean to declare that all men are equal in some respects; they are equal in their right to 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.'" Lincoln went on to acknowledge that many may think the black man inferior, when speaking comparatively in 1858, however, in defiance of the prevailing culture he rejected this basis saying, "He is the equal of every other man, white or black!" Using the biblical basis for human dignity, human slavery could be both opposed and successfully abolished on reasonable grounds. Conversely, using the secular basis for human dignity, abortion on demand became accepted and codified, the imperfect are being denied their right to life, and soon the aged and infirmed will be put to death when their potential for human "excellence" has diminished. My life was enriched by my encounter with this young man with Down syndrome. My life has also been made much better and far richer with the birth of my precious daughter, Madeleine who was born with Moebius syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that renders her face paralyzed, her sight and speech affected. As her father, I challenge anyone to lessen her human dignity; as a follower of Christ, I will assert and defend the truth of human dignity whenever and wherever I can. "Probably the most truly handicapped people on earth are those who imagine themselves free of any limitation--mentors for a new race of supermen." - Steve Talbott, Devices of the Soul: Battling for Our Selves in the Age of Machines Michael Craven Author and Speaker Founding Director of the Center for Christ & Culture What is Normal?

MLK, Road To Freedom and the ADA Restoration Act A Tribute from ADA Watch and the National Coalition for Disability Rights To view the Road to Freedom photo gallery, go to: http://adawatch.smugmug.com/gallery/4207259 In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King III, a photo gallery features Road To Freedom bus stop events highlighting our partnership with civil rights leaders and organizations. Building coalition and promoting passage of the ADA Restoration Act, the Road To Freedom is a cross-country bus tour and traveling exhibit that is still on the road after being launched from Washington, DC on November 15, 2006. To date, Road To Freedom bus stops have included the King Center in Atlanta, Georgia; National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee where Dr. King was assassinated; Civil Rights Memorial at the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama; Brown vs. Board of Education National Historic Site in Topeka, Kansas; and the Clinton Presidential Library and School of Public Service in Little Rock, Arkansas. The Road To Freedom bus was named after the classic book by Harriet Tubman, who fought slavery as a great "conductor" on the Underground Railroad. During a ten-year span she made 19 trips into the South and escorted more than 300 slaves to freedom. Tubman herself was a person with a disability, acuiring epilepsy as a result of a severe head injury inflicted by an irate slave overseer. The spirit of diversity and civil rights is ever-present on the Road To Freedom with participants including African American disability rights advocates from Mississippi who, as children, marched with Dr. King; Native Americans who blessed the Road To Freedom bus and crew in a ceremony outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico; Latinos who welcomed the bus at the opening of an accessible playground in Inner-City Los Angeles; Feminist leaders who marched with the bus in the Disability Pride Parade in Chicago; and Older Americans representing AARP, one of the major sponsors of the tour. We are grateful for the many organizers who put together these incredible stops and welcomed the Freedom bus!

Extending King's Dream to Disability With the day off on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day (thanks, NBA, for the respite) I got to thinking. The good Reverend once said, "I have a dream that one day people will be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." This was a man of vision, someone willing to be thrown in jail (and sadly, give his life) to see justice served and social change enacted. This was a man who emerged and is remembered today as unquestionably the most influential leader of the Civil Rights Movement. Forty years after his assassination, we of course focus on the progress he achieved toward racial equality. But as someone with a disability, I see another application of Dr. King's vision. I believe that if he had gotten the chance, he would have been at the forefront of the disability rights movement as well. One could just as easily replace "color of their skin" with "functioning of their limbs" or "effectiveness of their minds, eyes and ears." From my observation, MLK had such a desire to implement positive, revolutionary reforms that there's no reason to believe he would have stopped fighting after conquering the barriers of segregation. And since his methods of choice were nonviolence, oratory and civil disobedience, there's no reason to believe his message wouldn't have resonated with the masses in any era. But unfortunately he left us too soon, leaving everyone to wonder how much more he could have achieved. That's not to say people with disabilities can't use him an example of how to advocate. We do need to be careful not to distort his message by excessively whining, complaining, or becoming overly reliant on the government in an attempt to advance ourselves. I don't believe he'd want that anymore than he'd want kids to skip school in order to attend ceremonies honoring him. (You may scoff, but I witnessed this happen.) What I believe MLK would want is for people with disabilities to battle for change using faith, intellect and determination, just as he did. Can't you picture him sitting on the steps of a government building in the 1980s, refusing to go in as a peaceful protest of the lack of a wheelchair ramp? I sure can. So as we commemorate this solemn occasion today, let's thank him for helping open the door to opportunity for so many previously oppressed minorities. Let us also remember that we need to try to walk (or push) through the door ourselves. Source Unknown

By John Miers When confronted by an illness in one of their children, parents have a wide range of responses, from cautious and concerned to profound fear. Nothing upsets parents more than learning that one of their children has a health-related problem. Parents are nurturing, protective, and want nothing but the best for their children. When confronted by an illness in one of their children, parents have a wide range of responses, from cautious and concerned to profound fear. This is even more likely if the problem is due to something that they don’t really understand, such as epilepsy. Parents can become overprotective when their child with epilepsy wants to try a new activity, like swimming or riding a bicycle, if the parent believes that there could be a real danger involved in the activity. Having a seizure can change a child’s life in dramatic ways, and set a child apart from friends and siblings. A child with epilepsy can become confused when he or she doesn’t understand about his/her own condition. Even when they are having seizures regularly, some children with epilepsy have never actually seen a person having a seizure. Or, they don’t understand what happens when they themselves have one. It can be even more confusing when the only consistent parental message seems to be that he or she isn’t “allowed” to do many things that friends and siblings can do. Sometimes, a child with epilepsy may be teased or believe that this will be the case. In addition, having epilepsy usually means multiple medical tests, many doctor visits, and possibly medications. I’ve been there, too. When I was a baby, I had several seizures. The doctor reassured my parents that I would be fine. But, when I was twelve, I had another seizure. My mother, being a nurse, took me to a pediatric neurologist, who again reassured us that I would be all right—“if it didn’t happen again.” It did happen again. My seizures became gradually more frequent. First every six months, then every three months, and, by the time I was in college, I was having seizures monthly. My epilepsy became harder to live with, but I got used to it—sort of. While I had the good fortune of never being teased, I still did not feel not quite whole. My seizures are still not controlled, but I have an understanding and helpful family. What advice can I give about to say to your child about epilepsy? First and foremost, parents and children may be reassured by the old saying that God doesn’t make junk. Every single person is a unique combination of strengths and weaknesses. It is also important for everyone involved, both children and parents, to take “ownership” of the disorder. This means being aware and concerned in order to be on top of the situation. Be frank and honest about just what is going on, what needs to be done, and what should not be done. Doing this can be a difficult and perplexing because parents want to urge their children to do as much as they can, while being aware of specific activities that may pose a threat. Parents and children need to be cautious, but not overwhelmed with fear. Often the physician or health practitioner working with your child can help in setting appropriate limits. Parents want their child to be healed. Children want to be healed, too. In fact, for many people their seizures are controlled through medication, surgery, special diets, or just over time. While some people do seem to grow out of their seizures, others seem to grow into them. For children and parents, as well as for physicians, the uncertainty of possible outcomes is challenging. I remember when I was a camp counselor for children with seizures. It was our first night in the cabin. There were about a dozen boys, ages six, seven, and eight, and three counselors. After dinner, we were having “Circle Time,” talking about the events of the day and our plans for tomorrow. I then brought up some specific questions: “What is a seizure?”; “What does a seizure look like?”; “What should you do when someone has a seizure?”. Nobody knew the answers. Most of the younger boys had never seen anyone having a seizure. Suddenly, almost on cue, one boy had a seizure. I held him and protected him, and sent the assistant counselor for the nurse. The nurse arrived promptly and took him to her office. We then talked about the seizure in the group: what it was, what to do, and what not to do. They learned a lot that night. One child explained how upset he was about his parents wanting him to have a Medic Alert bracelet. When I showed him mine, he felt better. As parents, what can we do in order to help others live with their seizures? What can we tell our children, their friends, their siblings, their teachers, and other adults? What about the parents of their friends? Most of all, we need to tell them that it is O.K. for our children to play together. We can explain that a child may have a seizure some time, and show them how to handle a child with a seizure. With such information, there will be far less fear. To educate ourselves, our children, and children and adults in the community, we need to know the latest information from nonprofit organizations like the Epilepsy Foundation of America ( www.efa.org ), government agencies like the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, (www.ninds.nih.gov), and our child’s physician. There are also support groups, for both individuals with epilepsy and parents, that can help us learn. We also need to ensure that our children also know about their epilepsy, including what they can and cannot do, both now and in the future. It is important to be optimistic; it helps to see the glass as half filled, not half empty. It is important to look to the future and to be hopeful. The challenges that we face will change through time, requiring both parents and children to keep abreast of the emerging issues in epilepsy diagnosis and treatment. Knowledge and perseverance are essential, as well as a positive, optimistic attitude. Good luck! bio Currently, I am employed by a federal agency as the Director of its Office of Diversity and Employee Advocacy Programs. I have worked in the federal government since I completed my masters’ degree. I am active in the disability community, serving as an officer in the agency’s disability organization, and I serve as a Commissioner in the County Commission for People with Disabilities. I have been a counselor for eight years at a local camp for children with epilepsy, and am on the Epilepsy Interest Group at our agency. I am active in the Episcopal Church, at the local, Diocese, and National levels, and have been trained as a congregational consultant. I enjoy being a member of both the singing and bell choirs in our church. I am been the Chair of the Board for a local half-way house for persons recovering from mental illness, and was the runner up for the Washington Redskins Annual Quarterback Award for Community Service. I have also represented our county re-building a burned church in South Carolina, and currently work with the chaplain of a local hospital, visiting Episcopal patients. I am married, with three grown daughters and one 10 year old grandson, and I enjoy gardening. Note: John is now retired. However, he is still active. He and his wife took a number of trips to New Orleans last year to provide support for those still recovering from Katrina. JOhn G. Miers, M.B.A.,

Guidelines for Church Ushers is provided by the United Church of Christ Disabilities Ministries with Mental Illnesses Ministries to assist churches in becoming a truly inclusive body, accessible to all.

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 x3845

A sermon given by the Rev. Marja Coons-Torn, Conference Minister, Penn Central Conference Just about a year ago, I attended my first meeting of the United Church of Christ Disabilities Ministry. Luke 6:17-26 He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them. Then he looked up at his disciples and said: ‘Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. ‘Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. ‘Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. ‘Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets. ‘But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. ‘Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. ‘Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. ‘Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets. This special group meets only once a year. The rest of the year, they conduct their meetings by conference call. In Synod years, they meet for two days prior to the Synod meeting. In non-Synod years, they meet in Cleveland in March. That’s where I attended my first meeting. Prior to the meeting, we chatted on line about our travel plans. Various people were meeting at the airport and catching taxis or wheelchair vans into Cleveland to the Church House. There was one fellow, however, who, like me, liked taking the light rail from the airport to the center of the city. So I made arrangements to meet David, my unknown friend, outside of the Rapid Transit Station in the airport. He said I wouldn’t have any trouble recognizing him—he’s be the one in the motorized wheelchair. David arrived with his luggage strapped to his wheelchair. I was surprised I confess when, on meeting David, I learned that he wasn’t just in a wheelchair. Because his diagnosis is cerebral palsy, he also has certain speech patterns that make it seem difficult to understand him unless you listen carefully. But David is very verbal. On our train ride, I quickly learned that David has wicked sense of humor. He is, in fact, a charming man with many skills in addition to his wit and good nature. When we arrived at the Tower City station of the rapid transit, I led us up the elevator to the top floor of the urban mall. Confident that I knew where we were going, because I had been to our national offices many times and David had never visited, I led us out the door. It wasn’t long before I realized that I must have turned the wrong direction going out the door. By that time, however, we were too many blocks away to be able to easily retrace our steps. I stopped some people on the sidewalk but they were tourists who had no more idea where to find things than we did. Then we spotted a police office on the corner opposite us. Thinking I could run over there quickly, I told David what I planned to do. I’d done enough, he assured me. And before I could blink, he was gone in his wheelchair, twice as fast, of course, as I could have done. Pretty soon he was back and leading us to the Gateway Radisson much more efficiently than me. You have to know that he never let me forget my misadventure for the rest of the time we were in Cleveland. What I learned at that meeting, above everything else, is that we all have different abilities. People with physical or mental limitations are truly no better and no worse than anyone, they are simply different. Some of them are witty, some are smart, some work hard to do what they do, some are good listeners, some are caring, some are shy, and some are bold. Because they look or sound different, it is we who are lacking the care or the patience to get past the differences and find what is special in each person. That was never the case with Jesus. “They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured.” He gave them hope and affirmed their conditions were not anything that would separate them from God, despite the prevailing attitudes to the contrary. He welcomed them into the church of the left out. Can we do less? In the introduction to Any Body, Every Body, Christ’s Body, a marvelous congregational resource, the Rev. Jo Clare Hartsig reflects that “the inclusion of people with disabilities and a renewed awareness of disabilities can enliven every aspect of congregational life.” It isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s the healthy thing. I want to tell you about another friend—one I haven’t met in person yet. His name is Tyler and he is a high school student in eastern Iowa. Tyler created and filmed a DVD for his Eagle Scout project. It’s called “I’m Tyler. Don’t Be Surprised.” I wanted to bring it with me today, but in my enthusiasm for it, I loaned it to my friend Bruce Druckenmiller, who is presently in Namibia, and I haven’t got it back. So I have to tell you about Tyler instead of show you his film. As the DVD opens, an average looking youth introduces himself as Tyler and tells about his life as an active and interested high school student. He is a member of the marching band, a Boy Scout, a member of the theater club---and the list goes on. The young man stops at the end of his litany of activity and confesses that, in fact, he not Tyler, but everything he has said about Tyler is true. Then the real Tyler comes on screen. Like my friend David, Tyler has cerebral palsy and several other medical conditions. But he has asked for no quarter, no special treatment, no favors or excuses. It’s Tyler who has taught me to think about abilities awareness instead of dis-abilities awareness. He is as able as any young man I have ever known. We are all able. But for the sake of the body of Christ, we are called to be present for one another, and to work with one another to make the changes that make it possible for each one to express his or her abilities. [By the way, I had to pop my sermon into 14 point type to facilitate my own vision challenge, a condition of aging called presbyopia.] Let me share with you a short excerpt from a statement made at the World Council of Churches Assembly meeting in Nairobi, nearly a decade ago now: “The Church's unity includes both the "disabled" and "the able." A church which seeks to be truly united within itself and to move toward unity with others must be open to all; yet able-bodied church members, both by their attitudes and emphasis on activism, marginalize and often exclude persons with mental or physical disabilities. Persons with disabilities are treated as the weak to be served, rather than as fully committed, integral members of the Body of Christ and the human family; the specific contribution which they have to give is ignored. . . . The Church cannot exemplify ‘the full humanity revealed in Christ,’ bear witness to the interdependence of humankind, or achieve unity in diversity if it continues to acquiesce in the social isolation of disabled persons and to deny them full participation in its life. The unity of the family of God is handicapped where these brothers and sisters are treated as objects of condescending charity. It is broken where they are left out.” Thirty years ago, when I was a young minister, I had the privilege of knowing a minister by the name of Harold Wilke. Harold was a legend in the United Church of Christ because of his strong intellect, his compassion, and his advocacy for the inclusion of all people. Incidentally, he had no arms and had learned over the course of his life to use his feet as if they were hands, writing and eating with ease. Before he died, Harold wrote a poem that I’d like to share with you in conclusion of our time together this morning. It is called Signs of Liberation and Access. The festivals of the religious year show forth new meanings for access and liberation: In the glory of Easter – the stone rolled away – we see the barrier removed. In the wonder of Pentecost the message is heard, understood, and seen by all, In the liberating act of Passover the message is: “Let My People Go!” and the parting of the Red Sea. In the joy of Advent God embodies divinity in human form. Yet for many persons today – who are blind or deaf or have mental retardation or who are in wheelchairs – the barriers still remain; The stone is still in place; The waters are not parted, the way not opened; The words cannot be heard; The flame of the Spirit’s tongues cannot be seen, the message not understood. Proclaiming the message in all languages for today means using Braille or Larger print for people with visual disabilities, signing or special sound systems for persons with hearing disabilities; image, color and drama for people with cognitive disabilities; architectural access for people with physical disabilities or who are getting older. Let the stone be rolled away! Let the glorious message be proclaimed truly, in all languages So all may hear and understand!

Written by Rita Fiero I had a car accident in 1982, and I never walked again without the use of canes, crutches, and, finally, a walker. Song of Invocation "Spirit of the Living God" 283 TNCH ROMANS 8:37-39; PSALM 46:10 I AM! I AM! I AM MORE than a conqueror and what a blessing it is! My life seems to have been one test after another and not the least bit boring. The knowledge that I have experienced so much adversity and kept my faith is the real blessing. I know that whatever life sends me; I can, with the ever-present help of God, work through it and come out the other side as a wiser person! I should not be surprised by what God can do in our lives, but I am. It is not God's power I have doubted but my own ability to be quiet long enough to know God, the Word of God, and the Will of God for my life (Psalm 46:10). I have certainly not always felt like a conqueror and expect that times in the future may be just as frightening as in the past. But as a conqueror, I have past triumphs on which to build. I am convinced that neither the death of our gifted, twenty-six-year-old son, nor the challenge of life with pain and limitation, nor insensitive words of believers, nor hurtful attitudinal exclusion, nor the highs of personal success, nor the depth of suicidal depression, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus who suffered much more in his life than I in mine. Despite finding a path for my own journey, I do not expect everyone to understand, nor agree, that victory over difficult situations is possible. It is possible but it is very hard work and it takes, as long as it takes. "Well-meaning" words of comfort after my accident and at the time of our son's death often only silenced my words of lamentation. I felt my grief was not validated, and it gave the consolation to those who were uncomfortable with anything less than a stiff upper lip and smile from me. Swallowing my grief only prolonged the dark days. I had to get through the "going through" at my own speed. I had to work through my loss and grief as best I could and in my own way. No one should ever allow the expectations of others, even those who are closest and love us most, to pressure us to get on with life if we are not ready. But, we must also take the responsibility to choose to move ahead. To not choose is a choice! I am convinced the biblical directive to "Choose Life" translates into conquering the urge to curl up under a blanket forevermore because it is the safest place to hide. This decision, between life and isolation, is what makes for such hard work. A little solitude is a gift; too much solitude can be a burden. I had a car accident in 1982, and I never walked again without the use of canes, crutches, and, finally, a walker. In 1988, I started using a wheelchair. Walking is a highly overrated ability but preferable. Humor is highly underrated but a necessity. Humor and ingenuity have served me well over the years. I raised two teenagers while being very limited and devised creative ways to outsmart them. I had a terrible time getting them to clean up their rooms, so after fair warning, I dumped their loosely lying-around clothing out the second floor window of their rooms. The only thing I regret is not getting a picture of their faces as they saw the only house on the cul-de-sac, viewable from the main thoroughfare, in full dress. I don't think they were too psychologically damaged, and I am convinced that God also has a sense of humor. God, the parent, also laughed. I will never be able to do some of the things I did before the accident, but I can do things differently. There are discoveries and surprises along the journey of disability, and I would not trade them in for anything. That is not true of our son Michael's death. I would give anything, including my life, to have him back. But I feel grieving his death may well have been a catalyst to my healing. I had to face up to all of my losses, the frustrations of my disability, daily life with chronic pain, and sadness over the progressive illness of my husband. I have learned that the only acceptance of such losses is the acceptance that life will never be the same, and this must be sufficient until we come face-to-face with the author of all life. Only God knows our lives from the end to the beginning. Only God knows why. In July 2001, the most extraordinary experience of my life happened when I was invited to be a scripture reader at General Synod worship. I felt honored and agreed to do it. The reading came in the mail and I briefly looked it over wondering if I had finally extended myself a bit too much. I set it aside until the day before my scheduled presentation, when I began to practice reading it aloud. I did read it, over and over again. I had to stop. I had visions of my third grade teacher standing over me with a ruler telling me to read it correctly, "like you really believe what you're saying:" But I could feel nothing. I had become numb in order to survive what no parent should survive, let alone the other complications of my life. I knew I had endured, but I was now faced with the choice to conquer or to hide. Rising to the challenge would not make things "right" again, and I finally knew that in my heart, however, I was being forced to make this choice because I would never be able to sit before thousands and give praise to God and not feel that exquisite praise. I started to read and reflect on the words I was saying: "O Lord, our God, how majestic is your name in all the earth...." Alone in that hotel room, I found the perspective on life I had longed for and the words of praise flowed from me, not the paper before me. The next night, I read as if God and I were the only ones in the auditorium. My spirit was healed and I was granted peace beyond my understanding. I now know it is possible to give praise to God in all circumstances. I have become sincerely thankful for the short time we did have with Michael instead of being angry that our time was so short. I am happy I have gotten to know our beautiful daughter, Rebecca, as an adult and to have her friendship. I am truly blessed to love the man I married thirty-three years ago-even more than when we first wed. We will cherish the rest of our lives together because we know how truly precious that life is. God is good! All the time! Yes, God is good and worthy to be praised! Reflection Questions l. Have you been hurrying so fast that you need to wait for your soul to catch up to your body? Find a quiet place, a church, the woods, or a room in your house where you can shut out the noise of the world. Spend some time in silence listening for God's voice. What do you hear? 2. Write about the strengths you have gained from the most traumatic event in your life. First, step back from your trauma. Watch a good movie or chat with a friend. Next, for three days in a row, write for ten minutes about what you have learned from the negative experience. Finally, decide what you want for a victorious outcome and try to make the dream a reality. Transform your suffering into a sacrament. Be more than a conqueror. Suggested Hymns "When Peace, Like a River" ("It Is Well with My Soul") 438 TNCH "God's Eye Is on the Sparrow" 475 TNCH "There Is a Balm in Gilead" 553 TNCH Women's Mosaic Series 2002 UCC Women's Resource Margaret (Peg) Slater, Editor

A Weekend Retreat Based on Jewel Shuey's "Easter Lilies in November" [See "Easter Lilies" below.] INTRODUCTION This retreat must be held in genuinely accessible space-even if no one appears to need it. If you have questions about what accessible space requires, please contact the UCC Disabilities Ministries at 216.736.3838. All materials you send out and use at the retreat should be printed in 14-point print. FRIDAY EVENING Gather participants with food, either the evening meal or a simple "come off the road" snack. Be sure to include a welcoming grace. OPENING WORSHIP Opening Prayer We gather here this evening to worship you, O Holy One. We gather as women, created in your image, to know you and your will better. We gather to laugh and learn, and to be your faithful servants. Help us to do all these things as we see your face in our faces, and your miracles in everyday life. We ask all this in the name of Jesus, the Christ. Amen. Hymn "How Great Thou Art" is suggested by Jewel Shuey, the essay writer. The hymn can be found in the Methodist and Presbyterian hymnals. "Bring Many Names," 11 in The New Century Hymnal, is another choice. Scripture Reading Psalm 139 (one woman will read aloud, but have copies for all). Reflection Each person will reflect in silence on the entire Psalm or whatever portion caught one's attention (10 minutes). Community Building (Break into groups, 5-10 in number, depending on size of entire retreat group.) Reread Psalm 139. Ask each woman to share the phrase, section, or word that struck her as significant, interesting, or meaningful. Go around slowly, value what each has to say, do not challenge or debate, just live with each response. As a group, "rewrite" the Psalm in modern English based on what the group has heard. Read the "new Psalm" to the larger group. Post the "new Psalm" on the wall for the weekend. SATURDAY MORNING 8-9 a.m. Breakfast 9:15-10:15 a.m. Distribute copies of Jewel Shuey's essay, "Easter Lilies in November."* Have one woman read the essay aloud (make sure she has a copy prior to reading it in the group). Break into small groups and discuss: l. The essay itself 2. A time of trial each woman has experienced-was jewel's essay helpful? realistic? encouraging? discouraging? 10:15-10:30 a.m. Break 10:30 a.m.-noon Discussion (small groups-same or new) Discuss what you know about disability-your own or others, accessibility, welcoming people with disabilities.: Use selected essays from the entire "Women's Mosaic Series" packet-at least two to a group. Read the essay aloud, use the suggested questions for each one. Reflect on what each writer is saying. Suggestion: Do not use Doris Powell's essay at this time. Noon-1:00 p.m. Lunch SATURDAY AFTERNOON This is a spiritual retreat, so retreat. Walk, talk, nap, pray. Take time for yourself If you keep reading Genesis 1:26 and on, you will see that even God rests! SATURDAY EVENING 5:30-6:30 p.m. Dinner 6:45-9:00 p.m. Program We, who are active in the church, often do a lot of praising of God and that is very fine. There is a lot for which to praise God. Yet, we sometimes forget to lament. Lamenting is a time-honored way of communicating (see the Book of Lamentations ... read a little aloud) with God. Read Doris Powell's essay "Treasure in Earthen Vessels:" You might listen to selected pieces of "blues" tunes ... ask a member of the group ahead of the retreat to suggest some ... play music quietly in the background as you talk. As a group, or in small groups, answer the questions and do all or some of the suggested activities Doris Powell suggests at the end of her essay. Homework assignment: after you return to your room, write a lament to God. You may, or may not, wish to share it with someone else tomorrow. Write a lament and reflect on how you feel about what you said to God. SUNDAY MORNING 8:45-9:30 a.m. Breakfast 9:45 a.m. Worship Call to Worship Leader: Where can we go from your spirit? Where can we flee from your presence? People: It was you who formed my innermost parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb. Leader: We are fearfully and wonderfully made, wonderful are your works. People: In your book were written all the days formed for me when none of them yet existed. Leader: We come into this sacred space with joy. Prayer of Confession Holy One, we confess that we come to worship with bias and prejudice and ignorance. We are sorry. We will risk learning and changing. We will risk asking difficult questions. Please forgive us and help us to see you in all the wonderfully and fearfully made people of this world. Assurance of Pardon Leader: Be assured, beloved people of God, we/you are a forgiven people. Now go a new way. People: Thank you. Amen! Hymn "We Yearn, O Christ, for Wholeness" 179 TNCH Meditation Ask, in advance, three women to be prepared to respond to the work you have done together this weekend. Each woman should talk for about five to seven minutes. Prayers of the People Ask for three volunteers to pray. Ask for prayers from the group. Conclude with the Lord's Prayer. Hymn "Called as Partners in Christ's Service" 495 TNCH Benediction (with all gathered in a circle, holding hands) Go, my sisters, go in God's glory, just as you are. Go reflecting the image of God. Go as a woman who is welcome in God's world and welcoming to all of God's children. Invocation How great thou are, my God. We bring you praise as we begin to work together, as we read this essay, and look for you in our lives. Open our hearts to see our lives in the lives of others. Help our interconnectedness lighten our burdens, make paths easier for others, and be the people you wish us to be. How great you are, our God. Amen. PSALM 139, 46:10; PROVERBS 2:1-11; JEREMIAH 28:11-13; ISAIAH 61:1-2; COLOSSIANS 1:15-20 Meditation *"Easter Lilies in November" THE FOLIAGE IN NEW ENGLAND has been exceptionally beautiful and long lasting; perhaps God knew we needed it. After several nights with temperatures below freezing, the summer flowers and most of the fall flowers are gone. Only a few precious, colorful leaves remain. Winter is almost here. Oh, what that cold weather does to my hurting body, mind, and soul. I live with chronic pain, depression, fibromyaliga, cluster headaches, and several other health conditions. The first accident/collision was almost twenty-one years ago, only nine months after my marriage to my husband, Merlin, and my move from Alabama to Connecticut. I was a widow when I met Merlin. My late husband died of a heart attack, kissing me good night. Over the years I have lived with and struggled with disabilities. My Creator, my Messiah, has given me strength and inherent power to start and stay involved with the disability community. Many women, young and old, able-bodied and disabled, have inspired me to have hope in today and tomorrow. Some days the pain is so overpowering that I can't get out of bed. I know God is there, but I ask "where?" I just pray, pray, cry, moan, and even laugh. Sometimes laughter is the only medicine. Bernie S. Siegel, M.D., in his book, Love, Medicine, and Miracles: Lessons Learned about Self-healing from a Surgeon's Experience with Exceptional Patients (New York: Harper and Row, 1986) reminds me of this natural, God-given healing power. That fall, when Merlin was diagnosed with, perhaps, a fatal heart condition, I cried out "Where are you my God? Remind me you are with me, in the depth of despair, as I fall to pieces, again and again. But, with the mortar of your love and peace, you give me a beautiful piece of your love and joy." As I open my door to view a magnificent sunrise, there in my garden is an Easter lily with, not one, but two, beautiful white blossoms! How great thou art, my Creator and salvation! I am blessed. I had a Christian heritage. I have a ministry and I know that God has plans for me. I am blessed with a loving husband, a mother, a mother-in-law (my father and father-in-law lived into their eighth decade), two sisters, a large extended family and many good friends. Oh, how I give thanks! I gave birth to three beautiful daughters. I inherited another beautiful daughter and handsome twin sons when I married their father. I also have two beautiful stepdaughters from a past marriage. In my life today, I also have nine babies, my grandchildren, ages three through eighteen years. They are all pieces of me, all pieces of you, my Creator. Help me to remember you formed each one. I worry about the daughter with diabetes, the daughter who may have MS, the daughter whose only son has a traumatic brain injury; my man-child, and my teenaged grandsons, whose father chose not to see them and be part of their lives. Why can't I trust you, my God, with all the hurts each one will suffer in the world? For each question, I do not have the answers. I want to protect and hold my children close. I remember this and am reminded by many others, including the Rev. Robert Schuller, that "life's not fair, but God is good:" I know and believe this is true. But what I want for each one is to know your love and salvation for eternal life. I praise you and thank you for the miracle of life. For the wonderful way you made us, so whole, so perfect, in your image, for the treasure of love and forever. I feel so fragmented, so broken into so many pieces. How I hate the pain; always the pain. Is pain my enemy? Is fatigue my enemy? I feel so weary, so tired all the way into the future. My body, my spirit, my mind will not cooperate. This is not a pretty sight. Where am I? Who am I? When will I be (find) me? How can I bring the good news to the oppressed? When I can't get out of bed, out of my house? Are these my adversaries? Your adversaries? I will triumph! The power of love. You, my God, my Creator, made me in your image. I look again, inside and outside of my body, my spirit, my soul. I am perfect. I am whole. In the middle of the darkest night, the son, your son shines. I am your child. Years ago, on a visit to Israel with a study group of persons with disabilities, I remember seeing a dirty, mosaic floor that was built thousands of years ago. When we splashed small amounts of water on it, the stones looked new, beautiful, and magnificent beyond words. I, we, are just like that floor, each piece, the power of one, put together, by the mortar of God's love and Son shine from our Creator. A sight to behold! I have always thought of me, all of me, in many pieces! These pieces are held together with the mortar of God's love. I share the view of the Rev. Harold H. Wilke in his book, Angels on My Shoulders and Muses at My Side (Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1999). There are many ways God can put together the pieces of our lives. Wilke, a good friend to many of us, was born without arms. He has lived a rich, long life in his eight decades plus of life. He has served as a minister in the United Church of Christ; he is a husband, a father, and a lifelong advocate with and for people with disabilities. Wilke's life is an example of God's power in the world to overcome obstacles and transform the pieces of one's life into a masterpiece. In celebration of women from ancient times through modern times, I give praise and thanks to God the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. We are each a piece of the beauty, excellence, and wholeness of Her creation. We are God's own masterpiece. WE102 Designed and printed by United Church Resources, Local Church Ministries Women's Mosaic Series 2002 UCC Women's Resource Margaret (Peg) Slater, Editor WE102 Designed and printed by United Church Resources, Local Church Ministries

Written by the Rev. Jeanne Tyler The question of justice is one of exclusion. Invocation Persistent God, who never lets us go, come to us in this gathering. Open our minds and our hearts to wrestle with your words. Teach us not to sit politely by when we are not welcomed as the unique people we are. Help us to love ourselves as much as we love you, so that your gift of creating us in your image is not wasted on others or us. Help us be teachers and learners. Help us to follow your ways made straight in the wilderness. We ask this in the name of Jesus, the Christ. Amen. ISAIAH 35; LUKE 18:1-9 A SENSE OF HOMECOMING 1S the vision found in Isaiah, chapter 35. The way home from exile is an ecological treasure-with the land being glad and full of blooms. The dry, inhospitable, and even dangerous desert will be transformed. It shall be filled with streams of water and a way will be found through it. Best of all, the people who could be most easily left behind-the weak, the lame, the blind, the deaf, those unable to speak-will come to the forefront. All will be included, accepted, and affirmed at the center and the whole will be made holy. We will be a sign of God's presence in all our glory and differences. The question of justice is one of exclusion. Isaiah knew the vulnerable ones who might not make it home. Those with disabilities might not have enough strength or mobility to make the way home. They might be left behind because they were too much trouble. Were they even good enough to come home? As the land is transformed, so are the people. Those on the edges are now the center. Those with disabilities are not forgotten, not relegated to the least, or even out-of-sight, out of mind. Isaiah knew that any good homecoming is inclusive of all abilities. Isaiah also invites us to look at deserts and see crocuses in bloom, look at the little paths and imagine a highway, feel the fear of wild animals and know the safety of God. Isaiah invites us to know ourselves as whole and holy. The whole of creation changes, is transformed as we change our perception of ourselves and our abilities and disabilities. I was one of those who questioned if I was good enough to come home. I was born with mild cerebral palsy and a hearing loss. I have struggled to hear and be understood. I struggled to walk. And I struggled to know in whose image I was created. In Genesis, it says that God created humankind in the image of God, God created them male and female. One day I was meditating on this line, trying to get myself around this so I could more fully understand. There I was in the library of Chicago Theological Seminary, looking at my hand, and I understood that I was in the image of God. My hand, which could not take good notes or write well, was "in the image of God:" My hand, which spilt coffee and took more time to do dishes, was "in the image of God:" My hand, which I would have gladly traded was "in the image of God" and the rest of me as well. By the grace of God, I knew myself as in the image of God. I could come home. In the Gospel of Luke (18:1-7), there is a story from which I gain great strength. There is a woman, a widow, a woman without a man to speak for her. She must be alone. She should be powerless, but she is strong and determined. She does not take "no" for an answer from this judge who neither fears God nor regards humans. Can you see this woman dressed in black, perhaps bent over a little but with an attitude? What a hoot! She has been wronged, and she knows the judge can vindicate her if he wants. At first, the judge refuses her. He does not need to bother with her case. She is just a widow with another story of injustice. It does not concern him. She comes again to him with this same request, or is it a demand? And again she comes and again.... Finally, he says to himself, "Though I neither fear God nor regard humans, yet because this widow bothers me, I will vindicate her or she will wear me out by her continual coming:" And, he does. A persistent woman won, and our lives are enriched with justice! With inner strength and fierce determination, she received justice from this judge that neither feared humanity nor God. This attitude drives us to claim our place in a world that often does not want to trouble with us. We can draw courage from this deep well of stories about inclusion at the center of a redeemed life. Coming home to self is coming home to God. Coming home to God is coming home to self. Persevering, demanding justice, demanding a place at the table is faithful work for us all. Reflection Questions 1. When do you see yourself in the image of God? Do you? Why? Why not? 2. When do you see others in the image of God? Is it easier to see others than yourself? 3. What sense do you make of the visions of redemption and hope in the Hebrew Scriptures? Can they be updated to our time? How? Suggested Music "All God's Children Got a Place in the Choir" Women's Mosaic Series 2002 Margaret (Peg) Slater, Editor

Written by the Rev. Diana Coberly Invocation We approach you, O faithful God, assured of your welcoming attitude to all. You fearfully and wonderfully made each of us. We thank you that your love is with us, that nothing can separate us from your love no matter the way we see or hear, no matter the way we talk or walk, no matter the way we think or feel. Help each of us to be aware of how we exclude persons different from ourselves from knowing Jesus. As we gather in this place, awaken us to your goodness and mercy, that we may through the liberating grace you offer us, help create an attitude of inclusiveness for all. Amen. MARK 2:1-12 REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME I felt shame about having a disability-about how I looked with a disability. It was when the newspaper reporters were taking my picture with Gene Autrey. I had just turned five years old, and a few months before I had been admitted to the hospital seriously ill with the polio virus. I was appalled about the fact that now I was going to be seen, all over Kansas, sitting in a wheelchair. I didn't even have braces yet. In fact, my legs look fine in the picture because the atrophy of my legs had not yet begun to show. But I knew that I was no longer whole. Something was wrong with me, not just with my body but with me. Now that sounds ridiculous! How could a five-year-old child, who had just recently become different from other kids, have developed a sense of shame about being handicapped? But I knew it was true. I not only remember the feeling, but I have the picture that shows my hand across my mouth, as if to hide from the camera. I know how this happened. It was because of the beliefs and attitudes of persons around me, including my parents. In Romans 8:38-39, Paul tells us that absolutely nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. And yet, I have heard, over and over, stories of persons with disabilities feeling ignored, criticized, blamed, and scorned by the church-by its liturgy, by its use of the scriptures, and by its members and their attitudes. What truly handicaps people with disabilities are the attitudes of others. And "others" means us-the people of the church. I believe that the Mark 2:1-5 passage of scripture models spiritual accessibility for all. Humankind's faith made Jesus accessible to the man who was paralyzed. We don't know about the faith of the man on the mat, but we do know about the faith of the four people who brought him to Jesus. Nothing could stop them from gaining access to the love of God through Christ Jesus: not distance; not the weight of the man who was paralyzed; not dusty roads; not crowds; not blocked entry to the house where Jesus taught. Today, most denominations have statements or resolutions calling for their local churches to provide physical access for per sons with disabilities. A 1995, a Twentieth General Synod resolution called on the United Church of Christ to be morally bound by the spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1991 (most religious institutions, organizations, or local churches are not legally bound to the provisions of the ADA). Many churches have devised ways for folks to be present in worship. Notice, I use the word "present," not "participate in," because many churches do not furnish large-print bulletins, hymnals, or assistive devices for people with hearing disabilities or open pews so that people in wheelchairs don't have to sit in the back or the front. However, little attention is paid to the concept of providing access to persons with disabilities to participate fully in the life of the church. Persons with disabilities are often unable to participate fully in the life of the church, not only because of the lack of physical access to the social hall, classrooms, choir lofts, and restrooms, but also because of the attitudinal barriers erected by members of the church community. Most Christian traditions equate perfect bodies with wholeness of the spirit. As a result, a large number of parishioners relate to persons with disabilities from one of three models: the person or family has sinned and is to be shunned; the disability is a gift from God and the person is treated in a paternalistic manner; or misfortune has befallen the person, causing him or her to be seen as a charity case. There are two other reasons why persons with disabilities are excluded from the faith community (all communities). We remind folks of the fragility and vulnerability of their bodies. There were many times I crossed a street or entered a store that I had no intention of visiting just because I didn't want to look at or acknowledge the person with a disability who was headed my way. Years later, I came to understand that the person I didn't want to see or acknowledge was me. Secondly, many people do not know what to say or do when they meet a person with a disability. Particularly, folks do not want to hurt or embarrass that individual or them-selves. Just as the four men in the Mark text provided the man who was paralyzed access to Jesus, faithful members of a congregation can invite persons with disabilities to lead a seminar or a roundtable discussion as a way to educate the entire faith community. In the process of examining why there is an impregnable wall between most commu-nities of faith and the community of people with disabilities, Brett Webb-Mitchell, in Un expected Guests at God's Banquet: Welcoming People with Disabilities into the Church (New York: Crossroad, 1994), identifies one problem as the issue of the difficulty of living in American society as someone who is different from the normal person. Our society, including the church congregations and parishes, attempt to make the person with a disability like everyone else, instead of accepting that person just as they are. Each of us has abilities; each of us seek fulfillment and wholeness; each of us has disabilities; each of us know isolation and incompleteness. In the way that the four men's faith allowed accessibility for the man who was paralyzed, we are called to be Christian agents and to act on our faith by removing barriers of attitude, economics, communication, and environment. Our churches cannot afford to be places filled with shamed people. If we are to take seriously that all of us are created in God's image, then we must change attitudes and bring down barriers that prevent people from finding joy in themselves as God's whole and holy people. May we lift the roof in praising God who created us, as we are, in God's image. Suggested Hymns "Help Us Accept Each Other" 388 TNCH "We Yearn, O Christ, for Wholeness" 179 TNCH "When Minds and Bodies Meet as One" 399 TNCH "Called as Partners in Christ's Service" 495 TNCH Questions 1. Remember back to when you were five. What were some wonderful experiences you had? What were some painful or hurtful ones? 2. What are the physical barriers of your place of worship for persons with disabilities? 3. What do you feel and think when you hear the word "disability," or when you encounter someone with a disability? 4. What role does your faith play in your attitude of inclusion-or exclusion? Women's Mosaic Series 2002 UCC Women's Resource Margaret (Peg) Slater, Editor

Written by Susan L. Clarke About living with chemical sensitivities Invocation Oh God, in whose image we are all made, give us courage to embrace our family of earthly sufferers. Your creation, as we embrace you; knowing that our bonds in suffering bring insight, empathy, healing, and joy. Amen. PROVERBS 24:11-12; JOHN 9:1-3 IN MY DREAM, I dove into a bubbling stream and resurfaced on the far shore in a glistening white gown. A wide field with groves of trees spread out before me. Musicians appeared with instruments of every kind and, beyond them, a huge choir. I lifted my baton, like a wand, to elicit the beauty of the whole. Glorious music suspended us all in heavenly bliss. Waking, I was struck by the loss of my dream to be a conductor, for which I had sacrificed much. In 1985, I had left my parents' home outside Philadelphia. Generally penniless and in intolerable housing conditions, I had received a master's in orchestral conducting at the New England Conservatory in Boston. Because of a prior bout with pneumonia, airborne chemicals in cities made me ill. Nevertheless, I persevered and succeeded-to a point. In 1988, the director of Affiliate Artists, the primary agent for young conductors, announced at the Aspen Music Festival, where I was a Fellow, that I was "one of the most talented, musical, artistic young conductors in the country." But the cologne worn by one of the conductors there overwhelmed me, as if needles pierced my innermost sinuses at every breath. I had to leave conducting class for fresh air. The first day of the 1991 Tanglewood Festival, fellow class members complimented me on my conducting of Beethoven. Wanting to show hospitality to the Europeans, I invited them to the lake to swim. On that gorgeous day, I floated, thinking how healthful the summer would be. A passing boat stirred pleasant waves. Water went over my head and into my left lung. As I walked to shore, I squished two dead fish apart on the bottom of the lake. I had never before seen dead fish there-they usually nibbled on my legs-but I thought nothing of it. The next morning, feverish, with the lung inflamed, I dragged myself to class. I was extremely ill the rest of the summer and learned only when the festival was long over-and my professional prospects ruined-that the lake had been algaecided the day before the incident. In delirious fevers, I bargained, "God, if you heal me-if you give me even a little health, I'll do anything for you. I'll go to Washington. I'll walk straight into the White House:" However, I was mostly bedridden for years. A toxicologist commented, "You really got dosed:" Endless hours of painful debility, migrainous vomiting, pleas for healing, and sleepless questions-why, how, and what now-filled the decades of my prime-of-life. The humiliation of needing governmental assistance and having to fight for it repeatedly, often while homeless or living in someone else's home, stole my dignity. Employers, hospitals, and churches refused to accommodate me. My body-temple needed a clean earth that no longer existed. Diagnosed with permanent, disabling, multiple-chemical sensitivity disorder and common migraine, my dreams died-dreams of conducting, of health, a home, a husband, and a child. "Where there is not vision, the people perish," the prophet Isaiah astutely notes. I nearly died many times. Between the cracks of illness, a vision emerged. On my well days, I sat in classes at Harvard School of Public Health and scientific conferences, studying the forefront literature on toxins. Each excursion required days of recovery. I learned to speak "scientese" and "bureaucratese": "Laboratory mice will die within sixty minutes of secondhand exposure to many commercial perfumes. The US GAO report on neurotoxicity confirms that death in mice indicates brain cell death in humans." Presenting at conferences, I'd put on a TV smile, no matter how ill I felt. Protecting life on earth now meant more to me than my own life. One day I said to the kindly woman who gave me room and board, "Fran, I wish I could go to Washington and get something done." To my astonishment, she bought me a plane ticket to D.C. I considered flying impossible with my illness. However, because of Fran's generosity, I had to go, and I did, wrapped in barrier cloth. Three days of hellish recovery followed the flight. With my respirator and oxygen tank in tow, I plastered Capitol Hill with scientific studies, meeting with legislative aides and agency officials. Thereafter, if I had $20 to my name, I would drive the ten hours to D.C. People advised me, opened their homes to me, provided me organic food and open windows, and tolerated vomit. On the Hill, I lobbied daily for clean air, water, and food for everyone, for protection from chemical injury. Then a miracle happened. While in a law office, where I could barely breathe, a call came in from the White House. Two days later, the materials I was distributing were in A1 Gore's hands. The federal government recognized chemical sensitivity for the first time, through the appointment of an interagency workgroup. Years earlier, feeling abandoned by society and God, I had knelt by the Charles River in Boston, whispering coldly, "God, why did you do it?" The last thing I had expected was an answer. Two came to mind. First, when Jesus was asked about a man born blind, whether the fault was the man's or his parents; he answered, "so that God's power be displayed," and healed the man. Second, when Jesus knew a close friend was ill, he intentionally stayed away two days, allowing the friend to die. "Criminal negligence," courts would now determine. He ultimately raised the man from the dead. Prior to the miracle, though, Jesus wept. It was hard to believe at the time, but I understood that God had not stopped caring and intended something powerful by my illness. Today, provided that others help protect our common air, I have my health. I give expert testimony in public health science, work for justice, and write professionally. I am a flute recitalist at Trinity Church-Boston and believe I will conduct again. I have a nontoxic home and have marital prospects. My life is fuller than I could ever have dreamed. I am most grateful for the enlightenment of disability. Reflection Questions and Activities 1. How do you feel when someone says they are reacting to your hairspray, perfume, or lotion? Do your feelings change over time? 2. Imagine you are the CEO of a chemical company. Millions of people buy your products, however, many, many people report immediate, serious medical problems in reaction to what you consider low levels of chemicals used. What do you do? 3. How should society provide for and learn from veterans of recent conflicts, many of whom have been disabled by chemical injuries and/or sensitivity? 4. Where do you think God is when we have to ask hard questions about things we don't know much about? 5. Check the ingredient lists on your own food, cosmetics, laundry, and maintenance products, noting how many in each seem to have been created in a lab rather than in nature. Estimate how much your household spends each year on such products. Try living as a chemically sensitive person for a week, going without them. How do you feel? Suggested Hymns "My Heart Is Overflowing" ("The Song of Hannah") 15 TNCH "O God, My God" 515 TNCH Women's Mosaic Series 2002 UCC Women's Resource Margaret (Peg) Slater, Editor

Written by Patricia Williams-Long Franklin Invocation Wonderful and generous God, you created us in your image. Thank you. Help us to live into your hopes and trust. Help us to be somebody in your image even when we are ordinary people going about our lives. Help us in the time of trial and in the times of joy and all the in-between times. We ask in the name of Jesus. Amen. 1 CHRONICLES 4:9, 10 THE NAME JABEZ MEANS pain or sorrow. Is it just possible that he was less than perfect in appearance, presentation, or had some other form of "disability"? During the times of Jabez, names were representative of the "man" and hopes and aspirations of the parent for the child. You've no doubt heard of the boy named Sue? Now, here is the boy named Pain, for Jabez was born in sorrow. To label someone as Pain or Sorrow is to attach some form of stigma, an unseen shackle. Was I born in pain? At the age of two, my grandmother dyed my hair with coffee grinds because I had "ugly white folks red hair," the color of corn silk. She loved me and, to this day, I love her. My mother supported me but could not protect me during years when I needed her most. She did the best with what she had, which in this lifetime has to be enough. I was the "stepchild" in every sense of the word from the day of birth. If not the step grandchild, then the child with the stepfather, step aunts, step cousins, never really belonging. Years of feeling like a "nobody," something unacceptable, outside the norm, was survivable only by creating a world within a world, the place I lived. I created myself strong. January 1988, an automobile accident left me unable to work. Two years and a myriad of doctors later, I was finally diagnosed with something called fibromyalgia and reflex sympathetic dystrophy. Did not matter what the cause, I was an achiever, and I would beat this thing. I spent years in different pain management, traditional and nontraditional therapy programs, refusing to learn about the diseases or read any insurance policies, because nothing would impede my mind-set of being healed and returning to the career I'd worked so hard to acquire. This was my independence and self worth. If you can truly claim independence, then work, vacation, romance, lifestyle, and so on, are all subordinate. Losing was not in my comprehension; after all, I had obtained a B.S. degree in 2 1/2 years, graduated with honors, was recruited by top CPA firms, become a successful businesswoman and, best of all, raised, with God's help, a beautiful person in the form of a son. I did not physically recover! My world came crashing in on me. No more work, golf, tennis, sitting, and walking at will, independence was gone. Worse yet, I now had to leave my world established in childhood, the one that trusted God and Christ and relied solely on me. I now had to allow others inside my inner being and had to learn to stop playing and living with the real world but actually to live within it. I had to learn to discard and forgive all the childhood traumas. This was accomplished by allowing others to really see and help me. I had to learn that accepting help does not always carry a debt of one's soul. I learned to really feel and express love and grief, not just think it. There was now a recognizable difference. I learned to grieve the death of my pre-accident life as well as that of my daughter a quarter century before. I learned that my imaginary, childhood developed friend Sheila, whose name I called in times of trouble, not knowing why, was God. When my independence as I knew it was taken, I thought my life was not worth living. What else could be worse? Well, my brother, who was really my best friend, and my mother's deaths were after my injury and, thank God, that the inevitable occurrences were during my mental recovery. It was during this time, so-called dying time, spent with my brother and mother, that I experienced and shared the love and understanding of both. Yes, lives have been taken. Three of those lives, mother, brother, and daughter, have been relocated and the other, mine, has been renewed through the love of God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit. No, it is not the life I planned, prepared for, and wanted. It is life! Two people during my early adulthood told me the same thing-"God's got plans for you. God has snatched you away from death's door many times. God has definite plans for you:' Well God, here I am, I'll do whatever you desire. Most times, I do not look disabled-no crutches or a wheelchair. Now, I bed rest several hours per day; some days I don't function at all, and the pain never ever ceases. Commitments are always tentative, based on the functioning of my body, mind, vision, and pain level. I look for the blessings that I now consider an entitlement. God has blessed me along God's path. I am a "somebody," a child of God who has time to hear the word. When I was a child, step-grandfather used to sing a song in church: "Keep that mote out of your eye and I'll try to keep it out of mine" (the only words I can remember). The mote removal is an achievable, ongoing struggle; we need only be perceptive. Appropriately, I need only look around and see the manifestation of the Jabez prayer. I was blessed by the birth of a grandson, a loving son, and the finding of new friends willing to accept my limitations along with theirs. I've learned who I am and the expansive capabilities of love. l say I have been blessed indeed. My borders have been expanded beyond the ability to write and the awarding of a scholarship for a degree in biblical studies, resulting from "writing" an essay in competition. I've been able to hear the emissary of God speak to me and provide comfort. I wrote and read my first published composition, an obituary and poem for my brother. My brother is now a member of God's heavenly orchestra. I heard the music and accepted the consolation. Ronnie is forever with me, and my mother with both of us. I have a family, friends, a home, acquaintances, fellow Christians, and the Holy Trinity. I am blessed indeed! Suggested Hymns "Glory, Glory Hallelujah" 2 TNCH "Bless God, O My Soul" 549 TNCH Reflection Questions 1. There is a message here in the scripture. In the midst of naming the members of the family of Judah, the authors of Chronicles felt the need to tell us about Jabez in verses nine and ten, and then it's back to naming the family members. Jabez is not spoken of again. Why do you think he warranted such a diversion? 2. What role do negative thoughts and names play in your day-to-day life? Try this exercise. On a piece of paper, folded in half, think of and write down one word that describes the worst events of your day. Now, on the bottom half, think of and write down one word that describes the best events of your day. Open the page, look at both words and decide which one you want to describe you and why. Find a Bible verse(s) that supports and provides supplement to your "you;" for example, Psalm 121. 3. Have you spent time with you? Try using imagery: Turn on some music, some without the distracting interruptions of a disc jockey, sit or lie down, now think of something or a picture that you like. Go there in your mind. If you practice this, you will be able to do it quicker. You may find it to be very relaxing and can be beneficial in stress and pain relief and/or just spending time with God. 4. What does it mean to be "a child of God"? a person with disabilities? someone in pain? Women's Mosaic Series 2002 UCC Women's Resource Margaret (Peg) Slater, Editor

Reprinted from The Other Side Written by Nancy Eiesland I have been part of several congregations whose practice of receiving Eucharist includes filing to the front of the sanctuary and kneeling at the communion rail. Often, because I am either in a wheelchair or using crutches, an usher alerts me that I need not go forward for the Eucharist. Instead, I am offered the sacrament at my seat after everyone else has been served. The congregation is trying to accommodate my presence in the service. They are undoubtedly trying to be conscientious and inclusive in their own way. But in effect, they are transforming Eucharist from a corporate experience to a solitary one for me, from a sacralization of Christ's broken body to a stigmatization of my disabled body. I am hardly alone. For many people with disabilities, the Eucharist--which should be the ultimate sacrament of unity of believers--is a ritual of exclusion and degradation. Access to this celebration of the body is restricted because of architectural barriers, ritual practices, demeaning body aesthetics, unreflective speech, and bodily reactions. The Eucharist becomes a dreaded and humiliating remembrance that in the church we are trespassers in an able-bodied dominion. For many disabled persons, the church has been a "city on a hill"--physically inaccessible and socially inhospitable. This Eucharistic exclusion is symbolic of a larger crisis. Sadly, rather than offering empowerment, the church has more often supported societal structures and attitudes that have treated people with disabilities as objects of pity and paternalism. The primary problem for the church is not how to "accommodate" disabled persons. The problem is a disabling theology that functionally denies inclusion and justice for many of God's children. Much of church theology and practice--including the Bible itself--has often been dangerous for persons with disabilities. The prejudice, hostility, and suspicion toward people with disabilities cannot be dismissed simply as relics of an unenlightened past. Christians today continue to interpret Scripture and spin theologies that reinforce negative stereotypes, support social and environmental segregation, and mask the lived realities of people with disabilities. On those occasions when denominations and congregations make progress in asserting and implementing accessibility, it usually happens through a subtle but powerful paternalism of the able-bodied church, liberally "welcoming" those of us with disabilities. Even some of the best denominational statements articulating a theology of access still speak in the voice of the able-bodied community, advocating for persons with disabilities but not allowing our own voices, stories, and embodied experiences to be central. The growing and dynamic disability rights movement in this country and around the world is raising crucial cultural and moral questions not simply about the meaning of disability, but the very meaning of embodied experience, human dignity, social justice, and community. It is a ripe moment for the Christian church to reflect on its own core values and traditions and allow the emergence of a theology of disability, with liberating meaning and power for all of us. The first task in developing a liberating theology of disability is to identify and confront the key aspects of the church's disabling theology, beginning with its biblical roots. A common theme in the Hebrew Scriptures is the conflation of physical disability and "impurity." The "holiness code" of Leviticus 17-26 communicates a strong message that physical disability is a distortion of the divine image and an inherent desecration of all things holy. Bodily unwholeness is "unclean" and needs to be kept at the periphery of the community. Leviticus 21:18-20 prohibits anyone "blind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face or a limb too long, or one who has a broken foot or a broken hand, or a hunchback, or a dwarf, or a man with a blemish in his eyes" from priestly activities or entering the most holy place in the temple. These and similar passages have historically been used to warrant barring persons with disabilities from positions of ecclesiastical visibility and authority. Although the specific physical standards of such passages may not be retained as criteria for today's religious leadership, the implicit theology persists in church actions and attitudes. As recently as 1986, the General Conference of the American Lutheran Church declared that people with "significant" physical or mental disabilities would be barred from ordained ministry. New Testament texts have also been read to support a link between sin and disability. Several Gospel narratives and even Jesus' own statements are ambiguous, sometimes upholding and sometimes discounting such linkage. Luke's account of the man with paralysis who is lowered through the roof of the house where Jesus is speaking has often been interpreted as a story of heroic helpers and a crippled sinner (5:18-26). Jesus' own words--"Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Stand up and walk'?" (5:23)--suggest some association between forgiveness and healing. In John's story of the man by the pool of Bethesda (5:5-16), Jesus follows his healing with an apparent affirmation of the link between sin and disability when he tells him, "Do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you" (5:14). In John 9:1-3, however, Jesus offers a very different perspective. When his disciples ask whether the man's blindness is the result of his or his parents' sins, Jesus answers: "Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him." A different but equally troublesome biblical theme is the ideal of virtuous suffering. In passages such as Paul's account of the "thorn in the flesh" (2 Cor. 12:7-10), righteous submission to divine testing is upheld as a praiseworthy disposition for Christian disciples. Likewise, early interpretations of Job and the story of Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) purported that physical impairments were a sign of divine election by which the righteous were purified and perfected through painful trials. Disability is seen as a temporary affliction that must be endured to gain heavenly rewards. While more subtle, this theology of virtuous suffering has been no less dangerous. It has encouraged persons with disabilities to acquiesce to social barriers as a sign of obedience to God, and to internalize second-class status inside and outside the church. The biblical theme of charitable giving has had equivocal outcomes for people with disabilities. In ancient societies, almsgiving provided a vital means of survival for people deemed outcasts or who were without the means to provide for themselves. Yet as many of the biblical prophets proclaimed, the people of God forgot that such offerings were the rightful stipends of those who were socially or physically prevented from economic productivity; instead they pushed aside the needy and refused to establish justice "at the gate" (Amos 5:12-15). Hence the system of charity, which had always included a requirement of justice, soon failed to accord dignity or even adequate provision. From its inception, the Christian community has always acknowledged a special responsibility and mission to marginalized persons, including those who are physically unable to provide for themselves (Acts 6:1-6). Furthermore, several New Testament passages link the notion of charity to healing. In the account of the disabled man at the Beautiful Gate (Acts 3:1-10), Peter and John responded to a request for donations with miraculous action. As in this case, healings often restored the person not only to an able-bodied state, but also to social participation and religious inclusion. Subsequent church practice often lost sight of this broader vision. Historically, church-based charities have provided humane care, medical advances, and indispensable financial support. Yet this has often resulted in segregating people with disabilities from the Christian community rather than restoring them to social and religious participation. While engaging in individualistic charity and healing, the Christian church has neglected the social and political needs of people with disabilities, failing to place as central emphases political engagement and social inclusion. Our task is not simply one of correcting some faulty texts or even of building greater architectural access. The Christian church must develop a theology of disability, emerging from the lives and even the bodies of those with disabilities. Such a theology must not be construed as a "special-interest" perspective, but rather an integral part of reflection on Christian life. We must come to see disability neither as a symptom of sin nor an opportunity for virtuous suffering or charitable action. The Christian community as a whole must open itself to the gifts of persons with disabilities, who, like other minority groups, call the church to repentance and transformation. Much of my life I waited for a mighty revelation of God. I did experience an epiphany, but it bore little resemblance to the God I was expecting or the God of my dreams. Growing up with a disability, I could not accept the traditional interpretations of disability that I heard in prayers, in Sunday school, and in sermons. "You are special in God's eyes," I was often told, "that's why you were given this painful disability." Or, "Don't worry about your suffering now--in heaven you will be made whole." This confused me. My disability had taught me who I am and who God is. What would it mean to be without this knowledge? Would I be absolutely unknown to myself in heaven, and perhaps even unknown to God? I was assured that God gave me a disability to develop my character. But by age six or seven, I was convinced that I had enough character to last a lifetime. My family frequented faith healers with me in tow. I was never healed. People asked about my hidden sins, but they must have been so well hidden that even I misplaced them. The theology that I heard was inadequate to my experience. In my teen years, I became actively involved in the disability rights movement--joining persons around the globe who were struggling for basic human rights for the now approximately 650 million persons with disabilities worldwide. Through this movement I came to understand why those of us with disabilities have such depreciated views of ourselves and lack genuine convictions of personal worth. I began to see the "problem" not within my body or the bodies of other people with disabilities, but with the societies that have made us outcasts and treated us in demeaning and exclusionary ways. I helped organize sit-ins to achieve access to public transit and public facilities and to promote human and civil-rights legislation. For a long time, I experienced a significant rift between my activism and my faith. My activism filled me with a passion for social change that would acknowledge our full value as human beings. But my theological and spiritual questions remained unanswered: What is the meaning of my disability? The movement offered me opportunities to work for change that were unavailable in the church, but my faith gave a spiritual fulfillment that I could not find in the movement. Yet I also had to name the ways in which Christian communities participated in our silencing. Within the church, often other people with disabilities were uninterested in political and activist matters. Many activists, meanwhile, saw religion as damaging or at least irrelevant to their work. I felt spiritually estranged from God. My return to intimacy with God began at an Atlanta rehabilitation hospital for persons with spinal cord injuries. A chaplain asked me to lead a Bible study with several residents. One afternoon after a long and frustrating day, I shared with the group my own doubts about God's care for me. I asked them how they would know if God was with them and understood their experience. After a long silence, a young African-American man said, "If God was in a sip-puff, maybe He would understand." I was overwhelmed by this image: God in a sip-puff wheelchair, the kind used by many quadriplegics that enables them to maneuver the chair by blowing and sucking on a straw-like device. Not an omnipotent, self-sufficient God, but neither a pitiable, suffering servant. This was an image of God as a survivor, as one of those whom society would label "not feasible," "unemployable," with "questionable quality of life." Several weeks later, I was reading in Luke's Gospel about an appearance of the resurrected Jesus (24:36-39). The focus of this passage is really on his followers, who are alone and depressed. Jesus says to them, "Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see." This wasn't exactly God in a sip-puff, but here was the resurrected Christ making good on the promise that God would be with us, embodied, as we are--disabled and divine. In this passage, I recognized a part of my hidden history as a Christian. The foundation of Christian theology is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Yet seldom is the resurrected Christ recognized as a deity whose hands, feet, and side bear the marks of profound physical impairment. This was my epiphany. The resurrected Christ is a disabled God--one who understood the experience of the others in my Bible study in the rehab center, as well as my own. Encountering this disabled God became for me the source of a "liberation theology" of disability. Jesus Christ, as a living symbol of the disabled God, shares in the human condition; he experiences in his embodiment all our vulnerability and flaws. In emptying himself of divinity, Jesus enters the arena of human limitation, even helplessness. Jesus' own body is wounded and scarred, disfigured and distorted. In his ministry, Jesus builds community and experiences human solidarity with those who are disabled, socially stigmatized, and denied their full human dignity and capacity. Jesus Christ the disabled God is consistent with many images of Jesus in solidarity with all those who have struggled to maintain the integrity and dignity of their bodies in the face of injustice and bodily degradation. Jesus Christ the disabled God repudiates the conception of disability as a consequence of sin. Our bodies participate in the image of God, not in spite of our impairments and contingencies but through them. For many people whose disabilities keep them from participating fully in the church or from feeling full-bodied acceptance by Christ, accepting the disabled God may enable reconciliation with their own bodies and Christ's body, the church. Hence, disability not only does not contradict the human-divine integrity, it becomes a new model of wholeness and a symbol of solidarity. The disabled God is a survivor. In our society, "survivor" is contaminated with notions of victimization, radical individualism, and alienation, as well as with an ethos of virtuous suffering. In contrast to that cultural icon, the image of survivor evoked here is that of a simple, unself-pitying, honest body, for whom the limits of power are palpable but not tragic. The disabled God embodies the ability to see clearly the complexity and the "mixed blessing" of life and bodies, without living in despair. This revelation is of a Godwho is for us, one who celebrates joy and experiences pain not separately in time or space, but simultaneously. The disabled God is a God for whom interdependence is a necessary condition for life; a fact of both justice and survival. The disabled God embodies practical interdependence, not simply willing to be interrelated from a position of power, but depending on it from a position of need. For many people with disabilities, mutual care is a matter of survival. To posit a Jesus Christ who needs care and mutuality as essential to human-divine survival debunks the myth of individualism and hierarchical orders in which transcendence means breaking free of encumbrances and needing nobody. This disabled God makes possible a renewal of hope for people with disabilities and others who care. This symbol offers us a liberating realism that accepts our bodily limitations as part of the truth of being human. At the same time, this hope pushes us toward social and interpersonal transformation, toward a justice of access and mutuality that is free from barriers that exclude, constrain, and humiliate us. It situates our hope in the reality of our existence as ones with dignity and integrity. It affirms that our nonconventional bodies, which oftentimes dissatisfy and fail us, are worth the living. People with disabilities are part of the sacramental body of Christ in the church. So it is painful and tragic that the bodily practice of the ritual of Eucharist, as I described, often serves to stigmatize and exclude those with nonconventional bodies. The Eucharist is a remembrance of a broken body--and a celebration of the miraculous liberation that wells up from that broken body. The church--made up of all of us--is beautiful and broken, impaired but powerful, complex and gifted. It is this body, the church, which incarnates the disabled God for our world. It is this body which is called to follow in the liberating ways of Jesus Christ the disabled God, who embodied a commitment to justice, and who challenged all structures, social codes, and rituals of degradation that deny the full personhood of marginalized people. This liberating mission is only possible when sisters and brothers with disabilities are integral to the life of the community--when our voices are heard, our experiences honored, and our gifts allowed to flourish. Current Issue | Printable Article From The Other Side Online, © 2002 The Other Side, September-October 2002, Vol. 38, No. 5. ©2002 The Other Side 300 West Apsley, Philadelphia, PA 19144 (800) 700-9280 Fax: (215) 849-3755 Posted with Nancy's permission.

Designing for People with Partial Sight and Color Deficiencies by Aries Arditi, PhD This web page contains three basic guidelines for making effective color choices that work for nearly everyone. Following the guidelines are explanations of the three perceptual attributes of color -- hue, lightness and saturation -- as they are used by vision scientists. To read full article go to

ACCESS SUNDAY "Not everybody has a minister like Diana," said 13-year-old Scott Pigsley of Lincoln, NE. "Things like this tell other wheelchair-users we won't banish you from our church." "This" was Northeast UCC's calling an interim minister with post-polio syndrome. "This" meant rearranging chancel space to accept a replacement ramp that honors the decade-old Americans with Disabilities Act code of no more than one inch of height per foot of run. It frees Scott, who has spina bifida, to light candles with friends. It invites Diana Coberly into the chancel. Five General Synod Disabilities Ministries Resolutions since 1977, including "The Calling of Clergy with Disabilities" (1999 GS), have nudged older churches to erase physical and attitudinal barriers. Robert Wandel, UCC Fellowship of Architects moderator said, "The issue of opening chancels goes beyond voluntary compliance with public access laws to how churches design for inclusion. Inclusion is a Christian question for churches to address." Creative changes at 140-member First Congregational of Alameda tamed eleven levels of the California landmark without disturbing its integrity. Century-old St. Mary's UCC in Westminster, MD, converted a closet to bypass a step, rail, three-step chancel. As at Northeast, trustee Bill Enright's ramp for the wedding of a wheelchair-using member parallels the right chancel arm of Central Congregational in Dallas. "A ramp is an up-front commitment," Minnesota minister Robert Baggott said. "The deeper commitment is accessibility of the soul." Rather than underscore differences that remind temporarily able-bodied persons of their vulnerability, he said a ramp strengthens human connections. "A congregation sees your disability, so we make changes to create a space physically possible for you. We look beyond your challenge to celebrate what is possible with you." God saw beyond Moses' disabilities to call him to lead. Moses' rebuttal, "O my Lord, please send someone else," once couched most churches' response when asked to consider physically-challenged clergy. Now, some hear God's promise, "Go, I will teach you what you shall do....You shall serve" (Exodus 4:1-13). Ongoing commitment to social justice defines the United Church of Gainesville, FL. An informed accessibility committee was key to the architecturally integrated ramp that sheaths its three, broad chancel steps. "This middle class congregation struggles to balance budget," said Pastor Larry Reimer, "yet meets access needs members bring." The 220-member Lazarus UCC, Lineboro, MD, wanted to incorporate five bell and voice choirs into its 1908-built chancel. After six years, the committee overcame seating, faulty underpinning, and flexible-use obstacles to generate a unique, three-level area that offers wheelchair-using families abundant space for reading Scripture or ringing choir bells. Member gifts plus a Development Commission Grant from the Catoctin Association funded the renovation. The aim of calling clergy with disabilities, said Coberly, is to reap the benefits of the minister's abilities. "The change which allows persons with disabilities to participate fully in the life of a church happens only once it is in people's hearts." A minister with disabilities who has served UCC churches since 1969, the Rev. Dr. Dallas Brauninger is a Nebraska Conference Disabilities Ministries Task Force member.

Written by Jo Lambert. It is not generally understood or addressed by our society that people with disabilities experience more grief and loss on an almost daily basis than the general public. Much of the grief and loss for the person with a disability is the same as that for the person without a disability. However, the person with a disability has the added dynamic of a daily reminder—the disability itself. . . . Read at Access Press, Originally from Life After Loss by Kathy Sherer, Ph.D. (From the University of Texas, Counseling and Mental Health Center). Updated in 2005

In adverse situations, a sense of impossiblity first overrides all else. However, feeling overwhelmed by the "I can't" does not necessarily mean that we "cannot." It does not mean that we have sunk. It means that we are facing the truth of being unable to do something according to original plans. That is all it means. The temporary despair that accompanies a sense of being overwhelmed quiets as we figure out another way to do what is important to us. Limits just are. from Dee Brauninger's Holy E-mail

Meditation Hope is something we have to choose. God is someone we have to seek. Sometimes a single sentence is the most we can call out to God. Sometimes our best is only a few words or only a God-directed sigh. Sometimes when we need to have God near, we need more encouragement than we can summon through our own pep talks. It is not enough for us to snatch at hope like a bird flitting from limb to limb snatches at rose hips in a bier thicket. We need to embrace hope, choose hope, and grab on to hope with all our might. - Dee Brauninger excerpted from Holy E-Mail

A Nebraska Conference RECORD focus issue about Disabilities Ministries This issue of The Nebraska RECORD shares delightful stories about tangible and architectural changes reported recently by United Churches of Christ from Omaha to Chadron and Lincoln to Ogallala. These stories -- set in larger, 12-point type – tell of changes which vary in levels of magnitude, yet they all have equal weight. They are concrete evidence of attitudinal change. In 30 years of ministry in our conference, I have observed a heartening maturation of attitude toward persons who live with disabilities. This movement has progressed from viewing disability as an item of pity/compassion to perceiving the inclusion of everyone as a matter of justice/compassion. Our attitudes finally are beginning to progress from "doing something for the unfortunate person I am grateful that I am not, yet fear I might become" to increasing recognition in our hearts of the rightness of removing whatever physical or attitudinal barrier still impedes full inclusion in the life of the church. We have begun to grow together toward a gradual recasting of personal or societal attitudes that shut off rather than welcome, to turn from perceiving persons with disabilities as separate from and different. Although we may notice a visible disability first when we meet a person, we are getting better about viewing that characteristic as only one part of an identity. We also notice and validate other unique gifts and talents. Those of us with disabilities have begun to feel better about ourselves. I have grown from a sense of being broken and inferior to the rejoicing of wholeness and validity as one of God's servants. Not like the attitudes of my parents' generation. My mother as a young, newly married nurse was engaged to "take care of" her blind grandmother who was closeted in an upstairs room. I find the shalom of refusal to be closeted anywhere! This special focus issue of The Nebraska RECORD fulfills my final responsibility for the Disabilities Ministries in the Nebraska Conference. I will continue as a member of the UCC Disabilities Ministries Executive Board and its website editor. Located at www.uccdm.org, this interactive web site offers resources, education, advocacy, and networking opportunities for churches and persons in the disabilities ministries community. Memorial Gift Opens a Door "After the death of their mother, a family wanted to offer a unique memorial," said the Rev. Lauran Heidenreich, pastor of First Congregational United Church of Christ in Ogallala. They thought about a church member who has used a wheelchair since an early age. "We know that you are fully accessible once you get inside the church," they said, "but we want to give you an automatic door so you can come and go on your own." The original door was glass for visibility and of adequate width; but, said the pastor, "somebody has to hold the door while another person pushes in the wheelchair. Now she will have the freedom of doing it all herself." "All the door needed was the addition of the automatic door opener," said Guy Bechtel, the church's buildings and grounds person. "The opener will be programmed to slowly open up. It will stay open long enough for a person to enter, and then close automatically." The $1,700 device is wireless with a box installed in the entryway. Persons hit it, triggering the door to swing open. Should the door prove to be too narrow in the future, several inches of wall glass can be removed for a wider door. "Guy and the family worked together," the pastor said. "They decided the northeast door would be preferable to the front doors." Additionally, the doorway is set in about 2-1/2 feet to protect against blasts of Nebraska wind. Changes for the Family "One of the biggest changes in our church is the hymns," said Eleanor Swanson, member of First Central Congregational UCC Omaha. "The person who brings me to church comes early to choir practice. While she practices, I reread the hymns and Psalm with my magnifier. I can then keep up with the congregation." Within three weeks after losing her sight, Eleanor moved to the independent living side of the retirement center. Her church family also wasted no time adapting. They made certain that she could participate in worship. They had been offering large print bulletins for persons with visual needs but now also enlarge the Psalter and hymns. They also assured that her worship attendance was uninterrupted. Anyone needing a ride phones the member in charge of drivers." One driver also plans church dinners," Eleanor said, "so I provide a needed vegetable, something I can do. She is widowed. We have become a pair." If her daughter is unavailable, Margaret Engstrom also appreciates a driver. "I use a walker now," she said. "I try to get to church every Sunday." As the older building is not easily navigated, during the week her daughter goes to the parking lot ramp. First Central recently added the north entry ramp to meet code for its incoming daycare. "It has also made the lower level more accessible for office volunteers," said Sara Sharpe, church office manager. "It has eased my worries about someone falling down the steep stairs to the church office." Margaret, Sara's eldest volunteer at 91, said, "I work at the church on Monday mornings 9-12, answering phones and doing little things for Sara and the Christian Ed. lady." The next day, she and two others count the offering. "It keeps my mind sharper and I enjoy doing it," she said. "When someone needs help, you find a way. I think of our church as family," Sara said. "It's just a matter of doing for the congregation what you would do for family." Becoming a Fully Accessible Church "How many have trouble hearing?" was asked at an all-church meeting of Lincoln, Northeast. "All these hands raised and heads nodded," relates Northeast member Lois Poppe. Ever since the late '60s construction of their fellowship hall, people had complained about its poor acoustics. Concerns about those poor acoustics plus the need to make the church school rooms on the lower level accessible to everyone led to the creation of a Refurbishment and Accessibility Committee (RAC), which reviewed needed accessibility changes then presented options to the congregation for a decision on how to solve those problems. At first, the Moderator felt these changes could be accomplished through regular boards. Lois commented that Boards were to busy to assume this additional responsibility. According to Janet Domeier, RAC chair, it all started three years ago at another annual church meeting. As each board reported, each had a list that included capital improvement. For years, "we ought to" discussion continued about not being truly lower level accessible. Teachers adjusted classrooms so that a youth who uses a wheelchair could have class on the main level. The Moderator agreed to serve on RAC along with the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees and several other committed church members. It took about a year for the committee to gather information and cost estimates. With congregational feedback, they stockpiled, studied and discussed possibilities. "Because we were thorough, the congregation gave its approval," said Lois, the committee recorder. The committee contacted a Lincoln architect who presented designs in November. "We were successful in obtaining a loan for just under $250,000 for the addition and an elevator." This last year at the church's annual meeting, the congregation decided to proceed in stages. Phase one focused on smaller items. Informational meetings with the congregation and information in every newsletter resulted in membership consensus. After design approval, the church raised enough funds for phase one. Following acoustical analysis, the church installed acoustical wall panels in the Fellowship Hall which hosts Sunday coffee. At a recent anniversary gathering, people noticed a significant reduction of reverberation of voices and improvement in hearing. The panels also soften the room. They are also a great way to display posters, Janet said. "You can poke as many holes in them as you want." Phase one also included a lighted church sign, replacing the wooden sign that was difficult to read. Last August, the congregation approved completed designs for an addition, phase two. "As you go along, you celebrate," Janet said. Now, on to more capital fundraising. Second phase improvements include an enhanced sanctuary sound system; increased accessible front and side parking; blinds and shades in the fellowship hall; an elevator; and lower level accessible restrooms. The initial elevator struggle point, Janet said, was the cost. Most continued to perceive that it was only for somebody using a wheelchair. In the committee's last presentation before the August vote, she detailed how the elevator entry would look. "Persons have an immediate option. The elevator is right there," she said. "It is for everyone. Those carrying equipment or someone who is weary that day will use it. We have many aging people in our church. Hopefully we broke through that with them," she said. "We chose an elevator that is more like the commercial one without the extra doors. Just push a button and it goes." Also authorized and to be completed after the addition construction are new entrance doors and exterior lighting as well as bids for additional parking lot lighting. A modest 2006 grant from the Nebraska-Disabilities Ministries Board will apply toward the $1,200 inside signage. What's In Your Church's Closet? "Our congregation may not realize it has made so many positive, inclusive changes," said Cheryl Cassiday, a member of First Congregational United Church of Christ in Chadron. Thanks to people like retiree Boyd Roberts, who spearheaded several projects, the church is living up to its designation of being fully accessible to aging persons and persons with disabilities. Boyd, a former electrical contractor, said that old fixtures were not giving off much light. New quartz lights save little on cost or energy output, they do produce a sharper, brighter light than regular incandescent bulbs. Each new hanging fixture contains three 100-watt quartz bulbs, replacing the older lamps with two 150-watt bulbs. A section of pews was removed to allow persons using wheelchairs to sit farther forward without having to sit in the aisle. "With the pew cut-out," said Kathy Rapp, "I do not sit out in the aisle, preventing anything from occurring." She said the cut-out is also convenient for persons who use a walker as they can sit in the pew with the walker near by. All three exterior doors are now wheelchair accessible. While entry into the main floor holds no difficulty for persons with mobility needs, the lower level was once off-limits to some. The older lift installed in early 1980s was too small for the newer power vehicles. Boyd scoured the church an engineer. They located a closet, a built-in cupboard. In the basement, they would cut a hole through the wall that goes out into the fellowship hall. Boyd chaired the project. He put together the cost, went to the congregation for agreement, putting together the cost estimates with members doing the work themselves. In a few months after receiving church agreement and the start of the project, $15,000 came in as donations. The church added the other half from savings. "You have to have a little faith," he said about undertaking a major project. "It helps to start doing it. People like to see something happen. Then they get excited about it." One Youth + One Retiree = A Request Honored When Christopher Cassiday learned that the funding had collapsed for his proposed Eagle Scout project, a letter came to the church council at First Congregational UCC, Chadron. Getting in the front door for worship was easy for everyone. However, it was impossible for persons with wheelchairs to use either bathroom. How about updating the women's bathroom? Chris took on the project. The goal was to provide a usable turning radius within the stall itself as well as to make the bathroom entry accessible to persons using a larger, powered vehicle. "We knew the church would be willing to fund it," he said, "and we knew people with expertise would help." Now a first-year student at Doane College, Chris said, "We widened the doorway to make the stall larger, replaced the doorknob with a lever handle, removed the privacy partition and one stool, and installed the new stall system." Both of Chris' parents were involved in the project. His mom helped with the design and obtained a higher commode from the hospital. His dad did hands-on work. Boyd Roberts, Chris' mentor, worked by his side. "Boyd's expertise," Chris said, "was invaluable. He made the project happen." The result is a rectangular-shaped bathroom a little deeper than wide. "The only great change," Boyd said, "was to relocate the stall position. The newer, attractive sink offers plenty of leg room." He also covered hot water pipes with protective insulation. The men's bathroom is still waiting, but Chris knows another young man eligible for an Eagle Scout project. -db "Any Body, Everybody, Christ's Body" This section was written by Pam Cuttlers, member of the Nebraska Disabilities Ministries Committee. "Any Body, Everybody, Christ's Body" is the Accessible to All (A2A) workbook put together by Rev. Jo Clare Hartsig that is available to all from the UCC Disabilities Ministries. Jo Clare chairs the UCC DM and lives in Minnesota. This workbook can be downloaded from www.uccdm.org. It is full of excellent ideas to help churches provide hospitality and accessibility to all. The title "Any Body, Everybody, Christ's Body" shows the process in the workbook. Section One, "Any Body," explores the meaning of the actual flesh and blood body we each inhabit, our differences, our gifts, our laments, our anger, our sacred selves, and the ways we can ‘be good stewards of God’s varied grace.” "Everybody" includes ways to help congregations ‘practice hospitality ungrudgingly’ and offers a wide variety of ideas for churches to put this into practice. There are handouts for ushers, ideas for newsletters on how to write or speak about persons with disabilities, information for pastors, and multisensory worship ideas. "Christ's Body" focuses on “understanding the Body of Christ as a symbol of brokenness and healing, of interdependence and community.” This workbook is designed as a group process of reflection and action with readings and discussion for each section. It culminates in a church committing to be an A2A church. The disability rights movement's slogan is “Nothing about us without us” so please include people with disabilities in your study sessions. The Nebraska Disability Ministries Committee hopes all UCC congregations will become accessible to ALL! Reading the Signs is A Can-Do Forum about accessibility for the whole church family Special Focus Section,The Nebraska RECORD (Nebraska Conference United Church of Christ, Vol. XXIII, No. 1, Feb.-Mar. 2007) Written and edited by Dee Brauninger

"Everybody has a right to learn through their eyes or their ears," Robyn Weber said. "I am here as a tool to help one person understand." "Today, I knew what was happening. It was like a Thanksgiving song," Sherryl Yokel's voice greeted her pastor. Later, Mrs. Yokel added, "I feel more comfortable in church now. I understand the choir's songs and what Bob says." "It is a lot different for us, really a great feeling, to talk together about the sermon," husband William said. "Sherryl never had that opportunity to hear and understand." Mr. Yokel, then chair of the diaconate at the United Church of Christ in Friend, arranged for the interpreting. "Robyn was so excited when the diaconate and church council said it was a `Go,"' he said. "It is wonderful to have a person give up her hour twice a month to come to another church to interpret." "Everybody has a right to learn through their eyes or their ears," Robyn Weber said. "I am here as a tool to help one person understand." An employee of a Friend day care center, Mrs. Weber gained interpreting certification through The Nebraska Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. She began formal classes in American Sign Language three years ago after becoming the only remaining family member who could sign for a relative. Last summer, at a workshop on worship signing sponsored by NCDHH and Lincoln Association for Sign Language Professionals, she recognized her second calling. Weber uses Elaine Costello's Religious Signing (Bantam Books, 1986) to study choral music during weekly choir practices and before interpreting the sermon and other worship material the pastor gives her beforehand. At first, the Rev. Robert Brauninger said he watched her interpret. "Now, I concentrate on making my points succinct. I let her do her work while I do mine." "Children's time is one of my fun times," Weber said. "I put a little more expression into it because it is spontaneous, and Sherryl and Will get to hear their two-year-old's comments." Warmed by a newly found empathy, members of the congregation enjoy the two mothers' informal finger chats during the hymns. Robyn uses this rest break for Sherryl's questions. Sometimes they slip in "mom talk" about their children. (For interpreting classes offered in the Lincoln area, at UN-0 and Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs, or for Distance Learning Classes, contact NCDHH at 402-471-3593. - db Published with the permission of Sherryl and Will Yokel and with the blessing of the Nebraska Conference. Reading the Signs columns are edited by Dee Brauninger.

"Snapshots" of the Adventures In Community Camp, Outdoor Ministries shared by the Disciples of Christ and the United Church of Christ in Burwell, Nebraska. Camp chaplain, Rev. Bob Brauninger, admires the rapport between particularly challenging campers and companion camper Jeannette Blaser. "Jeannette is good at sensing the fine line between doing something for someone and knowing when they can do it for themselves." "Developmentally challenged persons do not come with a recipe card," the retired school teacher/superintendent from Columbus says. "We try this and we try that. Each one is special, a person first." She mentions a man from her cabin. "Neat as a pin. Everything had to be right. His parents had planned his life. By camp's end, he was really opening up. When I asked if he was coming back, he said, `Are you going to be here?' I said, "Next year, try tubing.'" Bob appreciates the honesty of campers' feelings about themselves and the rest of the world. Despite all that has happened to them, most feel secure that God is, and that God is watching over them. Some lack verbal capacity to reflect on scripture, others can. All get involved with their own faith through cabin group conversation at devotions and vespers. He admires the tenacity of campers despite the challenges confronting them, particularly when physical and developmental difficulties are combined. "Some have a hard time walking as well as a hard time figuring out what to do. Their determination often results in accomplishing what they set out to do." He prized the perseverance, understanding, and accepting attitude of one camper-very slow to form his thoughts. When he was ready, people listened and respected him. "Through the years as his physical challenges increased, I learned to understand their power. As much as we both wanted him to participate, we had to find a more comfortable participation level. Once, I asked what in his life allows him to just get up and keep going after each time he falls? He said, "God walks with me. I'll just keep going and be all right."' Judie Luther, Conference/Regional Minister for Outdoor and Youth Ministries, sees AIC challenging campers to walk and do out-of-doors things they normally would not do - tubing, canoeing, time with farm animals. A camper who manages the task of eating feels much better than if someone else assumes that she needs assistance and takes over for her. Another, who cannot speak clearly, is invited to share what is on his mind. He appreciates and grows from that. The camp dance gives some who stumble when walking another chance at self-expression. Joyful in the love campers have for the camp, each other, and the leadership, Judie also recognizes AIC as a fine alternative camping opportunity for companions who give something of themselves. Campers range in age from 18 to 70 and can manage personal needs. About 75 are returnees. "Their able-bodied, companion campers need not be athletic," Judie says: "Older high school student aids; university students from developmental classes, and retirees, some in their early 70s, find themselves patient companions who are interested in understanding what this person is all about and what that person's challenges are." For art show entries or questions, contact Dee. Please inform her about artwork, poetry, sculpture, or a reflective paragraph from anyone acquainted with disabilities. Entries will be considered for an Annual Meeting display that will increase awareness and understanding. - db Reading the Signs columns are Can-do Forums about accessibility for the whole church family shared by the Nebraska Conference for your use.

The other day, as my dog guide and I walked to the mail drop box, we passed three playing children. One piped up, "Are you the blind lady?" Ignoring an older girl's attempt to shush him, I said, "Yes, I'm blind, and I'm left-handed, too." "So am I," another child said. We discovered that in our little gathering were two left-handers, two right-handers, and one right-pawed. Naturally curious, children are great models for being themselves among those with disabilities. Most people with disabilities will not mind answering a child's question. Children scolded by a parent for asking or a parent's apologizing for children or moving them away from a person with a disability can make children think there is something "bad" or wrong about having a disability. It can also teach children that something is bad about themselves being curious. Sometimes, a parent or adult friend can bridge a conversation, saying "We were wondering about that tool you are wearing on your hand." 1. Remember that people with disabilities are people first like anyone else. The disability is only one part of who the person is. The rest of the conversation will take care of itself. Besides, you will avoid the embarrassing pause while puzzling about current "politically correct" words. Just use ordinary language, rather than stumble for other words to compensate for "see" or "hear." 2. When welcoming a person at church, shake whatever the person offers: a hand, foot, prosthesis, or hook. It is the greeting and contact that count. 3. When starting a conversation with a person with severe loss vision, speak the person's name as a clue to whom the conversation is directed. Identify not only yourself, but also any others with you. 4. Relax. If you do not know what to do or say, allow the person who has a disability to help put you at ease. Explore mutual interests in friendly ways. The person likely has many interests besides those connected with the disability. 5. Give whole, unhurried attention to the person who has difficulty speaking. Keep your manner encouraging rather than ~correcting. Rather than talk for the person, give help when needed. When necessary, ask questions that require short answers, a nod, or a shake of the head. 6. If a person uses a wheelchair, sit down, if possible, so that you are both at eye level. 7. Speak clearly and slowly to the person who has a hearing impairment or other problem in understanding. To make it easier for the person to read your lips, face the person, keep your hands away from your mouth, and speak normally. Remember that people who are deaf count on facial expressions and gestures for communication. 8. Treat adults as adults. Call the person by first name only when the familiarity is extended to all others present. Your welcoming suggestions are always welcome. Reading the Signs is a can-do forum about accessibility for the whole church family edited by the Rev. Dee Brauninger, First Congregational UCC, Burwell, Nebraska

All three of us, each with a unique ministry, have been accepted here for who we are "inside." My heart rejoices in this gift from a generous God to be sent to this church. From individuals' matching-plus of the Disabilities Ministries grant that began Kamp Kaleo's concrete sidewalks (see earlier Record), to our Interim Conference Minister's making available "The Accessibility Audit," to the hiring of another clergy person with a disability, it has been a good year for the church's recognition of the value and wholeness of all persons. Second Note: Keep your eyes open for our own Rev. Nancy Erickson's week of meditations in the latest These Days. Now, how about a couple dog stories? If you have not considered calling a pastor who happens to have a disability, you might be missing quite a bit. The first communion by intinction that Bob and I offered at our Burwell parish was also a first for Leader Dog Treasure to observe. Not to worry. I trusted him to stay in his "don't move a muscle, sleep-during-church position" beside my chancel chair until hearing my "Come" after the benediction. All went well as Bob and I proceeded to the base of the steps with the elements. Then Bob issued the invitation to the congregation, "Come, for all things are ready." One by one, the people came through the line. There Treasure, my guide dog, was among them ready to partake, having discreetly descended the side stairs. My hands were too full of communion bread, my tongue was too busy with communion words, and my voice was too microphoned to utter anything untactful; Treasure won. Of course, when we returned to the chancel, Treasure was too busy vacuuming the crumbs to follow. Is that biblical? Then, at the First Advent with the pungent evergreen next to the chancel, I was at the lectern when Treasure again left his "Stay" position. He crossed the chancel to Bob, another first. After my quiet word, Treasure returned to his spot. I resumed my work. Treasure took off again. Again, this obedient dog guide headed as discreetly as possible down the side steps. He walked directly to a friend in the congregation. "Will you please get me out of here? I can't breathe, and Bob and Dee aren't available." I immediately re-titled the children's meditation, "Integrity and Doing What You Must," and my allergic dog spent the rest of Advent in comfort at the rear of the sanctuary beside a delighted church member. All three of us, each with a unique ministry, have been accepted here for who we are "inside." My heart rejoices in this gift from a generous God to be sent to this particular congregation for God's particular reasons. Reading the Signs is a can-do forum about accessibility for the whole church family edited by the Rev. Dee Brauninger, First Congregational UCC, Burwell, Nebraska

Sometimes it takes awhile for the hyphen to disappear. Two words expressing a unit idea first accept a hyphen then release it to form a compound word. Basket and ball were once separate words that became basket-ball, then basketball. At a wedding dinner, the curiosity of a young boy prompted him to pull up a chair. He was full of wanting to hear about my dog guide, I thought. After some dog talk, he paused. "Then, you're not afraid of the dark," he said with the relieved voice of one who might be. "I'm not afraid of the dark with Leader Dog Treasure," I said, Both of us knew we had gotten rid of the hyphen, and he went off with a friend. Later, wanting to confirm my gate number at an airport, I heard a man at the gate opposite mine and crossed the hall. Learning that my gate was #4 rather than #6, I started the short backtrack. Ordinarily when someone offers to assist me, my independence rules. For some reason, I let the man accompany me. He said, "My daughter is visually impaired." Then he left. Minutes later, he returned with his daughter. We had a hyphen, the beginning of a bond. The third grader was curious about Treasure. However, when the dad said an inoperable benign tumor pressing on her optic nerve will steal her sight, general dog talk turned to tool-specific. I began telling her that after becoming skilled at mobility cane travel, she will be ready for a dog guide. Her father interrupted again. Cane travel lessons, scheduled to begin soon, had been postponed after her doctor saw slight improvement in one eye. Prompted to tell why her sight had improved, she said she asked God to make her eyes better. I remembered her prognosis. I remembered my angry childhood struggle when similar prayers proved futile. How could I best tell this third grader that she and God need to be on friendly terms for the journey? Despite her hesitant celebration, she heard. "If some day your eyes cannot improve, it does not mean God is mad or does not like you," I said. "It just happened, that's all." Something changed in the child's voice. The hyphen that also separates one person from another at the level of soul had disappeared. "Then," I continued, "you just change your prayer. You ask God to help you find another way of doing what you want to do." We have the opportunity, especially in our churches, to form hyphenated, embryonic relationships with others who are different from us. Sometimes, when we dare to connect at the level of soul, we find that kinship has emerged. Having dropped the attitudinal hyphen, we understand why we were brought together in the first place. Reading the Signs is a can-do forum about accessibility for the whole church family edited by the Rev. Dee Brauninger, First Congregational UCC, Burwell, Nebraska

The genesis point of our religion is God's looking at each creature and seeing, first, that it is good. We also, as open, accepting churches, need not start with what is wrong with a person but from the beginning can choose to affirm what is right. "If more people educated themselves about mental illness, maybe they could understand it is an illness of the brain, not a character defect or something that I, or anyone else who suffers from it, can just stop whenever it is inconvenient," says Lincolnite Sheri Riley. Read Papolos' The Bipolar Child, Granet's Why Am I Up, Why Am I Down? and other nonfiction resources by Miklowitz, Mondimore, and Waltz. Explore the Nebraska chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill at http://www.nami.org. One to five percent of adult Americans live with bipolar disorder (BP), formerly manic-depressive disorder. Living with undependable mood swings of this brain dysfunction is like being on a roller coaster at different speeds from time to time. "Tomorrow, am I going to be up, down, or even? You can't plan anything." Fixing BP takes time. Some medications bring unsettling side effects. Others, discomforted, either ignore you or try to do too much, said the advocate-coordinator of online support groups. One parent calls her daughter's BP "a brain chemical glitch. After all these years, we have learned acceptance. Her behavior is no reflection on us, or has anything to do with us, other than our genes. Our goal is to help her live a successful life with her Bipolar." Compassion helps another. "About half of all people are kind and 'think before they speak.' Others feel there has to be someone to blame. We're all charting foreign territory." A third adds, "We talk about it to people we trust and whom we know will be caring and accommodating." Riley appreciates worship services that acknowledge different gifts among individuals. It took her many years to see her complex illness as a gift bringing her empathy. "Helping others takes the focus off me. I want to make others happy, and in the process, maybe I can find peace with myself. In God's eyes, we are a11 unique. Look for the special ness of persons. Look beyond the illness at the whole person." Getting acquainted, share conversations about interests. The "Where do you work?" query is a tender subject, however, as many take so many medications they cannot afford to return to work. Someone to talk to and accept us for who we are, faults and all, is important. "There is already a negative label of being unaccepted within our own heads." Riley's practiced perseverance with constant emotional flux imparts new strength to the message of a church congregation whose attitude can remind us that God first says, "Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off" (Proverbs 23:18). Reprinted from The Nebraska Record with permission by the Nebraska Conference United Church of Christ. From "Reading the Signs. db

Written by Dan Wilkins (from http://www.thenthdegree.com/intacces.asp) As I was getting out of my van in the parking lot of an area store this older woman with white hair pulled into the accessible parking space next to mine. I sat on the lift waiting for her to get out of her car and lock the door. She had a placard on the dash. Suddenly, as she was making sure she had her keys, a man walking by stopped, took one look at me, and addressed her somewhat demonstratively, saying, “You can't park there!!!” He pointed at the sign and then at me. “That space is for people who use wheelchairs...You can't park there.” This guy, it seemed, was trying to advocate for ME! I looked at the woman. She was turning toward him. She was also turning red. I felt I needed to do something. I felt a need to advocate for her; to help this wanna be good samaritan to understand that not all people with disabilities use chairs. I wanted to tell him how important it is to first look for the placard or plate. I never got the chance. The woman put her keys in her purse, slammed the car door, took one step toward the gentleman and advocated for herself (loudly), “LISTEN, BUCKO!”, she said, “I've had two heart attacks and five bypass surgeries in the last three years. I CAN PARK HERE!” I thought to myself “Geez, lady, don't have another one.” With a look that dared him to rebut, she walked briskly by the dumbstruck pedestrian and into the store. I spent about five minutes practically counseling the poor guy. He'd only come to buy nails. He thought he was doing the right thing. I told him about hidden disabilities, of being denied legitimacy as one who's “really disabled” by an exclusionary symbol which does more to perpetuate misconceptions than to empower and unite a culture. He walked away somewhat enlightened but mumbling something to the effect of “Never again...” Yeah, even though I'm a chair user, I have a problem with the access symbol. It disenfranchises many of my friends who live with disabilities but who do not use chairs. It is a major cause of grief. To an uninformed public, the access symbol by its very design equates disability with wheelchairs and relegates folks like the woman above, those with less obvious disabilities, to always having to prove themselves as worthy of accommodation. The symbol also implies, to those who do not know us that those of us who do use chairs, tend stay in our chairs, confined or bound to them. We, as advocates and activists, rally around the symbol because it has been around for a long time, because it is recognized, because it is all that we have. With so few members of our disability culture using wheelchairs: ten percent, maybe less, why do we keep it around? Let's see...90% of 55 million Americans (let alone 11% of the rest of the world)...we're talking about 49.5 million people for whom the design is not really representative. So what can we do about it? How do we find a symbol that truly represents the expanse of disability culture. How do we incorporate into a design chair users, cane users, dog users, sign language users, people with hidden disabilities, brain injuries, cognitive and developmental disabilities? How about folks with mental illnesses? The list is long and as individual as there are people living with one. It seems to me the only way to not alienate anyone is to get away from a design that speaks to a certain disability or body type, like the current access symbol. We may have to abandon any type of representation of a human form. This is not to be misconstrued as eliminating the “person” or the humanity from disability. I only wish to refocus attention. Every time I have ever been involved in an access or accommodation dispute the focus has always been on me, or the person with the disability in question. We, folks with disabilities, are always seen as the troublemakers, as “the problem.” All we want is an equal shot at what our community has to offer: Access, Accommodation, Equity, Respect, a chance to contribute; to feel and know that we belong. Nothing more. Nothing less. A new symbol, one to be placed on signs in parking lots, on or beside doors to public buildings, restrooms, paths of travel; next to mission statements and on telephones should focus attention on the real barrier to full inclusion: on the attitudes of those controlling the spaces; on those providing the access. So let's trash the wheelchair symbol, keep the same blue field and throw a big bold capital “A” in the middle. Keep it white for continuity. Why an “A”? A for Accessible. A for Accommodating. A for All. A for Aw heck, you too. The “A” doesn't just focus on architectural access but on attitudinal access. If you, as a store owner, as a city park, as an airline or hotel have it on your door, you've earned it. You've also earned our respect and our business. No small potatoes when you consider the respect and buying power of not only 55 million folks with existing disabilities but the 70 million baby boomers hitting fifty. That's a lot of latent disability. Face it, we get older and, when we do, disability often happens. And let's not forget the 37 million or so AARP members. Laws aside, providing real access and accommodation is the right thing to do but if that's not enough, for no other reason, it makes good business sense. No confusion. No misrepresentation. No explanation or proof necessary. A symbol we ALL can rally around. Copyright © 2000. Dan Wilkins and The Nth Degree. 800-241-8468. www.thenthdegree.com. Used by permission in UCC DM Accessible to All curriculum, Anybody, Everybody, Christ's Body 2005 - NCSD National Council for Support on Disability Issues

A Reading the Signs column . . . A Can-do Forum about accessibility for the whole church family. By guest writer, the Rev. Ross Tyler, Vine Congregational Church, UCC, Lincoln, NE To have an elevator from the lower church school classrooms level, to the south entry atrium level, and up to the sanctuary/narthex/church office level was the dream of the planning committee for Vine Congregational Church UCC in 1989. An elevator shaft completed as a part of the new construction proved too small for equipment outlined by new state ADA requirements. The fund drive fell short for purchase of the original equipment ($43,000). Momentum died. The barriers were unresolved for some eight years. In those intervening years, several uniquely gifted adults struggled around the barriers to total access by parking behind the church for entry at the same level of the narthex and sanctuary. They gained access to lower classrooms by going outside and around to east entry doors by way of the parking lot and connecting drive ramp (weather permitting or not). Shane and Pam Cuttlers joined Vine in 1993. In 1996, they were blessed with the birth of their daughter Morgan, a bright eyed, curly blond youngster who steals your heart with a quick smile and wrinkling nose. The church and her parents quickly realized that Morgan would teach them the skills necessary to care for someone with glutaric aciduria, a condition affecting the body's ability to process protein. For Morgan, this means weak muscle control and involuntary movements. Carrying Morgan and her stroller up and down stairs while she was small was an easy, loving task. As she required larger conveyances, this became harder and even dangerous. Because Shane is a Lincoln firefighter, Pam often needed others to help with the wheelchair or she wheeled Morgan outside to get to the lower level church school. Church folk as well as visitors became aware of the absolute need for a vertical lift for this spirited child. The purchase of an Access Industries Porch Lift, model PLS-144 ($24,970) With added shaft preparation and other material expenses ($1,925) was proposed at the Congregational Annual Meeting on.February 17, 2002. Following a unanimous vote, gifts of more than S30,000 came in, including substantial donations from Clark Hoover General Contractors of in-kind labor. Other generous cash donations by members raised more than $15,000 before the end of the meeting! Following the worship service on September 15, 2002, the congregation gathered so that Pastor Ross, Morgan and Pam Cuttlers could formally dedicate the new elevator lift. Morgan had already been using it as well as other summer guests since its state approval in June. The church is deeply grateful to God, to its exceptionally generous members and friends, and to those special individuals whose vision and tenacity have truly lifted the spirit of equal access for all! You can contact Ross Tyler at or call 402.483.4781. This column may be reproduced.

A Reading the Signs column I no longer recall which came first, the fall on an icy sidewalk that necessitated a lesson for Treasure in how to dog guide a walker-using partner or the timely Christmas letter from Rachel Scott. My friend of years is a retired nurse/instructor in gerontology who has mastered the graceful art of using a wheelchair. She included the following "dashed off" list of guidelines for adding a little grace to our own welcoming of persons with wheelchairs into our churches and at home or care center visits. True to the manner in which Rachel approaches all people, each "Commandment" says, "See the person first." 1. You shall always respect the dignity and individuality of the person in a wheelchair as you do your own. 2. You shall remember that control over one's own life is very precious, so that you will not do for wheelchair users what they can do for themselves, even if it takes them longer. 3. You shall take care not to bump wheelchair wheels, remembering that a small bump to you may feel like a small earthquake to the person in the wheelchair. 4. You shall remember that unexpected movements of a wheelchair can be quite startling, so that you will always ask the user's permission before moving a wheelchair. 5. You shall remember that the person in a wheelchair may find it hard to look behind, so you will come around within the person's visual range before speaking or touching them. 6. You shall not assume that the person using a wheelchair is also hard of hearing, and shall speak in a normal volume. 7. You shall assume till you discover otherwise, that a person in a wheelchair has interests as broad as anyone else's, and shall converse accordingly, including not talking with others over the wheelchair user's head. 8. You shall be aware that conversing at the same level as the person using a wheelchair, by sitting or kneeling for all but brief exchanges, is more comfortable for the wheelchair user, and will be much appreciated. 9. You shall ask the user's preference before wheeling a wheelchair backwards. 10. You shall take care to place objects within easy reach, as a person using a wheelchair may not be able to reach as far as you. As you practice these commandments, your wheelchair-using friends will call you blessed! Thanks, Rachel. Used with the permission of the Nebraska Conference UCC

A Reading the Signs column written by Jo Ackerman, Pastor at Clay Center, NE When I have complained to others about my failing eye sight and how frustrated I am with cooking directions that are printed in the smallest of type on the "side" of the box or the struggle to read information that is printed with black ink on red paper, I get comments of agreement and learn that others also have this frustration. In the privacy of home, we who are in this fog of different stages of changes to our eyes, resort to using a variety of tools like extra strength reading and magnifying glasses to assist us in our plight. The problems surrounding failing eye sight are often connected with aging and the onset of cataracts. Fortunately, many of these problems can be dealt with by our eye doctors, but there is still a percentage of us needing some assistance in seeing until we get further help. Facing eyesight problems in public is even harder. Most of us hate to admit we are having a hard time a reading menu or our church bulletin at worship. Colorful paper can make the problem worse. Red Christmas letters and programs, purple Lenten bulletins, make seeing printed material more difficult. When Thomas asked Jesus to see the wounds suffered in Christ's crucifixion, he only wanted to see what the others had been shown. Christ knew that there were only a few who would see what those first witnesses saw when they were in Christ's presence. He also blessed those who would believe in him even if they had not been witnesses. There are some simple solutions to help those who are struggling to see what others see when they take part in worship or receive newsletters and other communications from the church. Large print bulletins can be enlarged on a copier with enough copies so other members of the congregation may use them and those who need the help will not be singled out. We can avoid printing on dark papers and work toward proper lighting in our sanctuaries and meeting rooms. We can take a que from advertising about designing printed copy: "Legibility is the most important rule." Remember this when choosing fonts on your computer. Watch for those fonts that might be harder to read. We can be of help to those in our congregations who struggle to read our printed materials by caring enough to make some small changes. Do you see what I mean? Reprinted by permission of the Nebraska Conference UCC and to be used in your newsletter.

By Jo Ackerman, Pastor of Clay Center, Nebraska The Nebraska Conference is proud of its churches that are making an effort to be accessible to all of God's people. The term "accessible," as used in many of our churches, means being able to gain entrance to the building. Some churches have constructed ramps and installed elevators; others consider a rear entrance sufficient. Even with these assists there may be hidden barriers. A doorknob that is unable to be grasped by arthritic hands or a heavy door that cannot be pulled open can be a huge problem for someone using a wheelchair, crutches, or a walker. Many persons who deal with disabilities have learned to be independent. Assistance is not always available at all times. Doorways that may appear wide enough to navigate in a wheelchair may be as little as an inch or half inch too narrow for easy passage. Restroom doorways and stalls are often impossible. Providing access to our meeting places and offering a welcome that allows persons to feel welcomed into our gatherings, whether in the pews in worship, the availability of restrooms, or an easy entrance and exit, means we care and we are listening to God when our Creator asks us to welcome everyone to God's table as part of the whole family. Doorknobs and yardsticks can be important tools to measure our accessibility to all. Jo Ackerman is a member of the Nebraska Conference UCC DM Board which is the source of the Reading the Signs columns for use in conference and local church newsletters. Reprinted by permission.

The second Sunday of October, Access Sunday, launches Disabilities Awareness Week. Consider incorporating into worship this blessing of tools that bring fullness of life to individuals and your church. Hint: Mention the blessing in newsletter and church so folk can determine what objects, architectural changes, and other devices bring them freedom. Home/work examples: jar lid popper, speech access computer, half-steps, support cane, walker, full spectrum light bulbs, reader, driver, usable hearing device, trifocals, lightweight dishes, electric wheelchair, new computer program, powered implement, levered door handles, reorganized work space. Church: improved sound system, pew cutouts, eliminating chancel step(s), 14-point bulletins/newsletters, large type hymnal, automatic doors, wheelchair-accessible bathroom, welcoming attitude. Invite worshipers to bring tools for blessing. Materials: Index cards, pew pencils, chancel table for candles, varisized candles in holders on side tables, 2 acolytes, ushers with card baskets, 2 card readers with microphones stationed in sanctuary. BLESSING OF LIFE-GIVING TOOLS Texts: "Choose life..." (Deuteronomy 30:19b). Jesus said, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" John 10:10b. Hymn of Thanking: "Great Is Your Faithfulness" or "Now Thank We All Our God" Naming Tools Leader: Let us name the tools that offer fuller life at church, home, and work. We recognize these tools as evidence of God's presence. Think about expected and unexpected challenges and the life-giving ways you or this church has met them. List them. Hymn of Reflecting (Sung during card collection): "How Deep the Silence of the Soul," "We Yearn, O Christ, For Wholeness," or "I Would Be True" Leader: By naming, we acknowledge and honor these tools. Hear now those that bring light into our lives. (Readers read several cards with pauses as acolytes place a candle for each on table and light it. Work from center outward leaving room for cards. When naming is finished, readers place cards on table.) Consecrating Tools Leader: Ever-creating God, we accept these empowering tools as signs of your compassion. People: No tool is too small or costly that draws its user into fuller life. Leader: These gifts symbolize that all people are acceptable and meant to live. People: When spirits soar with new possibility, God, a surge of energy swooshes like an eagle entering flight. Leader: Let those bringing tools come for blessing. (Speak as leader places hands on each tool and person:) Leader: Bless this life-giving tool and the one who uses it. All: Thank you, God, for wholeness of being. Amen. Hymn of Launching: "Help Us Accept Each Other" or "Called As Partners In Christ's Service" Prayer: Gracious God, in holy partnership with your hope, let us continue to open doors in our lives and in this place with whatever helps answer challenge and life-change with hope. When shortness of funds, courage or tenacity causes stumbling, remind us of networking and shared effort. When tangled mats of impossibility exhaust our spirit, refresh the vigor of our resourcefulness. Through Christ. Amen. Reading the Signs columns, written or edited by db, are reprinted with permission from the Nebraska Conference Nebraska Record and are to be used freely.

What inspires a flock of geese to shape a V or a church to focus its energy? "The greatest thing is a matter of dignity," said Wayne Heathers, member of First Congregational Church UCC of Curtis, NE. "You might not understand that, if you have never been shut out from something." He chaired the five-member committee after his church's self-evaluation four years' ago revealed better access as its highest goal. A lift suited their resources and building better than an elevator. The architect preserved the facade of the beautiful, old style brick building. With an accommodating bid from Omaha-based Access Elevators, they acted. Supporting 750 pounds, the street level entry lift carries people to the sanctuary upstairs and the basement fellowship area. Thrift shop and quilting proceeds pooled with general funds to provide the $38,000. "Even if things seem slow, don't quit," Mr. Heathers counseled. "Just keep bringing [your project] up until all the geese are flying together in the same direction, and you can get somewhere." "Two members now can get into the sanctuary and attend worship regularly," their minister said. "Before, they and others in town could not attend funerals of friends or participate in community services." Leon Banzhaf had arrived last March prior to the project's spring forward. "Without handicapped accessibility, the church had a good chance of dying," he said. "I hope this lift gives to the community a message of love and welcome to all people." The church has gained a new image in the community and a renewed self-image. Suzanne Harland, youngest church member, said members had accepted that it is okay to be a church primarily for older retired people. However after four months of use, more and more people are using the lift. One brought a friend with a lame hip. A young woman who had been in a bad wreck had never gone to any church before. A few years ago there was only one man, now there are seven. A couple young families have raised attendance to 25. Donations to recoup lift money are fueling the current fund drive. Still, Mrs. Harland said, the greatest impact of the lift is on those who attend church. Every Sunday, the congregation goes downstairs after church to eat breakfast together. "There's sweet rolls, and cheese and crackers for diabetics. We set the service earlier so we can spend a little time together. We have been friends for so long as a congregation. That makes you close." The Nebraska Conference Disabilties Ministries Task Force has observed through other conferences that, after receiving seed money, members who had none for access modifications in their smaller churches also started giving abundantly. We, therefore, offer the Smaller Church Accessibility Projects Grant. This modest grant (up to $500 this year depending upon the number of applicants) will be awarded at fall association meetings to recipient churches for designing access or actual access modification. For information or an application, contact the Revs. Jeanne Tyler, Nancy Erickson, or Dee Brauninger. Applications also are available at the Conference Office. Please share with us ways that your church has funded accessibility projects. Reading the Signs columns are printed with permission of the Nebraska Conference and are for sharing in other conference and local church newsletters as a tool of inclusion.

Lincoln, Nebraska's Northeast Community Church views things differently because of Scott Pigsley and Diana Coberly. Scott, 13-year-old son of Gina and Jerry Pigsley, knows God sees the person inside his body with spina bifida. "When God looks at me, God looks over that I'm in a wheelchair and sees a normal person." Scott says of Diana, "Not everybody has a minister who gets around in a wheelchair. The first time I met Diana, I felt happy. We both have a person who knows what we go through. It (her ministry) says people can do whatever they want to do." Northeast's first chancel ramp had allowed Scott to light candles with his friends, but he needed a push from his dad. The present ramp, built after the minister's arrival, follows proper incline code. "It's a pretty caring church," he said. "Now Diane and I are thinking about getting downstairs. Things like this tell people in wheelchairs that we won't banish you from our church if you come in." "Diana is a role model," Jerry Pigsley said of the woman whose interim ends in July, "a godsend in that this was my son's confirmation year, so their relationship is even more embellished. Clergy with disabilities have much to share on a spiritual basis. Diana has broken many disability stereotypes." As access committee member, Pigsley has seen his church "expand in spirit to look beyond chair and disability." However, he said, resolving the puzzles of making a church fully welcoming takes time. Joe Geist, moderator when the interim began, said his church is more in tune now that Northeast must continue to increase accessibility, "not by law but from the human aspect. People like Diana have so much to offer that to overlook that gift because you are not ready to provide the necessary things...." Necessary things include chancel ramp, accessible main floor bathrooms, minimal close-in parking, and removal of the front door offset. Trustees are checking into expanded parking, electric door openers, and lower level accessibility. All members will benefit. Resources, such as statewide Barrier Removal and Information Centers (800-742-7338) or Lincoln architect Lynne Jones, from the UCC group of Fellowship of Architects committed to accessibility (402-476-9700) are available for free onsite consultation. Stewardship Committee Chair Nancy Harms said the church set aside a fund for accessibility issues. She said she has grown in tolerance and awareness of things she once took for granted. "I hope people in this church have learned that we would want for others what you would want for yourself." Diana Coberly said that several individuals at Northeast have changed forever because of her presence. "They may even speak up down the road and translate that into changes we will see in this church. Changing attitudinal habits takes time. I once took repeated insensitivity personally. Now I understand that the change which allows persons with disabilities to participate fully in the life of the church only happens once it is in people's hearts." In what ways does a person with a disability in your church, sometimes a clergy person with a disability, mentor to others in your church who live with a disability? This Reading the Signs column is printed with the permission of the Nebraska Conference. Please share the news in your conference or local church newsletter.

Bipolar Brain Disorder The genesis point of our religion is God's looking at each creature and seeing, first, that it is good. We also, as open, accepting churches, need not start with what is wrong with a person but from the beginning can choose to affirm what is right. "If more people educated themselves about mental illness, maybe they could understand it is an illness of the brain, not a character defect or something that I, or anyone else who suffers from it, can just stop whenever it is inconvenient," says Lincolnite Sheri Riley. Read Papolos' The Bipolar Child, Granet's Why Am I Up, Why Am I Down? and other nonfiction resources by Miklowitz, Mondimore, and Waltz. Explore the Nebraska chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill at http://www.nami.org. One to five percent of adult Americans live with bipolar disorder (BP), formerly manic-depressive disorder. Living with undependable mood swings of this brain disfunction is like being on a roller coaster at different speeds from time to time. "Tomorrow, am I going to be up, down, or even? You can't plan anything." Fixing BP takes time. Some medications bring unsettling side effects. Others, discomforted, either ignore you or try to do too much, said the advocate-coordinator of online support groups. One parent calls her daughter's BP "a brain chemical glitch. After all these years, we have learned acceptance. Her behavior is no reflection on us, or has anything to do with us, other than our genes. Our goal is to help her live a successful life with her Bipolar." Compassion helps another. "About half of all people are kind and 'think before they speak.' Others feel there has to be someone to blame. We're all charting foreign territory." A third adds, "We talk about it to people we trust and whom we know will be caring and accommodating." Riley appreciates worship services that acknowledge different gifts among individuals. It took her many years to see her complex illness as a gift bringing her empathy. "Helping others takes the focus off me. I want to make others happy, and in the process, maybe I can find peace with myself. In God's eyes, we are all unique. Look for the specialness of persons. Look beyond the illness at the whole person." Getting acquainted, share conversations about interests. The "Where do you work?" query is a tender subject, however, as many take so many medications they cannot afford to return to work. Someone to talk to and accept us for who we are, faults and all, is important. "There is already a negative label of being unaccepted within our own heads." Riley's practiced perseverance with constant emotional flux imparts new strength to the message of a church congregation whose attitude can remind us that God first says, "Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off" (Proverbs 23:18). Share with us what ways your church includes persons with serious brain disorders in the life of the congregation. Reading the Signs columns are reprinted from The Nebraska Record, and offered as a gift from the Nebraska Conference for other Conferences and local churches to share in their newsletters. Written by Dee Brauninger

A Reading the Signs column by Jeane Tyler "We have something to say. We want to be heard. Communication is what a church is about. A clergy person with communication challenges differs little from someone in the pew," says the Rev. Jeanne Tyler, who serves St. Paul's in Lincoln, NE with her husband John. Jeanne reflected recently about living with speech impairment and a 55 percent hearing loss resulting from cerebral palsy. Ordained for 20+ years, the member of national and conference level disabilities ministries committees said these losses are barriers. During worship, Jeanne moves closer to her congregation to hear announcements. "There is a difference between understanding what someone is saying," she said, "and hearing. I may hear the words, but I don't understand what they are." Neither do others understand her at times. Older sound systems that emphasize bass tones were designed by men for the male voice. "A good quality system with the mix of a good treble sound can amplify my voice to the best ability that it can be amplified. It is easier for people to hear. People don't have to strain both to hear and to understand." Jeanne says most people offer a patient attitude. As she does not recognize phone voices well, most callers introduce themselves. On the other hand, acquaintances readily identify her voice. She deposits positive feedback in the bank to draw on during lean times. "Otherwise, you can get pretty devastated," she said. "The expressions on faces also tell me that most people who are interested and open to my sermon content respond positively." She said anyone with differences struggles with self-image. Who am I? How does what I look like affect how I am seen? How does how I am seen affect who I am? Jeanne occasionally sees herself on video. "Then," she says, "I know how much my congregation accepts me: I walk differently, I talk a little differently, and I listen differently. Yet, people laugh when I tell funny stories. They look sad when I tell sad stories. They have the normal reactions to me, so I know I must be doing something right. I try to be as real as possible." She reflects that she is "a person with disabilities with gifts and abilities." Knowing she is not just a person with disabilities helps her to be a life-giving person. Among her gifts to her congregation is her capacity to listen attentively well to people. Jeanne has seen the people of their church grow in understanding that God is somebody who accepts and affirms us, that it is okay to have limitations, that there are limitations in the world that we cannot always change, that we learn to live with them. Her being, as well as her words, communicates a transformative faith that "announces life in the midst of death, change in the midst of fear, and love in the midst of apathy. This faith transforms fear of death, change, and lack of care into the power that the community can draw upon for strength. With this faith," Jeanne Tyler says, "we trust God." First call for artwork, poetry, sculpture, a reflective paragraph from anyone acquainted with disabilities. Entries will be considered for an Annual Meeting display that increases understanding. In what ways does your church include persons with hearing loss in the life of your church? Reprinted from The Nebraska Record, Reading the Signs columns are used by permission of the Nebraska Conference and shared with the hope that they will be used in other conference and local church newsletters to further disabilities ministries awareness.

From Reading The Signs . . . A can-do forum about accessibility for the whole church family "Today, I knew what was happening. It was like a Thanksgiving song," Sherryl Yokel's voice greeted her pastor. Later, Mrs. Yokel added, "I feel more comfortable in church now. I understand the [choir's] songs and what Bob says." "It is a lot different for us, really a great feeling, to talk together about the sermon," husband William said. "Sherryl never had that opportunity to hear and understand." Mr. Yokel, then chair of the diaconate at the United Church of Christ in Friend, NE, arranged for the interpreting. "Robyn was so excited when the diaconate and church council said it was a 'Go,'" he said. "It is wonderful to have a person give up her hour twice a month to come to another church to interpret." "Everybody has a right to learn through their eyes or their ears," Robyn Weber said. "I am here as a tool to help one person understand." An employee of a Friend day care center, Mrs. Weber, a resident of Friend, gained interpreting certification through The Nebraska Commission For The Deaf And Hard Of Hearing. She began formal classes in American Sign Language several years ago after becoming the only remaining family member who could sign for a relative. Recently at a workshop on worship signing sponsored by NCDHH and Lincoln Association For Sign Language Professionals, she recognized her second calling. Weber uses Elaine Costello's Religious Signing (Bantam Books, 1986) to study choral music during weekly choir practices and before interpreting the sermon and other worship material the pastor gives her beforehand. At first, the Reverend Robert Brauninger said he watched her interpret. "Now, I concentrate on making my points succinct. I let her do her work while I do mine." "Children's time is one of my fun times," Weber said. I put a little more expression into it because it is spontaneous, and Sherryl and Will get to hear their two-year-old's comments." Warmed by a newly found empathy, members of the congregation enjoy the two mothers' informal finger chats during the hymns. Robyn uses this rest break for Sherryl's questions. Sometimes they slip in "mom talk" about their children. Reading the Signs columns, written by members of the Nebraska Conference Disabilities Ministries board, are offered for use by Conference and Local Church newsletters as an accessibility tool. Have you something to share that your inclusion committee, accessibility board, or inclusion coach has tried?

Janet Rieck is a vision consultant from Albion, Nebraska Youngsters with vision impairment are simply youngsters whose perspective is a little different. To a child blind from birth, color has no meaning. Knowing that salt is heavier than pepper may be far more critical. In a world friendlier to persons with good vision, my students work harder and longer than any other child on a school project to get results comparable with their classmates'. Even ordinary tasks of daily living take longer when performed without vision. My students develop persistence. It takes courage to compete with others who have advantages unavailable to oneself; to attempt what no one seems to believe one can do. In a group that strives for conformity, to be the only one that cannot see well is lonely and calls for daily, sometimes hourly, demonstrations of courage. Perspective, persistence, courage . . . . Are these not qualities we can all benefit from practicing? Among my students are the strongest and best people I know, perhaps because they began honing their character earlier than most, out of necessity. From UCC DM Newsletter Archive

The Rev. Dr. Dosia Carlson, a member of the wider United Church of Christ Disabilities Ministries community and a recipient of the United Church of Christ Antoinette Brown Award for excellence and pioneering in ministry, contracted polio the day she was to have entered high school. To read the story of her spiritual and career journey go to www.ucc.org/women/finding.html

"No Steps to Heaven" begins:

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.

Written by Harold H. Wilke "We have a history of keeping people 'out of sight, out of mind.'" "Even more people are becoming alienated, and ever more of them are coming out into the open." "They are part of our society, not apart from it. More sharply than ever before, the idea of “mainstreaming” -- keeping persons who differ from the norm within the main current of social life -- is becoming a part of Western thinking. In this context, there is an urgent need for society to respond to a “coming-out party” for those who are about to be deinstitutionalized, as well as a need for a far more adequate response to that much larger number who already are in our midst. Certainly the religious community, in its contact with people on every street corner and in every hamlet, has a prime opportunity to help in this mainstreaming process." In this article, Dr. Wilke presents four practical responses of the church. Read Mainstreaming the Alienated

Church and Society, Vol. 81
Journal Articles Social Justice and Peacemaking Unit Presbyterian Church (USA) 100 Witherspoon Street Louisville KY 40202
Among articles in this journal are
"Witnessing: Diary of Depression," by a Presbyterian minister who spent several months as a patient in a psychiatric hospital;
"When the Devil Deserts You," by Ed Cooper, a person with mental illness;
"Ministering-the Meaning of Hope in the Task of Shepherding," by Roy Fairchild, a Presbyterian minister and professor, San Francisco Theological Seminary;
"In Sickness and In Health -- When a Partner is Mentally Ill" by an anonymous author; and
"Care in the Congregation," by Larry Martens, President, Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary.
A resolution of the Presbyterian Church on "The Church and Serious Mental Illness" from the 200th General Assembly in 1988 is reprinted in full, with excerpts from the background paper. The material concludes with resources for congregations. Paper - 136 pp. From UCC DM Newsletter Archive, Book Beat

Growing Attitudes A man's curiosity won out as I waited for several mobility-cane users to enter the Services for the Visually Impaired (SVI) seminar. The man, just passing by, struck up a conversation with me. "Hello. Nice dog," the man commented. "Thanks," I replied. "I walked right by one of them:" (He was referring to the people entering the seminar). "They said, 'Hello' to me. How did they know I was there?" he questioned. My response was, "Your footsteps? Keys jiggling in your pocket? A sigh? The break in air current?" "Oh. Nice dog." "Thanks:' A surprising turnaround. The man felt invisible. Usually, invisibility is our response. We all want to count. When the former Nebraska Commission for the Hearing Impaired was renamed the Nebraska Commission for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing, I perked up. Gramma was hard-of-hearing. A friend prefers "deaf" to the euphemism, "hearing impaired." "But," I said, "we have to forget 'deaf' for a while because it was linked with the du- word for mute, which suggests stupidity." She answered, "'Deaf" belongs to doctors' medical terms, so there is nothing wrong with me -- just deaf." That helped me with "blind." l checked to see if SVI had changed its title. Still too much stigma. I used to choke when I said "blind." An orientation and mobility teacher said, "Accepting is naming." Inside, I just know I cannot see what I am doing or where I am going. So I find another way. Like the wheelchair user who stresses the helpful tool rather than the difficulty, when making air reservations, I mention I am a dog guide user. I still prefer, "When I was a seeing person.... " Human nature insists we notice differences. New to town, I heard children say, "There's that blind lady." Lest it turn to taunt, I hailed them. Crossing the street, I introduced my dog guide, gave my name, then asked theirs. Next time, they called me by name. I became a person. What is in a name? Not only what we say but the fear, anger, compassion, or embarrassment happening inside us. "If I had to live with that... "the honest inner monologue bursts out. Those living with a disability move beyond loss. Discovering what still works, we find plenty worthy of a joyful heart. How does this relate to our churches? A church is about people connecting despite what appears to separate us. A church is an attitude-shaping place. In church, we recognize that, first, God sees us as acceptable persons with a given name. Here, when asking what's in a name, we respond, "a whole and holy being:" "So, how do I refer to you? Shall I say you are visually impaired, sight challenged, or blind?"' "Your choice, but call me Dee."
A "Reading the Signs" column for The Record published with permission of the Nebraska Conference. Columns written by members of the Nebraska Conference Disabilities Ministries board are offered for use by Conference and Local Church newsletters as an accessibility tool. Have you something to share that your inclusion committee, accessibility board, or inclusion coach has tried? From UCC DM Newsletter Archive

4H Therapeutic Riding Program of Carroll County, Maryland

Have you ever ridden a horse? Have you felt the powerful muscles beneath you, the gentle swaying of the horse's rhythmic walk, the freedom of movement as the horse carries you forward? You realize you are smiling and your smile is contagious to all those around you. In hopes of allowing persons with disabilities to feel the joy of horseback riding and of sharing their smiles, our family, the Fishers, has been volunteering with the 4H Therapeutic Riding Program of Carroll County (Maryland) for the past eight years. We smile when we talk about the program and are always encouraging others-riders and volunteers-to become part of the fun. "Safety first" is our main priority. Each rider must have trained assistants who accommodate his/her specific needs. The assistant may be one of the two "side walkers" who provide physical support, if needed, at the rider's heel or thigh. As side walkers, we encourage the rider to control and guide the horse to the best of his/her ability, repeat directions from the riding instructor, lead beginning exercises, and praise accomplishments. An additional assistant also serves as the "head walker" whose sole responsibility is safe horse handling, providing emergency steering and braking, and keeping the horse safe horses. So that all riders will have personal attention from the riding instructor, the number of riders in the one hour/weekly group lesson is small and includes riders who have achieved similar riding abilities. Colored reins, with the primary colors changing every few inches, help to remind riders to "hold the reins on the blue", for example. Blind riders may not need both side walkers in close proximity, but may need a trained horse to follow the head walker around the arena without the use of a lead rope. Someone who is a "little person" can compensate for his/her shorter leg length by using a bat (a small whip) to give the horse instructions. One of the riders in the program is a person who does not have hands but is a very accomplished rider and uses a special set of reins crafted with loops that she can hold. Having fun is the second priority! We look forward to the riders coming back week after week, session after session. Group games, such as Follow the Leader, moving the horse around the arena, and balancing in the saddle while moving arms overhead or feet out of the stirrup help to teach riding basics. Another game, Red Light/Green Light, teaches the riders to coax the horse to a halt or walk on command. A trail ride is a great way to spend time together on a beautiful day and learn different body positions for walking a horse downhill and uphill. Halloween is always a big hit with lots of laughter and colorful costumes, including horses dressed as circus ponies, Indian ponies, bumblebees, hobos, and racehorses. Riding games include balancing a bat on the rider's helmet and a pumpkin on a spoon. We have assisted youth and adults as they prepare for the Maryland Special Olympics and other horse shows. These riders work as hard to overcome their personal obstacles and ride their best as did the athletes heading to Sydney this past September. They also are seeking Gold, Silver, and Bronze Medals. A few from our program have even attended the Special Olympic International Games. The smiles continue as riders, parents, and volunteers share in their accomplishments. Horseback riding is great physical therapy. It helps to improve balance and to strengthen muscle control and condition. We assist every rider with opening exercises to stretch and increase range of motion. Physical and/or occupational therapists and riding instructors provide individual exercise plans. There are many testimonials from parents to the benefits they observe, including some reports from older riders of sore muscles from working muscle groups that otherwise had limited activity. The total program is a team effort. In addition to our family, there are other families and many individuals volunteering. Most of us are also involved in feeding, brushing, tacking, transporting, and cleaning up after the horses, as well as maintaining the property and coordinating lessons, events, and shows. Even the horses are volunteers. Our favorite is Tiger, a 26-year-old Chestnut Quarter Horse. He has a Superior Quarter Horse rating and is now in his second career as a Therapeutic Riding Horse. Tiger has undergone special training to be comfortable around wheelchairs, the hydraulic lift (that brings a rider from his/her wheelchair onto the saddle from above), canes, side walkers crowding close, riding double, and sudden movements and sounds. We welcome Tiger to our farm in the off season for a well-deserved rest. Our family is happy to be a small part of the team empowering persons with disabilities to have the opportunity to ride a horse and smile.

Recommendations for Therapeutic Riding Books

1. Colt by Nancy Springer, Athenaeum- Macmillan Publishing Company; about a young boy with spina bifida who learns to ride. 2. Aspects and Answers - A Manual for Therapeutic Horseback Riding Programs by Joswick, Kittredge, McCowan, McParland, and Woods; available through CHEFF Center at CheftTRC@aol.com. 3. Therapeutic Riding I: Strategies for Instruction, Barbara Engel, editor, with 72 contributors; ISBN: 0 - 9633065-5-3; THERAPEUTIC RIDING II: STRATEGIES FOR REHABILITATION, Barbara Engel, Editor, with 64 contributors; ISBN: 0-9633065-6-1. 4. The Horse: The Handicapped, and the Riding Team in a Therapeutic Riding Program by Engel, Galloway, and Bull; a training manual for volunteers; ISBN. - 0-9633065-1-0. 5. Rehabilitation with the Aid of a Horse. A Collection of 20 Studies, ISBN: 0-9633065-2-9; available also from: engelbj@compuserve.com. Editor's note: The Fisher Family of Bill, Louise, John, and Laura can be contacted at Fisher's Poplar Lick Farm, 2024 Manchester Road, Westminster, MD 21157. All are active members of St. Paul's United Church of Christ, Westminster, MD.

From UCC DM Newsletter Archive