Sometimes churches do not understand the actual desires of the disabled.
I've been to churches where people feel the need to try to get my partner, who is legally blind, to have a braille pamphlet, even though she does not read braille.
It's not a huge complaint, but it's something I've noticed. This does not actually respect true diversity. She's more comfortable with the Catholic or Lutheran approach to things, which is more passive in regards to worship- if you can't worship like everybody else, that is OK and it doesn't warrant singling you out as "special needs".
This is a really good point. If there is someone in the church who is new, is there a welcoming committee who could ask the kinds of question that would address the specific needs of all newcomers, rather than figure out who has a disability and go with that?
The church I attended for several years was very good about disabilities. There was a man who was fully visually impaired, several elderly who were hard of hearing/hearing impaired, there was one who used a wheelchair, and when stairs became difficult for me, they let me know I could use the elevator if I needed to. At one point, a family started attending, and they had a child who was severely challenged, non-verbal, non-mobile, and required extra care. At first, there were a lot of volunteers who would sit with him downstairs in the room where we had a speaker, so those who were in it, could still hear the sermon....like a nursing room for new moms. Eventually, though, the volunteers dwindled away and eventually there were none. They were still searching for volunteers the last time I attended there, and the husband/wife took turns attending. There were also those who had some learning disabilities, but they were loved and accepted as anyone else. Some had mental illnesses, some anxiety, a few with depression (not necessarily the major depressive disorder). Some had addictions (diagnosable). All were accepted, though there were a lot of people who were unhappy about it and/or did not understand.
Why is it that people can get sick from the neck down, but not the neck up. The church certainly seems more ready to accept visible disabilities.
I have also recently seen that accessibility goes deeper than we can imagine. I recently saw a video clip on FB that showed a handful of women with Down Syndrome, learning how to be a salon assistant. They were learning to greet customers as well as wash and condition customer's hair and follow the directions of the stylist (getting the right perm rods, foils, etc, and cleaning the floors). I thought that was a wonderful demonstration of accessibility! But the biggest part of the program they went through was to find salons and stylists willing to work with these women.
That is what the church will have to do - learn to work with them, find out from them what it is they need and want, without assuming, without judgement.
BTW - a social justice board?! How great is that (I'm a social worker)!
