The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship

The Disability/Ability Action Program is under way and so Unitarian Universalism begins a new chapter in its commitment to inclusion of people who historically have been on the margins of society.  A collaboration of Equual Access and the UUA, this groundbreaking program challenges congregations to welcome, embrace, support and integrate people with disabilities and their families into congregational life. 

Congregations seeking certification will conduct an assessment of accessibility and inclusion of people with disabilities, create an action plan of worship, workshops and projects, have that plan approved by the Disability/Ability Certification Committee and then implement the plan. When the plan has been fully implemented, the congregation can vote to be recognized as a congregation with a Disability/Ability Action Program certificate.  The program is designed to meet the needs of the entire congregation and includes workshops and activities for children and youth as well as adults.

Ten congregations are currently participating in the two year pilot project:

First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ann Arbor, MI
First Parish in Bedford, MA
The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Buffalo, NY
First Parish Cambridge, MA
First Parish Kingston, MA
The Unitarian Universalist Church of Las Cruses, NM
The Unitarian Universalist Congregation in McHenry, IL
The Congregational Society, Unitarian Universalist Peterborough, NH 
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Raleigh, NC
First Unitarian Universalist Church of Rochester, MN

The plan is for the project to be offered to congregations around the country in 2015 to coincide with the 25^th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Beautiful friendship, indeed.

For more information about the Disability/Ability Action Program, contact me at mbernstein@uua.org or Reverend Barbara Meyers at bfkmeyers@prodigy.net.

With respect,

Mark Bernstein

Consultant, Central East Regional Group and UUA Liaison to Equual Access