Equual Access

General Assembly Housing Reservations Open March 1 by Suzanne Fast & Melissa Saggerer

2012-02-28T16:28:00.000-05:00

The recognition of human dignity is foundational to the creation of a more just world. This Justice General Assembly asks us to come and bear witness in Arizona. The members and friends of Equual Access have much to contribute to this Assembly, and I hope that many of us will be able to be there in person.

The GA housing system will open for reservations on March 1st. The following information, from the GA Housing Manager, Melissa Saggerer, gives all the details on what arrangements have been made, and how to reserve rooms through the UUA, including ADA accessible rooms.

GA Housing Reservation System

The General Assembly (GA) Housing Reservation System will open at 9 a.m. Mountain (11 a.m. EST) on March 1, 2012. Beginning at that time, a link to the housing reservation system will be posted at http://www.uua.org/ga/housing/index.shtml

By using the Housing Reservation System, attendees earn meeting space for the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) at the hotels and the convention center. Additionally, the UUA is able to negotiate on behalf of our block of attendees for sustainability and accessibility requirements. We are also able to assist attendees booking rooms within our block with housing issues they may encounter during General Assembly.

Reserving Accessible Housing for General Assembly

Those in need of accessible hotel accommodations will be making their reservation using the same housing reservations system as all other GA attendees. It is a first come, first served model. Please know that GA staff will be monitoring all reservations made with ADA requests to make sure that as many people as possible get a hotel room that is appropriate to their level of need. We have been able to accommodate most, if not all requests in the past few years.

Instructions for Reserving an ADA Room

Go to the online housing reservation form. You will see a section to fill out called “To get started, choose a guest type.”

Select “Attendee ADA” from the drop down menu. Fill out the rest of the information. Click on “Search” to continue.

The online system will list the available rooms. They will all be at the Hyatt, as the ADA rooms at the Renaissance are currently under renovations. Select an appropriate room, depending on whether you need a king, double/double, a tub or a roll-in shower. There will also be a limited number of ADA rooms at the ASU dorms. These are all single twin rooms, as that is all the University has.
Be sure to list any additional required assistive features such as grab bars or a raised toilet seat in the “Additional Requests” section after you enter your address information. These are not all guaranteed in ADA rooms, they vary enough that they were unable to list features in this reservation system, so it is important that you specifically request them.

Please request what you require. Keep in mind that there are limited resources so requesting at your level of need and not beyond will allow more people to participate in General Assembly.
More information about the hotels, home hospitality and dorm accommodations offered:

http://www.uua.org/ga/housing/index.shtml

Melissa Saggerer

Housing and Exhibits Manager
General Assembly and Conference Services

Unitarian Universalist Association
25 Beacon St.
Boston, MA 02108
(617) 948-4209
uua.org/ga

Living on the Side of Love - whether we stand, sit, or recline on a stretcher

2012-02-21T11:11:00.001-05:00

Carolyn Cartland

When I learned on February 10 that our consulting minister at the Unitarian Society of Hartford, Connecticut, Rev. Katie Lee Crane, was going to deliver a sermon supporting the Standing on the Side of Love campaign the next Sunday, I sent her the following email:

“I am vice president of a national UU group called Equual Access. We formed five
years ago and work to educate the UUA, congregations, and the world about inclusion of people with disabilities into congregational life, accessibility, and disability rights.

After the Standing on the Side of Love campaign was introduced at General Assembly in 2009, some of us in Equual Access and the disability community within the UUA were disappointed with the name chosen. Language matters, words matter, and those of us who cannot stand felt those words discounted our experience and reinforced the notion that there is something inherently “normal,” “natural,” and “strongly positive” about the notion of “standing”… which, of course, there is not.

One can be “normal,” “natural,” and “strongly positive” while sitting in a wheelchair, using a walker, or employing crutches to move through the world. One can demonstrate commitment, loyalty, and devotion to a cause without “standing.”

In September 2009, a few of us met with some of the leaders in the campaign and in the social justice area of the UUA; we discussed the issue, registered our concern, and requested a name change or a public recognition of the difficulty of the connotation of the words. We also expressed concern that their anti-oppression programs and plans do not specifically include combating ableism, which, for many of us, is as serious a social justice concern as (and overlaps with) racism, homophobia, gender discrimination, ageism, and economic oppression, areas upon which the UUA does specifically focus in the public arena.

Equual Access receives exceptionally strong support (staff, financial, and otherwise) from Mark Bernstein and Teresa Cooley in Congregational Life; we would not be able to do some of the things we have planned without their commitment to our goals. We, also, have good communications/relationship with Taquiena Boston and Janice Marie Johnson in the office of Multicultural Faith and Witness; we have begun to share information and priorities. We know our issues span both organizations while believing that they deserve more public focus from the UUA’s social justice folks. We are working hard to make that happen.

So, for me, the campaign to “stand on the side of love” causes both pain and pride. Words matter. I would feel more included if we were all “living on the side of love”. Those words, like the words we use in our service…”please rise in body and/or spirit”…are meaningful, inclusive, and respectful of everyone; they epitomize our belief in the inherent worth and dignity of everyone.

Without meaning to be presumptuous, I hope that you can reflect some of these ideas in your sermon as you encourage us to love our neighbor, whether we stand, sit, or recline on a stretcher.”

Rev. Crane responded enthusiastically and incorporated my comments into her sermon. She closed her sermon with the following: “I couldn’t have said it better myself. Why? Because I missed how those six little words meant to rally all of us ignored the identities of some of us. I missed it completely. And I am indebted to Carolyn for bringing it to my and our attention this morning. Now when we wear the orange shirts or wave the already-printed signs, we must also remember that we are also rallying to educate ourselves and others about ableism, too. Now we will join with Carolyn and others to register our concern, and request a name change or, at least, request that the folks leading this campaign tell the stories of those who are living on the side of love with or without the use of legs or feet.

I pledge to say just that to the folks in Boston this week.”

Rev. Crane sent her sermon to Dan Furmansky, manager of the SSL campaign, offered to travel to Boston to speak with the SSL folks personally, and suggested that they contact me to highlight this issue on their website. She received a response from Dan, who said, “I will give some thought on how to lift up the ableism issue. ..Your sermon is wonderful and I'm going to share it on our 30 Days round-up.”

I sent the email to Rev. Crane as an individual congregant, not as vice-president of EA. As we all know, this is a complex issue and many of us have different perspectives on it. Equual Access has not taken an official position on the name of the campaign and I do not know if we will. I do think it is important that the larger issue is discussed, namely that disability rights and inclusion of people with disabilities becomes an implicit part of the UUA’s social justice efforts. The topic is on the agenda for our next board meeting on March 7. All meetings of the Equual Access Board are open -- contact info@equualaccess.org in advance for the details.
In the meantime, I am excited that a conversation has begun and that Dan Furmansky has responded positively. For me, that’s the true meaning of living on the side of love.

Carolyn Cartland

Amazing Gifts - A Book Review

2012-02-16T05:30:00.002-05:00

Mark I. Pinsky (2011) Amazing Gifts: Stories of Faith, Disability, and Inclusion. Alban Institute.

Faith communities love stories, particularly stories of success. Teachers, preachers, advocates, administrators tell and retell stories of faithful struggle and faithful achievement to inspire us, to instruct us in what is possible, to invite us further on our own faithful journeys as individuals, families, and faith communities. Mark Pinsky has collected a volume of such faithful stories about disability and full inclusion from Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and Unitarian Universalist communities and families.

"Many religious interpretations, cultures, and personal beliefs hold onto the hope that everything would be perfect if people would just become perfect. No one wants to believe that it's really out of our control. Trials are for spiritual purification, and the Koran states that no one can attest that they are believers without that faith being tried. But God does not curse people with diseases because they or their loved ones are 'bad.' Islamic liturgy doesn't refer to disabilities in this way." - Laila, "The Right to Kindness and Charity" in Amazing Gifts

Amazing Gifts is structured with three sections of stories, defined by who is telling the story: Empowering People and Congregations, Ministry by People with Disabilities, and Family Members in Ministry. Each section may be read and studied on its own, but together they invite us all into imagining a radically inclusive world of transforming love.

"Let us take a hard look as Jews and see who is not in our midst. Who is not sitting next to us in a synagogue service or a Jewish community event because they have no way of getting there?...Who cannot read our prayer books because synagogues have not purchased large print or Braille prayer books? Who cannot hear our lessons, meetings, or sermons without special equipment or an ASL interpreter? Who is not participating in a family simcha because they cannot get up to the bimah..." - Rabbi Lynne Landsberg

Small groups could easily pursue one section at a time over the course of a year, sharing what they learn and imagine with their faith communities, and exploring building faithful ministries that include everyone. All the stories will leave readers wanting to know more, a yearning we can turn toward our own work of acceptance and inclusion.

"Question surrounding disability bring us close to the heart of theology and ethics...Sometimes God asks a congregation what it's made of." - Rev. Samuel Wells, Dean, Duke University Chapel

Sometimes faith communities struggle to imagine ministry by people with disabilities. The section of stories included in Amazing Gifts will invite those faith communities to hopeful new understanding and imagining new possibilities. Living with disability - as with other life circumstances - can grow us in faith and strengthen, or even make possible, certain ministries. Rev. Barbara Meyers, EqUUal Access Board Member, observes in Amazing Gifts,

"Having a mental illness has been an invaluable asset to me in working with others with mental illnesses. There is something about being with someone who has had similar experiences that is very powerful...This is especially powerful when a peer can see you as being able to live a successful life. Just by your presence, you convey that there is hope for them."

Pinsky concludes with theological summaries of why faithful communities are called to be communities of all people, open and accessible, inclusive and celebratory, enduring and changing. Pinsky also admits there are a lot of hard stories, stories that disappoint, that teach us about unfaithfulness, and many more stories that are not yet finished, that we are in the middle of living.

"Learning how to recognize the gifts and talents of children and adults with disabilities can transform congregations and their leaders." - Mark I. Pinsky, "Conclusion"

Unitarian Universalists will particularly want to attend to the stories related by the Rev. Robin Gray and the Rev. Barbara Meyers, included, respectively under Empowering People and Congregations and Ministry By People With Disabilities. Rev. Gray tells of different congregations she has served and the decisions they made to be accessible and inclusive. Rev. Meyers speaks about her Mental Health Ministry and how it has made a real difference in people's lives, including her own.

What faithful stories of inclusion, accessibility, and ministries through and with disabilities do you have? Who is not able to participate and give now and what can you and your community do to address that? What is going on in your faith community that bears witness and hope that every one matters and has gifts to give?

Review written by Rev. Naomi King, EqUUal Access' host on Twitter and teaching pastor with City of Refuge Ministries.

The Accessibilty Check List by Linda Wright

2012-02-10T18:19:00.002-05:00

Many congregations are overwhelmed by the amount of work, money and energy it will take to make their facility open to all. It’s rather like home improvement projects. Recently the shower fixture in my bathroom froze with accumulated mineral deposits from the water. I could no longer pull out the button and turn on the water for a shower. I called a plumber who came and cleaned out the debris and replaced a worn out part so that I could use the shower again. “Great,” I thought, “that’s fixed.”

The next week however, the oven wasn’t coming up to the temperature I had set. After I took out several items that were not fully cooked in time, I began to think about purchasing a new oven. In addition to the emergencies, like broken plumbing, I have a list of projects I would like to do around the house, new carpet, re-paint the bedroom and a new screen door. They cannot all be done at one time, I can’t afford that, therefore I have given my list priorities.

It seems that the work is never done. However, if I keep checking off items on my list each improvement will have a benefit.

Members of a congregation often refer to their church as their spiritual home or a sanctuary where they can depend upon the comfort of their church family.

Last year I participated in a lay led service at the UU church I attend. The participants in the service where all people who have a disability. We decided to build upon the successes of the congregation, highlighting the “Great, that’s fixed” positive feeling when a project is completed. The goal was to ask the congregation to create a list of things that would make our church home even more accessible. One of the participants, Fran Boyle said the following:

“After an automobile accident in 2004, I was no longer able to move about as before, but found my self relegated to a walker and motorized scooter. A proponent of universal accessibility for many years, I now saw it from a different perspective, I was the one requiring reasonable accommodation. Previously an activist for a variety of causes, my illness placed me in a position of making do and saying little. Simple activities became exhausting due to the lack of accessibility. Stairs, curbings, and the lack of parking were only a few of the obstacles baring me from what had constituted, in the past, routine activities.

One major loss in my life was the ability to regularly attend services and take part in the myriad of activities at my church. Since I was able to attend church only on an irregular basis, my concept of time was somewhat different from reality. Therefore, with each visit to church, my impression was one of magical change. Chairs rearranged, with aisles providing improved access to seating. An area was left open for those with wheelchairs, just perfect for my scooter. I was able to traverse the newly enlarged church campus using the many wide railing-lined ramps. Headsets were available for those requiring assistance hearing the service. One of the new meeting rooms became a remote sanctuary where congregants desiring accommodations other than those at the main service could worship together in a relaxed environment viewing the service electronically.

It is difficult to express the pride I feel when I look around our church campus where our members' commitment to provide a place of worship, accessible to all is there for everyone to behold.”

A few months after the worship service the congregation asked the local Independent Living Center to do a workshop to help the members appreciate the remaining barriers and prioritize the work that still needs to be done.

I am pleased to report that an automatic door opener into the church sanctuary has been installed and is the latest item to be checked off our accessibility list.

Justice and Equual Access by Carolyn Cartland, Vice President Equual Access

2012-01-31T15:31:00.000-05:00

The theme for our January blog has been “Justice and Disability Rights.” As you may have read, we have several terrific contributions which reveal some of the ways we, people with disabilities, have not received justice and had our rights disrespected or withheld. When I first joined my congregation, I was denied equal access to the building because I could not open the front door independently. One extremely cold (ten degrees) January night I was stuck outside for what seemed like hours (it wasn’t, but boy was it cold!). Once I was in the building, amidst tears, rage, and chattering teeth, I communicated my needs to the women with whom I was attending a “Cakes for the Queen of Heaven” course. The next day, when I called the minister to discuss it with him, he had already heard from one of the class participants. Soon after, the Building and Grounds committee authorized funds for an automatic door opener. The rest, as the saying goes, is history. By advocating for physical access to the building, I was also advocating for the right of inclusion.

Equual Access was founded to promote the rights of Unitarian Universalists with disabilities, both within our congregations and within our larger community. Part of the strategy for having our rights recognized and acted upon is to tell our story, to communicate our issues and the discrimination which we face. This blog helps do that; so does talking and working within our congregations and the UUA. That’s what worked for me at my congregation.

To further our goal of increasing the inclusiveness of congregations and to add our voice to the larger social justice efforts undertaken by the UUA, the Board of EA will be working hard to expand our communications network. We will especially focus on communicating closely with the Multicultural Growth and Witness department; we will receive copies of their monthly reports so that we can learn what projects they are undertaking so that we can make sure our perspective is included. We will share our priorities and concerns with them as well. We will also be having periodic conversations with the head of the department, Taquiena Boston, and members of her staff so that we can increase each entity’s awareness of issues and concerns. Such specific and intentional conversations should aid in our joint efforts to respect the inherent worth and dignity of every individual, UU or not.

How Are Accessibility and Justice Connected?

2012-01-31T07:24:00.002-05:00

Justice is anintegral part of doing right. Of course, justice is more than defending othersor setting things right. Justice includes the concept that things will be asfair as possible. One instruction on just behavior is as follows:

Learn to doright; seek justice.
Defend the oppressed.^[a]
Take up the cause of the fatherless;
plead the case of the widow.

It is importantthat as Unitarian Universalists, we examine the application of fair and justicepractices to all levels and types of work that we do. An attentive examinationof the treatment of disabled people, both in congregations and beyond, willshow that there are many ways that people with disabilities can be oppressed,can need their cause to be taken up, or could benefit from having their casepassionately pled.

Consider that ina traditional justice setting, on January 25, 2012, United Cerebral Palsy ofOregon and Southwest Washington filed a class action lawsuit against GovernorKitzhaber and top managers at the Department of Human Services. The lawsuitalleges that more than 2,300 Oregonians with mental or physical disabilitieshave been placed in sheltered employment situations in which they work for lessthan minimum wage and have almost no contact with non-disabled peers. Afavorable outcome in this lawsuit could begin a revolution of fair wages andinclusive employment.

What does thepursuit of justice mean for congregational life? At least at my church, FirstUnitarian Church of Portland, we are fond of saying that the doctrine of thechurch is Love. I believe people expect that to be true. People assume thatdisabled congregants and visitors to the congregation will be treated fairly.It isn’t always apparent to the congregation when access is missing. But whenone person comes to church, but they can’t hear the sermon well enough tounderstand it because there is no assistive listening equipment available, isthat fair? When another comes to church but they do not feel welcome and valuedbecause there are barriers to their entry or to their seating, is that fair?For most of these kinds of problems, individual attendees will not institutelawsuits meant to rectify problems and include the largest number of peoplepossible.

The solution mustlie with the church itself and with the congregation itself. The church mustuse the broadest means of inclusion possible, whether this means sign languageinterpretation or large print bulletins, or even remodeling to allow peoplewith mobility issues access to all the parts of the building. There is onesmall congregation on the Oregon coast undertaking just such a project. Inorder for people using wheelchairs to gain access to the upper level of thechurch building, the church will need a lift. Even though the congregation isnot a large one, they press on to finance the change by collecting cans andtaking other steps toward the goal.

Accessibilitymatters because the central tenets of Unitarian Universalism include the ideasthat divine Love is for everyone, and everyone is loved the way they are. Thismeans now, not when it is convenient to include a door opener or when there isa surplus of money to install a needed chair lift. Right now, anyone may come.This means that for now, until the configuration of the building matches itspurpose and possibility, we may have to be creative in broadcasting services toaccessible parts of church campuses or resourceful in finding sign languageinterpreters for services or events. The alternative is offering God’slimitless love to those who have able or mostly able bodies; and that’s noalternative at all.

Theresa Soto is a member of First Unitarian Church of Portland, a member of EqUUal Access, a thinker, and a maker. On Twitter: @titasoto and blogs at http://inexplicablebeauty.tumblr.com/http://inexplicablebeauty.tumblr.com/

Disability Is by Kate Ryan

2012-01-30T10:27:00.004-05:00

Disability is.

It just is.

It is neither a blessing nor a curse.

It is not fiction; it is not imaginary, it exists in ways we can see and we cannot see.

Disability is not a curse from God or punishment for your sins or your past life. You do not have a disability because you or some deity chose you to learn a lesson through it.

Disability is doing what you can, with what you have. It is accepting your limits and pushing your boundaries.

Disability is not a tragedy. It does not need prayers or candles or sorrowful glances.

Disability does not need pity. Disability needs action.

Disability is not because you did not work hard enough or try enough, or because you unconsciously sabotaged yourself from achieving your goal.

Disability is not because you did not try this or that treatment, cure, or ritual.

Disability is in spite of thousands of years of people trying to rid the world of it and of people with disabilities.

Disability is you, and it is not you. It is of you and about you. It is inherent within you and totally without you.

Disability is happiness and sorrow, and taking joy in things ordinary and extraordinary.

Disability is a warm, caring community with a slightly warped sense of humor.

Disability is finding bodily fluids to be very, very funny.

Disability is, and it isn’t, and nobody can define it but you.

Justice and Disability Rights by Alison Carville

2012-01-29T15:56:00.002-05:00

My name is Alison Carville and I live with Spina Bifida. I have lost count of how many times I have been asked “What is that?” or even before what it is, “Why are you stuck in that chair?” When I was born, doctors that performed the Cesarean section to give me life were not sure how long I would live and if so, what “quality of life” I would have.

Twenty-one years after the Americans with Disabilities Act, my experience of living with a physical disability is still seen as “less than others” or “separate, but equal” in the world. I went through kindergarten-12^th grade with the help of the IEP, or Individual Education Plan in efforts to give me a mainstream education. The school district always had an eye on me, just in case I could not fully understand the “normal” curriculum that every other student was learning.

I am now enrolled in college, and literally a few months away from graduating with my Associate’s in Arts degree from Edison State College in Florida. I have learned that as an adult, I have to learn how to deal with accessibility on my own. I have learned that by sticking up for myself, my physical disability is not a detriment, but an asset of my personhood that I would not change for the world. I believe that while I do these things on my own, and my college does have an Office for Students with Disabilities (or Office for Disabled Students, depending on who you ask), our society has much more to learn about inclusion and accessibility for people living with disabilities.

Our history of disability awareness begins with institutionalization of such individuals. Not only were individuals with psychiatric & psychological disabilities or illnesses “shut away” and institutionalized, but those with physical disabilities were not even given a chance. We were called crippled, broken, and worthless.

In 1817, the first school for individuals with hearing impairments in the western hemisphere was opened in Hartford Connecticut.

It wasn’t until Justin Dart, who lived with polio, wanted to attend the University of Houston for Education that people living with physical disabilities were seen on a larger scale of having legal rights and inclusion. In 1954, the educational institution refused to grant him a teaching certificate because of his disability. Today the college has the Justin Dart, Jr. Center for Students with Disabilities which is accessible to students of all abilities.

In 1991, President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law. This is the first piece of comprehensive & inclusive legislation in the 21^st century focused on accessibility. Justin Dart, along with actor, director, and activist Clint Eastwood, founded Justice for All in efforts to defend against congressional attempts to restrict efforts of the ADA.

In the last several years, under the Obama Administration, there are more pieces of legislation to advance the rights of people living with disabilities. President Obama signed HR 146, the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Act which aims to develop better equipment and technologies so that individuals may live fully and independent from unnecessary boundaries and federal offices are required to include all statistics of their employees with disabilities. The Obama Administration is the first to have an Accessibility Committee in the Legislative Branch and also to have a United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which is the first new human rights treaty of the 21^st century.

We still have a long way to go in order to achieve full civil rights for all persons living with disabilities, however we are on the right path to a better and more inclusive future. 650 million individuals, or 10% of the population now lives with a disability, and the time is now to work for justice and respecting the inherent worth and dignity of every person however they walk, roll, or stride on the side of love in their lives.

Alison Carville is a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Fort Myers, Florida, a student, and Facebook host for EqUUal Access.

2012-01-27T08:18:00.002-05:00

EqUUal Access is attending to particular themes each month on this blog. We then share these posts through Facebook and Twitter. We hope these posts are helpful to you and your faithing and to your faith communities.

Here's what is coming up for the rest of 2012. We welcome your stories, programs, and expertise to share in these posts! You can email them to: revnaomi@bellsouth.net

February – Here’s What’s Working: Success Stories

March – What’s In A Word? Do the words we use matter?
April - Unitarian UniversalistHistory with Accessibility & Inclusion
May – Hearing Loss - Looping

June – Faith Development, Disability & Inclusion
July –– In Partnership: Collaboration Between Congregations & Community
August - Mobility
September – Status of Congregational Certification, Accessibility, &Inclusion
October – Mental Health

November - Staying in Right Relationship – Beyond Etiquette
December – Accessible Holidays

Justice for Amelia by Kate Ryan

2012-01-15T18:03:00.004-05:00

When I found out that during the month of January, Equual Access would be focusing on justice, I thought that I didn’t have anything to say. I’m in the wonderful beginning part of an obsession where it feels like I’m diving into a massive pile of happiness to research and think about a certain topic, and justice is not really on my mind.

Then I woke up this morning and found this all over the blogosphere. I am sharing this story about a child named Amelia who was denied a kidney transplant because they doubted her “quality of life.” You see the little girl has mental retardation. That was the reason the doctor gave the child’s parents for deciding she was unworthy of a transplant. I encourage you to read the entire story and to share you reactions.

Click on Brick Walls to read it.

Seriously... it’s 2012. It’s the future that people wrote about in science fiction books. And yet we still have people who think that having a disability prevents someone from living a worthwhile life. We still have doctors who think this.

And I think of my favorite principle, ‘the inherent worth and dignity of every person’ and I wonder why all people cannot see the inherent worth and dignity that pulsates within each soul.

Last night I sat with one of my clients, a 12 year old with what some would call severe mental retardation. She was laughing and I started laughing, too, because the utter joy on her face told me that even if she didn’t understand much in the world, she understood this; that life is a good thing, and to keep on living is a good thing, too.

Now today I wonder: will there be justice for Amelia?

Will the doctors see the inherent worth and dignity in her?

Segregated Schools by Linda Wright

2012-01-11T14:20:00.001-05:00

When Simmons College in Boston asked for a detailed medical history to be submitted with my application to study for a masters degree in Library Science, I was suspicious. I had worked as a librarian for two years, and my letters of recommendation from my supervisor and the director of the library stated my work had been impeccable. I took the form to my hematologist.

“This is none of their business,” he said flatly and scribbled his signature under an illegible note at the bottom of the form.

My mistrust came from experience with every education application I had made from Kindergarten to college and now graduate school.

As a child, I was luckier than several of my friends. It was the mid-1950’s and there was no legal requirement to educate any child with a disability. Carol, who had cerebral palsy, was not allowed to go to public school. Neither was Barbara, who had been born with Down’s syndrome. Rose had to go to a special boarding school for children who were blind. I had been born with a bleeding disorder.

The Principal of the local elementary school did not want to enroll me, explaining to my mother that it was not a safe place for me. Anticipating this response, my mother presented a doctor’s letter certifying that, despite my bleeding disorder, there was no medical reason to exclude me.

The letter from my doctor did not reassure the Principal, and she admitted me on the condition that, during recess each day, I sit on the bench just outside her office door with the naughty children. It was unreasonable and unnecessary. My sentence on the bench lasted seven years. It was enforced when the other children went outside to play and even when they were indoors during recess.

I began filling out application forms to colleges in my junior year. Each rejection letter explained that their campus was not accessible. In the library I found a directory, which listed Boston University as having accessible classrooms and dormitory facilities. I applied and received a letter of acceptance in an envelope bulging with forms and instructions.

Enclosed in the envelope was a note asking me to schedule a meeting with the housing office. By then, I had been fitted with a leg brace. The metal supports squeaked against my leather shoes when I sat down in front of the placement officer.

The woman’s eyes did not meet mine. She stared at the orthopedic shoes I was wearing and the aluminum brace. Not long into our conversation, she released a heavy sigh and said, "Well, you can come to this school, but I doubt anyone will want to be your roommate."

My self-esteem was as bruised as my skin, but I was not broken. So I shrugged and thought to myself, “That’s your problem, isn’t it?”

Boston University had accepted me only because they did not know I had a disability.

Thanks to my doctors terse note on the medical form, I was also accepted to Simmons College. While I was a student, I volunteered to be the student representative on the team that reviewed the admissions policies. The College was preparing for re-accreditation by the American Library Association.

“Why are there no people of color enrolled in the School of Library Science?” I asked.

“We don’t discriminate, based on race,” she said, “It’s just that we don’t accept anyone who went to a state college, and well, you know, that rules out a lot of people. Besides, black people don’t want to be librarians, they are looking for better paying jobs.”

“There are several students from China in my classes, but no one from a Spanish speaking country,” I said.

“Well,” she responded, sounding as if her patience was strained, “Chinese people are more literate and their culture values education.”

I flinched and checked off the box on my survey form that said ‘yes’ beside the Admission Policy Discriminates on the basis of race.

“Why do you require a medical history form?”

The admissions officer glanced at me and responded, “Well, we don’t want people to associate librarians with cripples, do we?”

Coping with Crossflow in Congregational Politics by Roger Christan Schriner

2012-01-06T12:17:00.009-05:00

A few months ago, I posted about using the analogy of traffic “crossflow,” to change our thinking about the process of gaining full inclusion in our congregations. In driving from point A to point B, we need to cope with crossflow -- traffic flowing from the opposite direction and from either side. If we acknowledge that we’ll need to deal with these impediments, we are less likely to become frustrated.

Encouraging a UU congregation to become more accessible is a journey from point A, the status quo, to point B, fully equal access. The question is not, “Will there be crossflow,” but “How shall I cope with inevitable glitches and obstacles? Here are some suggestions about dealing with institutional issues and power dynamics in promoting equal access:

1. Be realistic about how long it will take to get from A to B. Is this a congregation that usually moves quickly or slowly? Is leadership pro-active or passive? Clearly focused or distracted and confused? Is change typically welcomed or resisted?

2. Identify individual(s) or group(s) resisting your initiative. Is it possible that most people agree with you, but are passively acquiescing to the objections of a vocal minority? If so, how could you encourage those silent voices to speak up? Who could help you mobilize those who have been passive?

3. Are people in favor of your general idea but unclear about how to proceed? Give them two or three specific alternatives to consider.

Notice that I deliberately used the hated word, “politics” in titling this article. Politics has gotten a bad rap because our government has become so dysfunctional, but I still remember my political science teacher’s comment that “politics is the art of the possible.” It is the art of making decisions in groups, blending diverse interests and opinions to achieve common goals. In this sense, congregations are political organizations, and congregational leaders must be good politicians.

Although congregational decision-making can be a rather cumbersome process, I believe that our little corner of the universe tends to “bend toward justice.” But justice seldom materializes without effort. It takes time, energy, and creativity, coping with crossflow.

Charting One’s Own Spiritual Path

2011-12-29T18:50:00.003-05:00

While much of the attention has waned recently, for many years in the field of disabilities, the hot topic of conversation was the concept of self-determination. Simply put, self-determination is a philosophy and a practice which holds that people with disabilities have the right to make choices and the freedom to seek the same goals that all others have related to personal relationships, membership in the community, and establishing an economic and spiritual future. In other words, people with disabilities have the right to make the kinds of choices and decisions that determine for them the highest quality of life. In many community homes throughout our country, where people with cognitive disabilities share space, resources, and staff, promoting a “spiritual future” is an afterthought. Direct care workers rarely ask the question or explore the individual’s religious background, and if a supported individual does attend religious services, it is usually at the church, synagogue or mosque that the staff person belongs to.

Creating the opportunity for people with cognitive disabilities to explore their own spirituality has great benefit in a number of ways. It may help to reconnect the individual with an important part of their past when they did attend religious services with parents or other family members. It provides a haven for people who are often ostracized from others to gain full acceptance for who they are and what they offer to the world. And it can open up numerous avenues for relationship-building and the sense of true belonging in a larger, loving community.

What a great opportunity for Unitarian Universalists to demonstrate their commitment to diversity and inclusion!! Our congregations should be reaching out to local human service agencies that provide various services to people with cognitive disabilities. Forming partnerships with them will not only bring the promise of spirituality to those who desire it, but it increases the visibility of the congregation in the community which, in turn, serves to bring more people to its doors.

Thus, opening our doors to those with cognitive disabilities is not only the right thing to do. It is also an investment in the congregation’s future. If you find this idea intriguing for your congregation, contact me at mbernstein@uua.org.

With respect,

Mark Bernstein

Regional Growth Development Director, CERG

UUA Liaison to Issues in Accessibility/Disability

Resolutions for a New Year

2011-12-28T07:13:00.004-05:00

As we wrap up one year and move on into the next, many of us individually and in community are considering our aspirations and promises. How well did we fulfill them this year? What shall we commit to in this next?

Some of the members of EqUUal Access' Board and Liaisons share our resolutions for the coming year, including hopes for communities considering their New Year's commitments. What are your disability rights and accessibility related New Year's Resolutions? Share with us in the blog comments and on Twitter and Facebook!

Arthur Tackman is Equual Access' President.
I resolve to increasing the involvement of Equual Access with inclusion and social justice issues.
I resolve to work to improve our administrative and organizational issues.

Carolyn Cartland is Vice President of Equual Access.
For 2012, I resolve to help the Equual Access Board identify and help develop, as needed, more leaders within our organization so that our goals for inclusion and access can be better served.

For 2012, my wish for congregations is that they will consistently and intentionally include disability rights in all areas of their ministry, from worship to social justice to leadership development, thereby demonstrating their understanding that inclusion and access are issues of personal spiritual growth, human rights, and shared community.

Carol Agate is a member of First Parish in Cambridge and Treasurer of Equual Access.
If people with hearing aids walk into a room that has an induction loop attached to their FM system, all they have to do is flip a switch on the aids and all the words spoken into a mike come right into their ear. Gone are the sounds of crying babies and rustling papers that are so hard for people with hearing loss to filter out. These loops are common in Europe, but are only starting to catch hold in the United States. I hope our churches will become pioneers and models of accessibility by installing them in their sanctuaries.

The Rev. Barbara F. Meyers is Chair of Equual Access' Policy Committee and a Community Ministry with Mission Peak Unitarian Universalist Congregation.
My personal resolution: Get the Equual Access congregational certification initiative [with the Unitarian Universalist Association] off to a good start.
A resolution for congregations: Take a look at accessibility for many disabilities using the Equual Access Accessibility Guidelines Document available at http://www.equualaccess.org/resourcelinks.html

Suzanne Fast is Equual Access' General Assembly Coordinator and a candidate for the Unitarian Universalist ministry.
I resolve to frame discussions of access and inclusion in more explicitly theological terms.
I resolve to work through Equual Access to help develop more program resources on inclusion and accessibility.

My wish for congregations is that we take our passion for anti-oppression and multi-culturalism into the world and be advocates in the struggles for inclusion and for economic justice for people with disabilities.

Mark Bernstein is a Regional Growth Development Consultant for the Central East Region of the Unitarian Universalist Association and liaison between the UUA and Equual Access.

In 2012, I resolve to support the efforts of congregations in becoming more inclusive of people with disabilities in congregational life, emphasizing that growth in spirit, diversity and community is the only path to growth in numbers.

Alison Carville is Equual Access' host on Facebook and part of the communications team. She is a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Fort Myers.

My resolution is to initiate conversation with my congregation about physical environments and to plan to put a general accessibility layout event plan into our church's official documents.

The Rev. Naomi King is Equual Access' host on Twitter and part of the communications team. She is teaching minister with City of Refuge Ministries and Affiliate Minister for Emerging Faith Communities in the Florida District of the Unitarian Universalist Association.

In 2012, I resolve to invite and equip more folks in the disability rights and faith communities to social media and to sharing our voices, dreams, and labors to create a more generous and just world.

In 2012, I hope faith communities will resolve to take faithful risks and grow real and vibrant relationships with historically marginalized peoples, so that we're all faithing together in love and transforming this world for a merciful justice.

What's your resolution for the New Year? What about in your faith community?

Cumulative Effect by Barbara Ceconi

2011-11-26T07:00:00.014-05:00

Dressed for work, I am rapidly walking down the street with my guide dog, on my way to facilitate a training session. I worry, as always, that the mass transit will be late. While walking, I am deep in thought on the subject matter of the day’s session.

Suddenly a man stops me. “Do you know where you are?” he asks.

I jerk myself from my thoughts, momentarily confused by the sudden interruption. Of course I know where I am and where I am going. What sort of question is that? Stunned, I look at my dog and respond, “Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore?” I walk away shaking my head, annoyed by the interruption.

I run into a convenience store to buy some mints. The clerk rings up a few orders and I hear no one else in line. “Could you get me some wintergreen Tic Tacks please?” I query. “On the left,” he responds, apparently not looking up. The boxes are recognizable by shape, but not the flavors. I ask him again, explaining that I am blind. With a surprised, “Oh,” he leans over the counter and grabs a pack for me.

I am nearly at the subway station. Without a word, someone grabs my arm and drags me across the street. I struggle to pull my arm away from this stranger. “What are you doing?” I sputter. “I was just trying to help. Sorry.” The person walks away. Since the experience was disorienting on several levels, I now have no idea what corner I have been deposited on. I ask passersby where I am. “On the corner of Harvard and Beacon,” answers someone. It’s a four-way intersection, so that doesn’t situate me. I wait for someone else to pass. “Excuse me, what store am I in front of?” No response. Wait for the next person. “Can you tell me where the bank is?" hoping for information so that I can puzzle out my position. I feel frustrated and angry that others think they know what I need better than me.

After I receive the direction, I walk, reoriented, towards the subway stop. Once aboard, a pleasant woman offers me her seat. I respond with a curt, “No.”

My response was sharp and out of line. After the string of incidents, I am in no mood to be gracious. This well-intentioned woman, must have been shocked by the hostile intonation of my voice, and justifiably so. Others near her could have been as well. Interactions like these can cause people to jump to the conclusion that people who are disabled are angry. Normally, I would have thanked the woman and smiled. I snapped at her because of the accumulated frustration. I experienced during my brief walk. And those emotions landed on her. This is known as cumulative effect.

Cumulative effect occurs frequently with people who are discounted over and over again. Unfortunately, the individual who experiences such recurring incidents draws a conclusion: it is due to my difference, in my case, my blindness.

Growing From Within

2011-11-25T08:30:00.001-05:00

Growth comes in so many different forms, and sometimes when we least expect it. As we build a sense of community in our congregations, we develop deeper and more meaningful relationships with our fellow members. We grow internally through the inspiration, courage, optimism and faith of those around us. We learn to be open to what others have to teach us and, in so doing, we become wiser, more compassionate and more committed to our wonderful Unitarian Universalist faith.

Let me tell you about my friend Leah. I met her at General Assembly in Charlotte this past June. Leah is a bright, enthusiastic and engaging young woman who recently turned 16. She lives in Wisconsin and is a life long member of First Unitarian Society of Madison. Leah also has cerebral palsy and a cortical visual impairment which requires that she use her peripheral vision to see people and objects. During the school year, Leah attends the Wisconsin School
for the Blind in Janesville, Wisconsin.

Perhaps her greatest passion, in addition to her family of course, is participating as a member of the Scouts. This past month, Leah attended the World Scout Jamboree in Sweden. She told me that there were 40,000 scouts in attendance from 146 countries (and only two scouts who used wheelchairs, one of which was Leah!). She told me that she engaged in every activity during the Jamboree including the obstacle course, with, as she admits, “a little bit of enthusiastic help.” She also got to do something that few others had the chance to do. She met and talked with the King of Sweden who was attending the Jamboree as well. Leah told me that she traded shirts with girls from Portugal and Bangladesh; exchanged presents with troops from Malawi, Mauritius, Ghana and Kenya, and met a five year old boy from Sweden who also used a wheelchair, advising him that Scouts is “for everyone. Not just people who can walk.”

Back at home, Leah is working on a project to earn her Girl Scout Gold Award. She is creating a page on her congregation’s web site expressly for visitors and members with special needs. It offers instructions on how to navigate the building, advises which areas are accessible and not accessible, and addresses the needs of children with special needs and people with physical limitations, chemical sensitivities, and mental health issues. It is quite a piece of work and serves as testament not only to Leah’s commitment to people with differing abilities, but that of the Madison congregation as well. The page is in its final draft form now and should be going live in the next few weeks.

When I asked Leah what she likes most about being a Unitarian Universalist, she said, “taking the Coming of Age class to learn more about myself and our church.” She enjoys the church school programming and the efforts of her congregation to make her a “regular part of the activities.” For the presentation of her Coming of Age faith statement, Leah recorded it sentence by sentence and sat proudly as her teachers played the recording during the service. Leah’s advice to other Unitarian Universalists with special needs? “The person is first and the disability is second.”

As Unitarian Universalists, we grow… one relationship at a time. We receive from one another and we give back. We share together our hopes and dreams, our disappointments and our challenges. And by this, we live. Thanks Leah, and Lori, the Faithful Scribe, for helping me to grow. As far as I’m concerned, Leah, you’ve already earned that Gold Award.

Mark Bernstein

CERG Growth Development Consultant and UUA Liaison to Issues in Accessibility and Disability

Including Complex Children By Kate Ryan

2011-11-21T09:30:00.004-05:00

I’m reading Sally Patton’s excellent book, Welcoming Children with Special Needs: a guidebook for faith communities, and as good as the book is, I can’t help but think that my kids aren’t in there. ‘My’ kids being the kids I work with, the fragile, very-medically-involved, severely-delayed kids. So I thought I would write a little primer on how to welcome them.

Life with a child with special needs, as anyone knows, can be very difficult. But some disabilities are more difficult than others. Rare syndromes, diseases and chromosomal abnormalities often lead to children who are severely disabled and medically fragile. We’ll call them ‘complex’ kids. Below, I offer some suggestions on how to welcome complex kids to your church and make their families feel at home.

First of all, don’t be afraid. These kids can look somewhat frightening at first. They may be very small for their age and very skinny, or have faces and bodies that do not look like the faces and bodies you are used to. They may make strange noises or cries. They may be hooked up to all sorts of fancy machines. But unless their parents/caregivers are telling you to call 911, the kid is probably fine, and you should welcome them just as you would any other family, with a generous heart and an open mind.

Staring is rude, we all know that, but so is making comments like ‘he’s small for his age, isn’t he?’ The family has heard all of it before. Inquire gently about the child’s condition on a need-to-know basis, and trust that the family will tell you more if they need to. Don’t expect the parents to be a talking encyclopedia – when they say their child has Cornelia de Lange syndrome, just Google it later and spend your time connecting with the family, not questioning.

Offer assistance, trying to anticipate what might be helpful and remember to ask before making assumptions about what the child or the parent needs. It can be awkward to always have to ask, and many parents get used to doing everything themselves and not asking for help. Taking care of complex children is a 24-hour job, and going to church should provide a break for the parents, and a chance to replenish their soul.

Start with the physical needs. If your church isn’t accessible, figure out how to carry a wheelchair up the steps. Provide a place in the pews for a wheelchair or for a child to sit on the floor, if that is what s/he prefers. And this may seem small, but it is actually a big one – provide a place to change the diaper of a person older than two. Many times families have to resort to the back of their car, which can be very hard to maneuver in.

Children with complex needs may eat a chopped or pureed diet. They often need to be fed, or may rely on a feeding tube. It is not hard to feed anybody, so at coffee hour it would be nice to do so if the parent is okay with it.

One thing that I have noticed about ‘regular’ kids is that they can go anywhere without much equipment. Complex children do not have this advantage. They often tote around huge bags filled with emergency supplies. Ask if it would be helpful if the church could set aside a spare cupboard or closet, where the child could put a box with some supplies that the parent provides so that they do not have to bring everything to church and back every Sunday.

Ask the parents what they want their child to get out of church. Some children might be best sitting in the sanctuary with their parents for the service, if they truly would not be able to participate in the children’s activities. Others could participate with a helper.

Accommodations for a complex child in RE would be the same as for any other child with special needs, and I refer to Pattons’ book, specifically the chapter on intellectual disabilities and physical disabilities.

Some complex children understand everything you say. Others are so brain-damaged that they understand little. All, however, will understand tone of voice (unless they cannot hear) and attitudes towards them, as will the family. Families with complex children are used to being stared at and treated rudely, so it is important to treat them with dignity and respect, and acknowledge that they are doing the best for their child and that they know what is best. Ask them the best way to communicate with their child, whether through pictures, signs or talking. All children communicate in some way, even if it is just through smiles and laughter.

Families of children with lissencephaly, mitochrondial disease, osteogenesis imperfecta, deaf-blindness and a host of other conditions live in a world that is very hard for the ordinary person to imagine. It is a world filled with small sorrows and small, hard-won victories. Where a good day means one with just five seizures, not ten, and where a smile is worth more than a pot of gold. By welcoming these families and their children, UU’s can lessen their sorrows and increase their joys.

Complex Children E-Magazine offers more information.

Finding New Allies at Church by Kate Ryan

2011-11-18T11:10:00.002-05:00

On Sunday, I had lunch with Andy and I say to myself, "I’m going to add him to my Facebook friends list." When I look at his profile, I see he has a blog. I check that out, and behold, Andy is quite open about his identity as trans.

I felt a little smug because somehow I knew already that Andy was transgender. I’d figured that out just the day before.

This is about how I figured it out, how it doesn’t matter, and why autism advocates and the LGBTQIA communities are natural allies.

I’m autistic. I have Asperger’s syndrome, along with a non-verbal learning disability and a host of mental health diagnoses. And while many people on the spectrum are extremely visual, I am not. I think in words, not pictures. However, like most people on the spectrum, I’m somewhat naïve and innocent, and tend to take things very much at face value. I trust people. I don’t lie, and I don’t expect others to lie. I process things at a slower pace than the rest of the world, and often observe things that I do not fully integrate into my understanding until much later, if at all.

On Sunday, a bunch of us young adults sat around in the park. I love the young adult group because it has given me the first true friends I’ve had since high school. People know about my disability and accommodate me without making me feel stupid or that I’m a burden. I looked around the group and felt happy. I also thought to myself, “Two years ago our group was 80% male and now this whole group is female.”

Then my brain said… what? There are two guys here. Why did I just think that the whole group was female?

I pondered this for the rest of the day, and then something Andy had said clicked and I understood. Andy must be transgender. And that other couple, who I always thought were odd since they identified as queer when they were clearly straight – was it possible that the male in that duo was trans also?

Well, I don’t mind admitting that I felt pretty proud of myself. Heck, I needed lessons on identifying people of different races – I tended to lump them together as ‘white’ and ‘black’ and ‘Asian’ with nothing in between, and didn’t notice enough visually to be able to identify people consistently. So the fact that I had integrated enough facts to identify someone as trans struck me as not bad at all.

I like Andy a lot. And as I thought about it, I realize that overall, the GLBTQIA community is really very welcoming to people on the spectrum and people with disabilities in general. Could this be because we have a lot in common? We really do. Here’s my list:

- Both groups have a history of being persecuted, bullied, called names, etc.

- Both groups are often assumed to be heterogenous when in fact they are very diverse

- Both groups have been subject to awful therapies, treatments and cures

- Both groups have a lot of trouble in schools

- Both groups can look and act odd to outsiders

- Members of both groups can often ‘pass’ as something they are not, such as straight or neuro-typical, but sometimes not as well as they would like.

- Members of both groups should not have this pressure to ‘pass’ at all

I personally think that the GLBTQIA movement has some things going for it that the autistic self-advocacy movement doesn’t. For one thing, they get a parade every year that is really awesome. (We get fundraising charity walks, which are just not the same thing.) They also have a really cool flag. Their family members can join PFLAG, while our family members join support groups. (‘cause don’t you know having an autistic relative is so very, very hard.) And their celebrities are awesome – Neil Patrick Harris? Ellen? We’ve only got Temple Grandin, who let’s face it, is not exactly the epitome of cool.

The autistic community can learn a lot from the GLBTQIA community – how to organize, how to attract people, how to deal with being different without getting upset. They can also hold rallies and marches for their cause, whereas most people on the spectrum can’t do that – we do not like crowds, we do not like noise, and we really would prefer not to be touched. But both groups are working for better legislation, better treatment for their people, equal rights for all. I sincerely hope that one day, we will all get there.

I really don’t care that Andy is trans. And the impression that I get is that he really doesn’t care if I’m autistic. Now if only the rest of the world could not care as much as we do.

GA 2012 Update

2011-11-01T16:02:00.000-04:00

The deadline for submitting program proposals has been extended until November 30. Please leave a comment below if you are interested in working on developing or presenting Equual Access sponsored programs.

Some people fall in love with General Assembly; I'm one of them. The hurrying crowds, the chance conversations, feeling connected to a tradition so much larger than myself. It has it's down side (over-scheduling, elevator issues, and getting bumped on the head by a million backpacks just to name a few), but I look forward to those few days of being with thousands of Unitarian Universalists. For me, it is both exhausting and revitalizing at the same time.

As GA coordinator for Equual Access, I continue to advocate for improving General Assembly by building awareness of inclusion and accessibility in the planning process. General Assembly is only a small part of the work of creating change. But in those few days, many people can be reached and many connections established. To do this effectively, it takes more than just me and our Board and our Standing Committees -- please consider becoming involved in our GA planning and preparations.

Planning for General Assembly 2012

2011-10-10T09:33:00.000-04:00

Autumn is upon us, and my thoughts naturally turn to General Assembly. This is the time to generate programming ideas for GA 2012 in Phoenix.

Because of the economic boycott in Arizona, this will be a very special GA. There will be a greater emphasis than ever on public witness, and a narrower focus of activities. This is reflected in the parameters for programming, as set out in the request for proposals. You can find the full description on the GA blog.

In essence, the call is for programs – workshops or worship services -- that focus on migration and borders, racial or economic justice, and/or prepare people for public witness or service.

Here are a few ideas already in the hopper:

A workshop on how to plan an accessible public witness event;

A workshop on economic justice as it impacts people with disabilities;

A worship service celebrating the call for justice. We would not be talking about access, but modeling best practices (to the extent the space allows).

Please leave a comment below if you are interested in working on one or more of these programs or if you have other ideas for programs.

It is not necessary, though it is helpful, to go to GA in order to help develop the programs.

The Equual Access Board will need to decide on what program proposals to sponsor and submit them by November 1st, so chime in with your ideas and let’s make GA 2012 better than ever.

Coping with Crossflow

2011-09-26T12:51:00.000-04:00

Many years ago a wise old fellow told me why he was no longer frazzled by Los Angeles traffic. "I stopped obsessing about how I needed to get from Point A to Point B. Instead, I just focused on coping with the crossflow."

By crossflow, he meant anything that slowed him down as he moved toward his destination. Dealing with crossflow no longer felt like an irritating distraction from the task of "getting there." Coping with crossflow WAS his task.

After this shift in attitude, he was less likely to be livid while following a pokey driver or getting stuck behind someone who had double-parked. Why did he feel better? Because defining his task as navigating crossflow helped him expect and accept these obstacles. It was similar to the mind-shift that occurs when a sales clerk realizes, "This customer who wants my attention right now is not a distraction from doing my job. The customer IS my job."

So what does this have to do with Equual Access? Realistically, every time one of us attempts to improve access, we will confront crossflow. In some cases it’s just a simple matter of jumping through procedural hoops to achieve a favorable outcome. But at times the barriers to change can be daunting, discouraging, and depressing.

I am a temporarily-abled equal access ally involved with E.A.’s Right Relations Committee. My professional background includes work in ministry, psychotherapy, and organizational dynamics. Like every minister (and every lay leader), I have lots of experience with crossflow. I know that in local congregations improvements come slowly, sometimes frustratingly so. We need to remember that it’s normal to encounter snags, complications, and sometimes overt resistance.

Obviously the attitudinal shift I’m talking about does not eliminate all stress for change agents, or for drivers in L.A. At times my friend who talked about crossflow would still become irritated by gridlock on Sunset Boulevard. But he was far less frustrated when he defined crossflow-navigation as his primary task.

I’m planning to write an occasional entry on the E.A. blogsite about coping with crossflow. What glitches, setbacks and pushbacks do UU’s encounter when they work for equal access to congregational activities?

As one example, you may have read the blog entry called "Make your congregations loopy!" What problems might people confront in trying to encourage a local UU group to "loop" its sound system so those with hearing devices can tune in by just flipping a switch?

If you have any ideas about crossflow issues, or if you’d like to share a relevant case study, just post a comment. In October I’ll write more on this topic. Thanks for reading this entry, and good luck with every bit of crossflow that comes your way today.

Roger Christan Schriner

Universalism & Disability

2011-09-19T07:57:00.000-04:00

One Meditation on Why Accessibility, Disability Rights,

and Celebration Matter for Unitarian Universalists

I have a heart for Edwin Markham’sepigram Outwitted (1915):

He drew a circle that shut me out –

Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.

But Love and I had the wit to win:

We drew a circle that took him in!

Markham captures the heartof Unitarian Universalism as I understand this faith: whenever we come across abarrier to a bigger Love, a Love that abides, holds, and engages every one,then our labor is to take down that barrier and make the circle bigger. We arealways changing and being changed in this radical and transforming Love thatalready knows us, holds us, and cherishes us. No one is beyond Love’s reach oracceptance.

Yet so very few of us havethat continuous experience, inside religious communities and outside of it.That belief in transforming Love is both dream and challenge shaping our dailylives.

I work hard to hold onto that belief at times, like when I've read another missive from faith authorities that tells me faithful ministry means never falling ill. The text translates: if you're living rightly, then you won't be ill; if you're ill, that's evidence of failing to live rightly. As someone with a degenerative genetic disease and several chronic illnesses, it doesn't matter how well I take care of myself or how rightly I live, I will still have long periods of flaring illness and the progressive degeneration of a critical piece of my gene. I reject the misery offered me in the name of faith, a diminishment that diminishes the Holy, and turn back to the faith that sustains me, challenges me, and changes me.

Universalism teaches thateach and every one of us is gifted. One of the tasks of religious community isto name, accept, and celebrate those gifts. When we meet a person, our faithasks us not to record how this person is more or less than, but to stop andrejoice in this blessing we have the honor of meeting. Transforming Love is adream and a challenge.

Accessibility in congregationsand congregational life, celebrating the gifts and honoring the experiences ofpeople living with disabilities and chronic illnesses, and working fordisability rights are ways of faithing – faith held not like property, but living,moment by moment.

Love wins when the barriers to full participation in lifecome down. Love wins when a child once set aside as unteachable leads thecongregation in giving thanks. Love wins when people who live every day withthe experience of exclusion are part of claiming their place in the Heart ofLife, and people who experience inclusion every day are dancing in solidarityalongside.

Love wins. That’s what thisfaith is about, and love winning is exactly why accessibility, disabilityrights, and changing in and through Love are fruits of living faithfully.

(Rev. Naomi King)

Make your congregations loopy!

2011-09-12T09:37:00.000-04:00

There is a big push this year in the hearing loss community to get more places looped, and churches are the places they are emphasizing.

So what's looping? First, here's how it works without looping. You go into an auditorium - or sanctuary - and sit through a lecture - or worship service - struggling to understand the words that often come through the loudspeakers as a garble. Or it might be like swiss cheese; you understand most of it but there are a lot of holes. Or maybe your church has assistive listening devices. The chances are that you can't find anyone who knows where they are. Or you get one and find the battery is dead. And if everything does work fine you first have to remove your hearing aids to put on headphones or an ear bud - hoping you don't lose the hearing aids and the ear pieces are clean.

Here's how it works if your church is looped. You enter, take you seat, flip the telecoil switch on your hearing aid, and enjoy all the sounds coming right into your ear. There's none of the distortion you get with a loudspeaker. There are no devices to maintain.

Looping can be expensive, depending on the size of your sanctuary. But once it's done it's practically maintenance-free. Almost everywhere you go in Western Europe you find auditoriums that are looped. In Michigan, too. Wisconsin's on its way. Contact me (carolagate at mac.com) if you want more information on installing a loop around the perimeter of your sanctuary.

Shared knowledge makes the Accessibility Guidelines document strong

2011-09-08T20:27:00.000-04:00

On September 7, 2011, the Board of Equual Access approved a document entitled “Accessibility Guidelines for Unitarian Universalist Congregations: Creating Welcoming Congregations for People of all Abilities.” After the vote, the document was uploaded to the Equual Access website. This was a project of the Equual Access Policy Committee, of which I am the chair.

The writing of this document has been in process for many months. One of the things that make this an especially strong statement of accessibility is that a number of people contributed significantly to its production. The first pass at a document used a very different spreadsheet format, which was hard for blind people to read and for others to understand. This simply wouldn’t do - an accessibility document that was not accessible was unacceptable! Using input and suggestions from reviewers, the document was recast into its present form and the members of the Policy Committee each took on responsibility for writing parts of the document using their own knowledge and research.

Policy Committee member Rachel Klein wrote an excellent section on history and legislation. Policy Committee member Cynthia Parkhill wrote the section on Advocacy, and also pointed out that the needs of people using a printed copy of the document were different from those using an on-line copy. This resulted in having two different versions, one for print and one for online use. Policy Committee member Michael Sallwasser was instrumental in creating the structure for the document writing the section on creating a Welcoming Environment.

The document benefited from the reviews and comments we arranged for. When we had made our first pass at the document, we made the document available to people on the access-l list-serve and members of Equual Access for review and comment. I was very pleased when a number of people made significant efforts to review the document. This resulted in covering things that needed to be added to or improved upon the first draft; examples are sections on service animals, on developmental disabilities, on deaf culture and on hidden disabilities. We had the blessing of having an excellent copy editor for whom this was a labor of love.

When we had questions about how to cover a particular issue, I looked through the membership of Equual Access and contacted someone who had an interest in that issue. An example: I requested that several blind Equual Access members take a look at one of our drafts to see if they saw a problem with its accessibility from their point of view.

We expect that as the document is used, we will get questions about clarifying something, adding something, or some other aspect of its usefulness. We welcome these comments, as we have learned that making its production a shared process makes the document stronger and more useful. We want to thank everyone who participated in its production now and in the future.

Rev. Barbara F. Meyers

Community Minister

Mission Peak Unitarian Universalist Congregation

38132 Kimbro Street, Fremont, CA 94536

510-796-5722

com_minister@mpuuc.org