Getting There

As it pertains to issues around disability and accessibility, General Assembly 2013 in Louisville went, from my perspective, pretty well.  The workshop on creating inclusive worship services with Suzanne Fast, Sarah Dan Jones and Amy Carol Webb was well conducted and very well attended.  The Equual Access booth was busy with many ribbons, business cards and literature being handed out, many questions being answered, and many new relationships being formed.  The convention center was, as far as I knew, physically accessible. And the language during group worship and plenary sessions was generally appropriate and respectful.

So, all in all, I think it went okay.  However, there were a few times during the week when people were not as sensitive as they should have been.  We still have a long way to go in raising the consciousness of people around hurtful words and phrases and the suggestion of concepts that demean an entire group of individuals.

The most grievous example of this came during the Sunday Morning Worship and the sermon delivered by the Rev. Dr. William Schulz, President and CEO of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee and former President of the Unitarian Universalist Association.  In his opening remarks, Rev. Schulz said, “I have been preaching to Unitarian Universalists now for more than forty-four years. One of the definitions of mental illness is doing the same thing over and over again without appreciable effect. Thank you, Peter, for giving me one more opportunity to prove my sanity.”  This was followed by uproarious laughter in the hall, including the dignitaries on the stage behind him.

First of all, Rev. Schulz, that is not one of the definitions of mental illness.  Secondly, it is not true that all people with mental illness do the same thing over and over again without appreciable effect.  Thirdly, I know many people who do not have a diagnosis of mental illness who do the same thing over and over again without appreciable effect.  Witness my New York Mets.

But the worst thing about these remarks was the effort to squeeze some laughs out of a blatantly stereotypical and negative profile of a particular class of persons.  Imagine what would have happened if, for example, Rev. Schulz had begun his sermon with, “One of the definitions of a lesbian is…”; or  “One of the definitions of an Hispanic is …”  At the least, it would have been met with stunned silence.  At most, it would have resulted in cries of protest and people leaving Plenary Hall.

Yeah, we still have a ways to go.  But I’m hopeful.  I truly believe that while words may sometimes divide us and preconceived ideas, judgments and assumptions may sometimes hurt us, if we pay attention to these things; if we give voice to it and speak out against it; if we strive to understand others with compassion and empathy, we will prevail.  And General Assembly will truly become the beloved community.

As the author Jose N. Harris said, “I may not be there yet, but I’m closer than I was yesterday.”

With respect,

 Mark Bernstein, CERG  Consultant and UUA Liaison to Equual Access

Universalism & Disability Meditation by Naomi King

One Meditation on Why Accessibility, Disability Rights,  

and Celebration Matter for Unitarian Universalists

I have a heart for Edwin Markham’s epigram 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 heart of Unitarian Universalism as I understand this faith: whenever we come across a barrier 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 are always changing and being changed in this radical and transforming Love that already knows us, holds us, and cherishes us. No one is beyond Love’s reach or acceptance.

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

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 that each and every one of us is gifted. One of the tasks of religious community is to name, accept, and celebrate those gifts. When we meet a person, our faith asks us not to record how this person is more or less than, but to stop and rejoice in this blessing we have the honor of meeting. Transforming Love is a dream and a challenge.

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

Love wins when the barriers to full participation in life come down. Love wins when a child once set aside as unteachable leads the congregation in giving thanks. Love wins when people who live every day with the experience of exclusion are part of claiming their place in the Heart of Life, and people who experience inclusion every day are dancing in solidarity alongside.

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

Rev. Naomi King