How Are Accessibility and Justice Connected?

Justice is an integral part of doing right. Of course, justice is more than defending others or setting things right. Justice includes the concept that things will be as fair as possible. One instruction on just behavior is as follows:

Learn to do right; seek justice.

Defend the oppressed.

Take up the cause of the fatherless;

plead the case of the widow.

It is important that as Unitarian Universalists, we examine the application of fair and justice practices to all levels and types of work that we do. An attentive examination of the treatment of disabled people, both in congregations and beyond, will show 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 case passionately pled.

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

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

The solution must lie with the church itself and with the congregation itself. The church must use the broadest means of inclusion possible, whether this means sign language interpretation or large print bulletins, or even remodeling to allow people with mobility issues access to all the parts of the building. There is one small congregation on the Oregon coast undertaking just such a project. In order for people using wheelchairs to gain access to the upper level of the church building, the church will need a lift. Even though the congregation is not a large one, they press on to finance the change by collecting cans and taking other steps toward the goal.

Accessibility matters because the central tenets of Unitarian Universalism include the ideas that divine Love is for everyone, and everyone is loved the way they are. This means now, not when it is convenient to include a door opener or when there is a 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 its purpose and possibility, we may have to be creative in broadcasting services to accessible parts of church campuses or resourceful in finding sign language interpreters for services or events. The alternative is offering God’s limitless love to those who have able or mostly able bodies; and that’s no alternative 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/

Justice and Disability Rights by Alison Carville

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-12th 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 21st 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 21st 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.

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