Ingredients for Success

Highlights from the July 15, 2014 Huffington Post article entitled "7 Ways Congregations Can Embrace People with Disabilities".

In a major study conducted by the University of Kentucky and Vanderbilt University, only 43% of the parents of children with special needs surveyed described their religious community as supportive and more than a third changed their place of worship because their child had not been included or welcomed.

The seven ways include:

• Communication - Provide a resouce person to listen to the needs of the person with a disability and their family to learn how they can work together toward full inclusion.
• Accessiblity - To the extent possible, meet the physical needs of the individual.
• Support - Provide an aide or peer assistant to participate in religious education, small group ministry, etc.
• Leadership - Faith communities where leaders are committed to including people with disabilities were more welcoming, offered greater opportunities for people to share their gifts and were more physically accessible.
• Participation - Invite people with disabilities to sit on boards and committees and to take more visible roles in congregational life.
• Education - Congregations that educate their members on disability issues are more welcoming and better able to integrate people with special needs into the life of the community.
• Love - Parents of children with special needs who experienced love and acceptance reported their congregations were sources of great strength and support.

With respect,

Mark Bernstein

Congregational Life Consultant, Central East Regional Group

UUA Liaison to Equual Access

Step By Step

It may move at glacier speed, but more and more the needs of people with disabilities are being addressed in our society in ways both large and small.  The latest to catch my eye involves
the simple but universal act of enjoying a night at the movie theater.  In the Philadelphia area, and, I imagine, in many areas around the country, movie theaters are now offering small devices that discreetly display captions to the individual moviegoer.  Some theaters offer eyeglasses that display captions across the bottom of the inside surface of the lens so that only the wearer can see them.  Others provide little screens mounted on the end of flexible arms that are positioned in the moviegoer's cupholder.  While there are still occasional glitches in the accuracy of the transcriptions, this is a wonderful step forward in helping people with hearing impairments (like me) follow the dialogue and more fully enjoy the movie.

Theaters are also installing devices that aid those with visual impairments as well.  In many theaters, moviegoers can wear an audio headset that includes both the regular movie dialogue as well as the voice of a narrator who describes the action on the screen, for example, whether they are driving a car, eating a meal, or even smiling or frowning.

At the Unitarian Universalist Association, we are constantly looking for ways to use existing technology to aid Unitarian Universalists with hearing and vision problems.  For two years now, we have offered audio versions of UU World.  We are exploring ways of better utilizing closed captions on various YouTube and other videos.  We are also investigating ways of making printed materials available to people with "print disabilities" via audio books, screen reader software and braille.  Resources are available to congregations who want to enhance the sound capacity in their buildings via headsets or loop system.

Whether its watching a movie, attending a worship service or enjoying a good book, everyone deserves the right to full access.  We in the UUA, as in the general society, are getting there.  Bear with us and thanks for your patience.

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

When 'must' turns to 'can,' obligation becomes inclusion

The Unitarian Church of Barneveld

In his book, “The Righteous Mind,” psychologist Jonathan Haidt explains that his three-year old son seemed to be allergic to the word “must.” As an experiment, to see how humans react to the word “must”, Haidt. told his son, “You must eat ice cream.” Proving that this little boy was truly put off by the word “must,” the son declined. The young boy’s brain searched for reasons why he did not have to eat ice cream.

Then, at another time, Haidt, said to his son, “You can have ice cream,” and the boy’s thoughts turned to reasons why he would like to have ice cream, so he accepted the offer.

It seems to me that many UU congregations are also averse to the word “must.” Perhaps we don’t have a creed because we don’t like being told what we must believe. If a congregation believes it must have an elevator, it is understandable that many will look for reasons why this is unfeasible.

If we can change the perspective from “must” to “can,” we can together look for solutions.

Recently members of the Equual Access Board developed some questions to ask your congregation. The hope is that these questions will help turn the conversations from, “We must have congregations accessible for people with disabilities,” to “How can we live our faith in the worth and dignity of all?”

Consider being proactive by asking the congregation’s board the following questions and making these points:
Can we make our congregation more open to:
People who have temporary or permanent mobility impairments?
People with heart or other cardiorespiratory issues?
People who have had strokes or other issues that affect balance?
People who use wheelchairs or scooters?
Families with children in strollers?
Aging members with changing physical challenges?
All clergy, lay leaders and others who participate in worship?
All members, friends and visitors?

How can we put our Congregation’s Covenant into action?

If we believe in honoring the inherent worth and dignity of all people, how can we demonstrate that in our actions?

To paraphrase the famous baseball movie, if you build it, we will come.

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

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.