Community Connections: July 2004 WSCN

Welcoming Spiritual Communities Newsletter
July 2004

In this Issue: Congregational Outreach

Sometimes people cannot participate in a faith community because of disabilities caused by conditions present at birth, illness, age, or accidents. One in five families face the challenge of disability. Spiritual communities that welcome everyone attract new members and allow long-time members to remain active as they age or when they are coping with the effects of an accident or illness. Many times, there are easy, inexpensive ways to welcome individuals with disabilities in your congregation and create the sense of belonging that is so essential to religious communities.

Community Connections is a grant-supported project at the University of Maryland that promotes the participation of individuals with disabilities in community settings. Through this quarterly newsletter Welcoming Spiritual Communities you have easy access to information about how to make your congregation more welcoming which includes access to information, ideas and resources that can help you open doors to persons with disabilities and their families. You can also publicize information about your community on our web site. Furthermore, can work with you or your committee regarding ways to make your religious community more welcoming. We thank you for your leadership on behalf of people with disabilities and look forward to hearing from you.

	Spotlight Your Spiritual Community
	For free publicity, list yourself on our website
	Article: Simple Strategies for Becoming a More Welcoming Spiritual Community
	This article shares a few simple strategies for making Spiritual Communities more welcoming to people with disabilities and provides information on how Community Connections can assist with this important mission.
	Resources: Creating Spiritual Communities that Welcome Everyone - Information Packet
	Learn more about resources that the Community Connections project can provide to assist your spiritual community on your journey of becoming more inclusive.
	Tip Sheet: Tips for Including Children with Disabilities in Your Spiritual Communities
	Share this tip sheet with the leaders and educators in your spiritual community to show them how they can successfully include your child in religious services and education activities.
	Success Stories
	Check Out This Innovative Church's Inclusive Program: Henson Valley Christian Church This church, located in Fort Washington, Maryland, opens its arms to welcome people of all abilities into its congregation. Read the story of one very special little boy who doesn't let anything stand in his way!
	Archdiocese of Washington: Including People with Disabilities is Natural
	Recommended Websites
	http://www.congregationalresources.org/ShowCat.asp?CN=35&SCN=185 Congregational Resource Guide This website contains resources for congregations and families on how to make Spiritual Communities more welcoming to people with disabilities.
	http://gbgm-umc.org/home_page/index.cfm General Board of Global Ministries, United Methodist Church This website contains a list of religious resource organizations that offer assistance related to persons with disabilities.

Spotlight Inclusive Spiritual Communities

Sometimes, families just need a way to find a spiritual community without fear that when they arrive they will be unable to participate or feel unwelcome. Together we can eliminate the discouraging experience church-going people with disabilities too often face.

Your community may already do many things to open doors to individuals with disabilities. If so - let us know. We can list you on our web-site so that families can find you without a difficult and time consuming search. And, if you have special innovative, creative activities that would provide ideas for other congregations, we can share them through our newsletter or spotlight them on our web-site.

To provide this service, we need your help to identify and publicize individual congregations that are welcoming to persons with disabilities and ways in which they are accessible. You can help us list your congregation by completing a welcoming community spotlight form at http://www.communityconnections.umd.edu/spiritual/spiritsurvey.html.

Article

Simple Strategies for Becoming a More Welcoming Spiritual Community
People with disabilities can make great contributions, particularly when religious communities actively reach out to make it possible. As one pastor told us, "We began using a volunteer interpreter to help a new member who was deaf and within two months there were three new members with hearing impairments. This inspired some older members to ask for hearing devices so they could come back to church." Too often families must change congregations to find a spiritual home that gives them a sense of belonging.

How welcoming is your spiritual community to people with disabilities and their families? This question is critical for all of us, because, in the United States, one in every five people has a disability. Since everyone faces the prospect of disability, if not at birth, through aging, accident or illness, this is a major challenge that needs attention. Unfortunately, people with disabilities often find barriers to participating in religious communities.

Welcoming begins with an attitude of inclusion - approaching every situation with the attitude that everyone belongs and brings gifts to the community - regardless of individual differences in their abilities. Even when lacking resources to make a building physically accessible, a congregation can make children and families feel at home. Ideas that some congregations have used include:

Resources

Creating Spiritual Communities that Welcome Everyone
(Information Packet)

We have developed resources to assist your Spiritual Community in becoming more accessible and welcoming to young children with disabilities and their families. This packet includes very useful information on the following:

I. Ten Ramps (Steps) to Accessibility for Spiritual Communities
II. Disability Awareness Survey
III. Accessibility Policy Statements
IV. Accessibility Assessment for Spiritual Communities

If you would like to retrieve this valuable information to assist your Spiritual Community, please click on the link below, http://www.communityconnections.umd.edu/spiritual/training.html

Tip Sheet

Tips for Including Children with Disabilities in Your Spiritual Community

	Develop an attitude with your entire congregation that you are including all children.
	Remember that children with disabilities are more like other children than they are different from them.
	Use appropriate language. Teach and model People First language. For example, Joey is a child with autism, not Joey is an autistic child.
	Be a positive role model. The children will watch you closely and will be strongly influenced by your attitudes and behaviors.
	Prepare all children, those with disabilities and typically developing children, for inclusion in the classroom.
		Deal directly with other children's reactions to the disability.
		Explain to the children that they cannot catch the disability.
		Encourage all children to be sensitive.
		Enhance positive attitudes and positive experiences.
		Allow the child with the disability to visit the classroom.
		Explain who will be there and the typical routine.
	Seek training and support for the staff.
		Locate community resources for available training and information.
		Research what other Spiritual Communities are doing to include children with disabilities in their programs. This is a way of gaining new ideas and strategies.
	Use parents and caregivers as resources.
		Ask them what works best for their child.
		Find out what strategies are used in other environments (school, home).
	Create a classroom notebook for each child. Include in the notebook:
		Registration Form.
		Child Profile Form.
		Emergency/Medical Information.
	Train children without disabilities to become classroom buddies and peer tutors to enhance the learning for all children in the classroom.
		Provide opportunities to develop compassion and sensitivity.
		Teach acceptance and tolerance that can be passed along.
	Take notice of the progress that each child is making. Make sure that children are benefiting in some way from your efforts.
	Plan activities that will open the community for the child. Try to choose those places that are accessible to children with disabilities and will allow them to participate fully with the group.
	Be creative.
		Instead of trying to figure out how to get a child who uses a wheelchair into the second floor classroom, think about moving the classroom into another area of the building that is accessible.
		Children with disabilities can participate in most activities with small adaptations. For example, a child in wheelchair can help with passing out classroom materials by simply having the children come to them, instead of the other way around!

Success Stories

Henson Valley Christian Church
1900 Tucker Road Fort
Washington, MD 20744
(301) 248-1430
Church Email - hvcc2@juno.com

Henson Valley Christian Church is located in Fort Washington, Maryland. It is a small congregation of about 40 members but has a growing ministry and desire to serve children with disabilities. Tyrone Brooks is just one of the children with disabilities who are a vital part of our ministry. He is a charming six-year-old boy with cerebral palsy, but his wheelchair is never a barrier to participation! He serves as acolyte, collects offering, sings in the children's choir, is a member of the Performing Arts Ministry, and yes, even dances with the Liturgical Dance Ministry! Can you image seeing a child in a wheelchair "dancing" for GOD?!

Tyrone Jr. also participates in all of the children's services and Christian Education classes. Henson Valley does not offer separate classes for children with disabilities, but works diligently to include TJ as well as other children with disabilities, in all aspects of their worship and ministry. The Disability Ministry Coordinator, Mrs. Yolanda Brooks, makes sure that ALL children are able to participate and share their gifts.

Henson Valley has recently adopted a new mission statement that includes a call for the congregation to serve people with disabilities and their families. The pastors Rev. Ruth Harvey and Rev Martha Brown are both committed to Henson Valley truly being a place where GOD can be seen and found in people of all races, colors and abilities!

Archdiocese of Washington Office for Persons With Disabilities
Dolores Wilson
Director, Office for Persons With Disabilities
The Archdiocesan Pastoral Center
5001 Eastern Avenue
or
P.O. Box 29260
Washington, DC 20017
(301) 853-4560
wilsond@adw.org

The Archdiocese of Washington has been in collaboration with the Community Connections project since November 2002. Dolores Wilson, Director, Office for Persons with Disabilities, participated in our first religious leaders focus group in October 2002 where we discussed issues and concerns expressed by spiritual communities in including children with disabilities. We also discussed strategies for reaching out to other spiritual communities to help them become more welcoming to children with disabilities and their families. During the second focus group in February 2003, we discussed with Ms. Wilson, ideas of our outreach program which included: 1) Community Connections presenting our program to their organization and possibility to the Bishops, 2) putting together a PowerPoint presentation for them, 3) giving them our survey to distribute, and 4) publicizing accessibility of individual churches on our website.

As a result of our meetings with the Office of Disability Ministries, we completed a project of distributing the Community Connections Spotlight Forms and Accessibility Surveys to over 150 parishes in the area. We received approximately a 48% response rate on both. Based on the information provided on the survey, the Archdiocese can now help the individual parishes move forward toward their goal to include people with disabilities. Check out our website to see how many of these parishes are listed. http://www.communityconnections.umd.edu/spiritual/recommendations/index.html

We currently offer training and technical consultation to businesses, churches, and other community organizations to help make them more welcoming to families and children with special needs. If you know of a business or other organization that would like to take advantage of these services, please e-mail us at: communityconnections@umd.edu
OR
If you know of a business that is already welcoming to children with special needs and their families and you would like to share this information with other families and professionals, please send us your name as well as the name and contact information for the business with a brief description of why you believe they are welcoming to families. If appropriate, we will post the business on our website and we may even feature it as a 'Spotlight if the Month'. E-mail your submissions to: communityconnections@umd.edu

*Questions or Suggestions about our newsletter? Have an idea you would like to submit? Please feel free to contact us at communityconnections@umd.edu

Thanks for subscribing to the Welcoming Communities newsletter! Welcoming Communities is put out by Community Connections, which is a grant at the University of Maryland at College Park funded by the United States Department of Education. The goal of this project is to facilitate the participation of young children with special needs in community settings. We do this by increasing opportunities for kids with disabilities to participate in the community, promoting awareness of disabilities, and providing support to parents and organizations that include children with special needs.

For more information about Community Connections, please visit our website at: http://www.communityconnections.umd.edu/
Our website is updated regularly…Check back often for new info!

The Community Connections Team

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Unless otherwise noted, all referenced articles are available at no charge to you. Community Connections provides this for informational purposes only and cannot attest to the accuracy of information provided by linked sites. The opinions and views expressed at these web sites do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of Community Connections. Any personal information requested by any of the web sites will be governed by the privacy policy at the site, and any questions you have related to the sites' use of information should be directed there. The information contained in this newsletter is not intended to make any offer or commitment to purchase, subscribe to, provide or sell any service or product or to provide any recommendations on which readers should rely.

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Helping to Facilitate the Participation of Children with Disabilities in Community Settings