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By the Rev. Raymond Meester, Consultant for Hearing
Assistive listening devices have changed and improved over the last few decades. As a child in the 60’s, I remember seeing persons with hearing-impairments using a listening device in my home church. There were some jacks in a few places in the sanctuary. A worshiper with a hearing disability would obtain a device that looked like the earpiece of a telephone headset that was attached to a handle. A cord was connected to the earpiece. The worshiper would plug the cord into a jack in the pew, and then would hold the ear piece up to their ear with the handle. This had a few disadvantages. First of all, it dictated where the worshiper would sit. In order to utilize the device the worshiper had to sit wherever there was a jack. Where we sit in a sanctuary can be very territorial! Secondly, it was quite obvious that the worshiper had a hearing impairment. There could be no anonymity about one’s hearing loss. Even today, many people are not willing to publicly admit they have a hearing loss. And it could be quite a chore holding that earpiece to your ear the entire worship hour (or longer!). [Read more]
By The Rev. Rick Roderick, Consultant for Visual Disabilities
"Brenda" is a very active volunteer in a church. She lost significant vision and decided to get a guide dog when travel became increasingly difficult. She often accompanied the children's choir to help out the director. When she resumed these duties after training with her new dog, one of the children started crying during the rehearsal. The mother was concerned that the child was afraid of Brenda's dog. When the concern was brought to Brenda's attention, she agreed to accompany the children without her dog. However, she found travel difficult, and she did not feel safe. How should a choir director handle this? [Read more]
By Milton Tyree, Consultant for Developmental/Cognitive Disabilities
Who am I? What do I believe? What is God calling me to do? Where do I belong?
Faith, prayerful discernment, grace and the study of God’s word provide comfort and understanding about our place in the world. Christian Education curriculum provides an important piece — an avenue for seeking answers to life-defining questions. The fact is most of us take the existence of Christian curriculum for granted. It’s always available if we’ll devote the time for study and prayer. But what happens when the typical ways of seeking to understand one’s vocation cannot be accessed? How is one’s sense of purpose and belonging impacted? For those without access to the curriculum, it may seem that another brick has been added to the wall of exclusion. It may mean adding a poignant question to the ones initially listed: Do I belong? [Read more]
By the Rev. Sue Montgomery, Consultant for Mobility/Accessibility
Several months ago the phone rang. On the other end was Anne Campbell, a member of the Blacksburg Presbyterian Church, Blacksburg, Va. She was calling the PC(USA) Disability Consultant Program to seek guidance and understanding about what she saw as an issue for persons with a disability, in this case, severe food allergies. Her question was: “Is there anything in Presbyterian theology or understanding of communion that would prohibit churches from serving gluten-free communion bread?” That question began a period of study and exploration about the communion elements. Some faith groups require wheat bread for communion, and the presence of gluten excludes a small percentage of the population from ever participating in communion. After being assured that gluten-free bread would be acceptable within the PC(USA), Anne began to work with her pastor, her church’s session and deacons. She worked with a dietician from the local hospital to find ways to make gluten-free communion bread. She also explored ways to serve it during worship in a way that would be fully inclusive. Anne took the food allergy issue even further. She found ways to make communion bread not only gluten-free, but lactose and egg-free as well. [Read more]
By the Rev. Rick Roderick, Consultant for Visual Disabilities
Accessibility means much more than just accessible entrances and restrooms. It means being welcoming to people of all ability levels and individual differences. Providing Braille bulletins to those who can benefit is one way of carrying out this mission. In order to provide this service, a church must find a competent Braille transcriber. This person may be either blind or sighted. In my case, I’m able to produce my own Braille from copy produced in Microsoft Word. In order to facilitate the production of Braille bulletins, keep the following in mind. [Read more]
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