Access to Faith Communities

Project Summary

People with disabilities want to be part of their communities. They want meaningful activities and social networks. They want to belong to community groups. But it isn’t always easy to get access to community life.

The Access to Faith Communities project helps people with disabilities connect to synagogues, churches and mosques, which are an important part of life for many people. Some reasons people attend are spiritual; for worship, faith and to find and purpose for their life. People with disabilities want to join a faith community for these same reasons. But there are barriers that can make it difficult.

“Access to Faith Communities” helps find ways to overcome the barriers. United Cerebral Palsy of Michigan (UCP) is leading the project team. The team includes leaders and people with disabilities from the Jewish, Moslem and Christian faiths. It includes disability groups like the Capital Area RICC. (Regional Interagency Consumer Committee.)

Workshops

In the spring of 2011, the project held a series of workshops. 20 to 30 people with disabilities, their allies and faith community members met weekly for 6-8 weeks. Together, the group heard participants’ stories, struggles, and successes in inclusion and finding meaningful roles for people with disabilities in faith communities; explored disability culture and the disability rights movement; learned about ableism and exclusion, and how those are often experienced in faith communities; shared tools and practical ways to promote inclusion, access and participation; explored interpretations of disability in theology, sacred texts and congregation practices; and developed strategies for working together after the workshops to promote inclusion.

Procedures for helping people with disabilities find a faith community of their choice

People who have high support needs are often very isolated. They need allies who can help them find a faith community and learn how to be active members. This project helps locate allies and prepare congregations to include people with high support needs.

Often agency staff are the main allies of people with high support needs. Agencies have concerns about assisting a person with a disability with faith-based activities. We are developing and field testing procedures that agency staff and other allies can use to connect people to the faith community, and to assure that the individual's choice is being honored.

This project is funded in part by a grant from the Michigan Developmental Disabilities Council.