UPLIFT Access: December 2024

December 12, 2024

Image of Gretchen Maune: A white non-binary person with dark brown straight hair and blush lipstick, weard a black short sleeve shirt and holding a white cane with a black handle.

Image Description: Gretchen Maune is a white elder millennial with long dark hair holding a white cane with a black handle.

December has settled in and that means snowy weather and holiday gatherings. At this moment, I’m thinking about the frigid wind outside my Missouri apartment, the need to get my Guide Dog used to wearing his winter booties again, and how many holiday events I have the spoons for. Whether or not I decide to attend is not just based on my energy level and the amount of snow on the ground, but how accessible I believe an event will be as well.

There are many ways to bake accessibility into any holiday service or party you might be organizing. In their article on accessible holiday planning, the Northwest ADA Center illustrates the importance of holding the event at a physically-accessible space. This includes using a venue that you’ve made sure allows everyone, no matter their disability, to effectively navigate all parts of the gathering.

The Northwest ADA center also points out that food allergies are a common disability. It’s a good idea to offer food inclusive of a variety of diets, provide an ingredient label for each dish, and ask in advance about the dietary restrictions of your guests. These simple practices around food accessibility can help to make everyone feel welcome and enjoy some yummy holiday treats!

Plentiful music, unique holiday lighting, and lively gatherings of people can lead to feelings of overstimulation and headaches for neurodivergent guests, as well as those who have migraines, anxiety, or MCS (Multiple Chemical Sensitivity). Create an accessible environment by designating a quiet, sensory-friendly room at your venue. Having dimmable lighting, earplugs, low-volume music, and fidget toys will help many guests to feel more at ease.

Although some of us may enjoy festive fragrances like woodland pine and spiced pumpkin, they create an inaccessible environment for others with MCS. Create a cozy space of radical welcome by refraining from having scented candles in your church, home, or other gathering space. Additionally, asking folks to wear fragrance-free products in your invitation allows people to plan both what to wear and what to expect, helping everyone to have a good time!

Finally, please take a moment to consider the health of all your guests and congregants as you plan. Letting people know ahead of time that quality masks will be available and encouraged at your festivities is an awesome move for everyone’s well-being. This COVID-conscious strategy is especially important during these chilly months where gathering outside isn’t as easy.

No matter which holidays you are celebrating or planning services for, I encourage you to be mindful of baking access in at the start, making space for disabled UUs and guests. When you combine these accessibility strategies with your beloveds, you are sure to create holiday festivities full of connection and love!

Gretchen Maune (she/they)
Accessibility Resources Coordinator
accessibility@uua.org

As Accessibility Resources Coordinator, Gretchen provides virtual resources for Unitarian Universalist congregational and organizational leaders to create spaces, events, programs and communities which are accessible and inclusive to disabled participants. [learn more]

Got an Accessibility Question?

Since starting my position, I have fielded a wide array of accessibility and inclusion questions from congregations across the country. However, the answers I provide remain in our email and 1-on-1 Zoom conversations. In order to make answers available to all, we will be trying out an “ask the accessibility expert” blog in the coming months. Email your questions to Accessibility@uua.org and stay tuned to the UPLIFT Access Newsletter and blog for monthly answers that will help congregations increase accessibility for their disabled members and guests.

UPLIFT Access Monthly Accessibility Resource Webinars Will Resume in 2025

Check out last month’s UPLIFT Access Resource Webinar: Caring for Ourselves and Our Congregants with Mental Health Disabilities, A Conversation with Rev. Barbara F. Meyers

Image description: Headshot of Rev. Meyers against an orange background. Rev. Meyers has gray hair in a chin length bob, is wearing glasses, and a patterned top with a necklace.

Rev. Barbara F. Meyers is a Unitarian Universalist community minister with a mental health ministry based in Fremont, California.  She is assistant director of the Life Reaching Across to Life peer support center, the author of a mental health curriculum for congregations, the book “Held – Showing Up for each Other’s Mental Health” Skinner House Books, 2020, and an editor of the book Emotional CPR – Assisting People Through Emotional Distress National Empowerment Center, 2024.  She is the President of the Unitarian Universalist Mental Health Network.

She served on the UUA’s Accessibility Committee beginning in 2005, and was active in the creation of EqUUal Access.  She served on the UUMA’s Task Force on Disability in 2017-2018.  She was active in the creation of the AIM program to make congregations accessible and inclusive of disability. 