Sometimes, baking accessibility into your congregation, or practicing radical preemptive inclusion, simply means slowing down and accounting for the multitude of ways beloveds move through the world. For some of us who are disabled or chronically ill, meeting our access needs can be as simple as giving more time, both for processing information, and for moving around your congregation. Providing materials ahead of time, scheduling longer gatherings, and building in more time between events can create a more accessible church community, especially for people with certain kinds of disabilities.
March is Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Awareness Month (keep reading to learn about next Thursday’s webinar about accessibility and MS). This occasion has got me thinking about how we can include more flexibility for ever-changing bodyminds into our spaces. Many disabilities and chronic illnesses like MS are evolving, and a person’s symptoms can vary from day to day; this means a person’s access needs will vary as well. We can make small transformations in our sanctuaries, and other spaces in and around our buildings, to account for fluctuating needs.
One way congregations can make spaces more accessible is by being mindful of their members’ different mobility needs. Providing chairs and benches throughout your building and its grounds allows people who need to often sit the option to enjoy spaces they might otherwise not be able to. You can deepen this practice of inclusion by incorporating various kinds of seating. What is comfortable to one congregant can be painful to another. Seating needs can vary based upon a person’s height, strength, size, balance, pain-level, and more. I recommend having chairs in your sanctuary and coffee-hour area of varied sizes and heights, as well as some with arms and some without to accommodate all bodies in your community.
Installing automatic doors is another way congregations can account for dynamic access needs. Using one’s hands to open a church building or restroom door may be a piece of cake or altogether impossible, depending on the member and the day. Investing in push-button doors can help create an inclusive space for all members of your congregational community, whether they’ve been a member for years, or looking for a place to call home. As a bonus, your non-disabled congregants will also appreciate them when their hands are full!
Congregants themselves can also practice this form of flexible inclusion without spending a cent. Although MS and other chronic illnesses can be invisible, you don’t need to know someone’s condition to offer help. Offering assistance with filling a coffee mug, opening a door, moving a chair, or carrying in a potluck offering can all make a difference in helping a fellow congregant feel welcome. When we lead with this open, flexible practice of inclusion, we lead with love.
UPLIFT Access Resource Webinars
Kaeden Ensign Bedford
Congregational Accessibility: The MS Perspective
Thursday, March 26th @ 11:00am EDST
Featured guest and fellow UU Kaeden Ensign will share his lived experience with us on life, Multiple Sclerosis, and accessibility in UU congregations.
Kaeden Ensign Bedford (he/him) has been a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbia, MO since 2007. He has held many leadership roles within the congregation, and has been well led by his vote. Currently, he is involved in a chalice circle, Sunday Services, mutual aid endeavors, and the LGBTQ+ Collective. He had a 30-year career in childcare and education across Missouri and Wisconsin prior to the disability progression that caused him to stop working. These days, you’ll catch him starting an eBay business.