Greetings Friends,

As a disabled person who reads incessantly, and spends entirely too much time on social media, absorbing the latest from a myriad of disabled creators, I keep up with a lot, sometimes, it feels like too much. When settling in to write this month’s newsletter, I struggled to decide on which, of many timely topics, to focus my reflection on.

I wanted to write about Judy Heumann, whose passing shook the disabled world one year ago on March 4, 2023. She led an amazing life, and my civil rights wouldn’t be what they are today without her activism. My favorite fact about Judy’s work is that the 504 sit-in she co-organized at the San Francisco federal building lasted 26 days, and is the longest sit-in of a federal building in history. Her tenacious dedication to improving the lives of disabled Americans, as well as that of the over 100 disabled advocates who participated, continually inspires me. Judy will always be one of my heroes.

March 1st was the annual Disability Day of Mourning, and my feed was full of vigil videos and sorrow. The Autistic Self Advocacy Network and other organizations began using this date twelve years ago to memorialize the disabled beloveds we lose each year to filicide, the murder by a family member or caregiver. A previous UPLIFT article by the Rev. Suzanne Fast and other disabled UUs describes why we need to honor this tragic day.

However, as this month marks the fourth anniversary of when we began to lock-down, I have found my thoughts dwelling increasingly on the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite hospitalization numbers remaining high in many places, and the unknown case numbers since most go unreported, the CDC issued drastically weakened guidelines on March 1st. Like many in the disabled community, I recoiled from the news. With people no longer advised to isolate, I am afraid of catching COVID a second time, and how the long-term effects may hurt my body. I am also worried that more of my loved ones will be exposed to the disease, some of whom have managed not to catch it for these four long years. I’m afraid more people I know will die, deaths that could have been prevented if only more had been done to mitigate the spread. I am also angry that the CDC has ignored both the insight, as well as the pleas of people with disabilities offered up so regularly since COVID hit our country.

These stories leave me feeling overwhelmed with sorrow, and sometimes I struggle to know how to move forward. But when facing this despondency, I find in the triumphant stories of my disabled ancestors. I read Judy’s memoir when it was first released, and I think it’s time I revisit it.

With Care,
Gretchen Maune

UPLIFT Access Monthly Accessibility Resource Webinars

Our loving faith calls us to honor the inherent rights and dignity of all people and to fight forms of oppression wherever we find it. However, disabled people (who make up 26% of the population) regularly find ourselves pushed to the margins, being denied our needs, and not receiving the radical welcome UU’s aspire to provide to all members.

Lay leaders, religious professionals, and allies are invited to join us for our monthly lunchtime webinars where you can learn how to be more accessible and inclusive of your congregation’s disabled members and visitors.

Making Your Congregation Accessible: A Case Study from the Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbia, MO (UUCC)

Thursday, March 28th @ 12pm-1:30 ET / 11am CT / 10am MT / 9am PT

UPLIFT Access Monthly Webinar Registration

UPLIFT Access Webinar - February Recording & Transcript

“A Disability Justice framework understands that all bodies are unique and essential, that all bodies have strengths and needs that must be met.”

- Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice

EQUUAL ACCESS CAROLYN CARTLAND SERMON AWARD CONTEST

The EqUUal Access Carolyn Cartland Sermon Award Contest is accepting sermons on disability-related themes and topics.
The entry deadline is May 1, 2024.

A cash prize of $500 will be awarded and presented as the online annual celebration!

ELIGIBILITY

• The sermon must be an original work on a disability theme or topic
• The sermon must be preached between May 1 and April 30 of the current contest year.
• Entries (sermon text and entry cover information) must be submitted before midnight on May 1st.
• This sermon contest is open to all lay or religious professional Unitarian Universalists.

CONSENT: In entering the contest, the author grants permission for EqUUal Access to publicly post and publicize their sermon text, name, and photo. Authors retain copyright to their work.

Read more about Sermon Contest Entry Information.

Accessible Publications from Skinner House

COMING SOON!!! Skinner House will have a channel on Bookshare in the near future!

Accessible versions of Skinner House's most recent publications, and all new ones going forward will be available to Bookshare subscribers.

Skinner House Audiobooks NOW AVAILABLE  through Libro.fm and other channels and will continue to make audiobooks of most new Skinner House publications!

• Mistakes and Miracles: Congregations on the Road to Multiculturalism by Nancy Palmer Jones and Karin Lin
• Incantations for Rest: Poems, Meditations, and Other Magic by Atena O. Danner
• Why Can’t I Fix It: The Questions We Ask When We Love Someone with Addiction by Nathan Detering
• A Fire at the Center: Solidarity, Whiteness, and Becoming a Water Protector by Karen Van Fossan
• The Tending Years: Understanding Your Child’s Earliest Rituals by J.L. Shattuck