Gretchen Maune (She/They) is a queer, autistic, blind, disabled elder millennial who joined the UUA in early 2023. As the UUA’s Accessibility Resources Coordinator, they provide resources for Unitarian Universalist congregational and organizational leaders to create spaces, events, programs, and communities which are accessible and inclusive to disabled participants.

Gretchen became a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbia, MO in 2015. She co-founded the Disability Justice and Inclusion Team two years later, and has continued to provide anti-ableist leadership in a variety of roles, helping to transform her home congregation into a more accessible and inclusive place for everyone. To Gretchen, universal design is love. They believe in building a future where all individuals feel radically welcome and are able to participate in every aspect of our congregations and wider communities.

Gretchen has been working in accessibility since 2009 when they began organizing a group of advocates and experts to increase access to buildings, parks and festivals for disabled residents of mid-Missouri. She has consulted in both the public and private sectors on physical accessibility, digital accessibility, and informational accessibility. They are excited that they get to apply their experience and knowledge to aid the UUA and its congregations to do their work of creating a beloved community while using a disability justice framework and an anti-ableist lens.

Gretchen holds a MPA from the University of Missouri’s Truman School of Public Affairs, and a Bachelor’s in English, also from MU. Besides her accessibility work, she spent time as a Community Organizer and as a lobbyist, focusing on economic and reproductive justice, and public education. In Their free-time, Gretchen enjoys advocating for human rights, reading, playing D&D, and hanging out with her Seeing-Eye Dog, Royal. They live in Columbia, MO and serve on the worship team at UUCC.