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| Need Your Inputs for an Important Blog |
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God has been nudging me to write some articles (blogs) on the Church and its interaction with people with "severe" disabilities. For my first blog of a potential series, I want to focus on people that are full-time wheelchair users. I am one of them.
Over the past two years of rolling around full-time in a "chair" as us Wheelers call them, I have come to notice that a lot of chair users do not attend church. Now, of course, folks that don't attend church always have an "excuse" for not being in church. Let's overcome those excuses for them and get them in church!
As an FYI, some of us Wheelers do not venture out the house much to begin with. I do not have a driver's license anymore so I am fully reliant on somebody else taking me places. Taxi cabs are expensive ($50 to $60) just for a round trip to a nearby shopping center and could only take me in my manual-folding chair since my powerchair weighs 350 pounds without me in it, public transit does not have any stops nearby and public paratransit will not come to me because I am over a mile off their scheduled routes. Even my County's Department of Ageing's paratransit will only pick me up for doctor appointments but their pick-up and drop-off times might be off by 2 hours from what I really need (hurry up and wait situations). I am not authorized to be taken to the County's Senior Citizens Center because I am not yet 55 years old. It does not matter that I am fully disabled and worse yet, I used to work for the County!
You are probably getting the idea of what some of the obstacles are to people in chairs.
So what about your church? I am NOT asking you all to make any modifications to your church. Some of the Wheelers I know go around looking for obstacles to their mobility and try to "force" change needlessly. If you have been faced with that situation, let me apologize for them.
What I do want to ask, however, is your church "fully accessible" meaning that I could park a vehicle in your lot, roll up to and in through the front door, and get to the sanctuary unaided. I would not be able to sit in a pew because most Wheelers do not leave their chairs. And please don't put me in the back; I like to be up front. Will I be able to get in to your restroom and find one of those huge handicapped stalls so I can roll right in and do my stuff? For Sunday School and fellowship (coffee and bagels or even a meal after services), can I roll right over to wherever I need to be?
If you answered YES to most of those questions, I want to ask:
Do you have any Wheelers in your church?
If that answer was NO, I can almost assure you that there is at least one unchurched Wheeler in your local neighborhood and more than likely; more than one.
What I want to know will help me write my next blog on how to evangelize those unchurched Wheelers that are in your neighborhood. These are some of the questions that you might have:
1. I am afraid I might say the "wrong thing" so how can I avoid that?
2. Should I help "push" a manual wheelchair user?
3. Do I help the person turn pages in their Bible?
4. For communion, what do I do if the person cannot hold the communion cup and bread?
5. What sort of "hassles" might we encounter with the Wheeler?
6. How do I find those unchurched Wheelers to begin with?
7. etc., etc., etc.
What questions do you have? Please don't be shy!
And you can ask "blunt" questions about anything you might have about disabilities, people with disabilities (PWD), etc. You can either place your questions, comments, whatnots in this blog or, if you desire to be more discreet, you can send me a private message with your input. My next blog will contain no "so-n-so asked..." Some of your questions will also enable me to write future blogs about specific subjects.
So please, let me know what is on your mind! And please, STAR this blog for visibility! I need everyone's input on this broad disability subject to accomplish this assignment from my Savior! I am looking forward to writing more blogs to answer your questions.
Thanks!
Dave
P.S. Another characteristic of some PWDs, as is my case here, it took over 4 hours to compose this blog. Coming up with sentences that make sense, leaving words out while typing a sentence (thought process lapses) and just typing itself (weak arms and fingers), is a real chore in itself. I say this because if your church wants me to take notes on an outline during the sermon or teaching, it will almost be impossible for me to do that correctly. Just another thing to know about us PWDs... |
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| To add a comment to "Need Your Inputs for an Important Blog" |
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| May 18, 2007 |
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1. I believe that people should be treated fairly and justly no matter how similar or different we are.
2. I'd need to have developed a repoire with the person or have him or her ask me the first time around.
3. Depends on the person's ability. Quadraplegics would need more assistance.
4. I wouldn't have thought about this... in the Catholic churches that I've been to, the Eucharistic Ministers can share the body & blood without out the recipient touching either.
5. * Not enough handicap parkings spots, but this is an issue with parking in San Francisco in general.
* Although an area for wheelers maybe setup, their family members might have to sit/stand somewhere else.
* If you're going to be in the front and the bathroom is all the way in the back (80+ yards back) and it's a standing room crowd for major celebrations, that's going to be logistically difficult.
6. I'm not sure. Maybe I'm assuming too much, but places of worship must also abide by the Americans w/ Disabilities Act. I don't know what that specifically means. I'm thinking ramped entry way instead of stairs, but not necessarily fully accessible/railed bathrooms with assisted door opening devices.
Questions:
* How do you normally get around? You mentioned a need for a handicapped accessible van once w/ a lift and probably hand used gas/braking devices.
* Is your church fully accessible? Is it an issue w/ churches in general? * What things should be done to cater for people w/ special needs? Not necessarily just pwd... for example, I can think of a church with a somewhat sound insulated room + speaker + glass fronted room into the main church for those w/ (crying) infants. |
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| May 18, 2007 |
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Allen,
Good points and questions. Akin to the "crying baby" situations, how about somebody with a severe palsy that results in unwanted movements or sounds?
Church Accessibility: Just to make sure everyone knows where I am headed, if you are in a newer building that does have the various "handicapped accomodations" but you don't have any wheelchair users in attendance, there is a very good possibility that there is an unchurched Wheeler in your neighborhood that you should visit and invite to church. That's for the next blog on how to find them, be comfortable with them and know what they need.
I have seen some "dumb" designs in buildings but that is not where I want to go with the blogs. Just as a funny here; I was in a shopping mall one day and was exiting through one of those "anchor" stores with the theft prevention devices at the doors. That's OK because I was not stealing anything. What was bad about it was...
The "push the button to open the door" was on the far side of the detector stand mounted on the wall and I could not reach the button due to where the detector was positioned. In order to get to the button, required rolling around to the other side which also involved maneuvering around those circular clothes racks that are crammed in for maximum use of available floor space. By the time I got back out of the "maze" and back around to the door again, the door would be closing! LOL
I will discuss the ADA and stress that "getting legalistic" to the n-th degree is not the way to handle things. In life, we all make adjustments to accomodate others. If somebody that is coming to visit me here at home is alergic to pet dander, my family will thoroughly clean the area that we will be in and put the pets in a closed room.
We try to help one another in all we do. That is what Jesus would do.
Dave |
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| May 19, 2007 |
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We do a weekly service in an assisted living center, so I'm accustomed to worshiping with "wheelers." I'm pretty comfortable with offering a push for the manual wheels, turning pages, etc. Correct me if I'm wrong Dave, but whether or not a wheeler gets offended by offers of help is pretty much an individual thing. Some do, some don't. If an offer of help does offend, then a lot of other things probably do too. And I would think my response to an offended wheeler (for offering help) could communicate Christ just as effectively, by humbly turning the other cheek, perhaps? Or maybe a joyful "well if there's anything else I can do for you..."
BTW, a couple answers to your questions include: yes our facility is fully PWD accessible, and no I don't typically see anyone on wheels at church, other than those kids with the wheels in their shoes. ~mike
ps... looking forward to your follow up! |
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| May 20, 2007 |
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Thanks for the comments, Mike. I'm working on the "answer blog" to present my take on things as well as some of the generally accepted "etiquette rules" for everyone.
Anybody else with questions/comments?
Dave
P.S. I could really use some more stars here... |
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