Taking a ‘how’ mindset toward disability inclusion

Community Circle lifts up resources for disability ministry in churches

by Beth Waltemath | Presbyterian News Service

The Rev. Dr. Sarah McKenney

What does it mean to belong? This question has sparked discussions across churches and denominations and among Brené Brown readers for the past decade.

According to the “belonging wheel” by Dr. Erik Carter, professor of Special Education at Baylor University and director of the Baylor Center on Disabilities, 10 essential components comprise a sense of belonging: feelings that you are heard, befriended, needed, loved, present, invited, welcomed, known, accepted and supported.

The Rev. Dr. Sarah McKenney, the spiritual support and volunteer coordinator for Stone Belt Arc, a service provider for people with developmental disabilities in Bloomington, Indiana, shared the belonging wheel on Tuesday with 20 participants during the Office of Christian Formation’s monthly Community Circle. The online gathering, which is a part of their Faith Formation Leaders Connection, took place a few days after Disability Inclusion Sunday and during Christian Formation Week for the PC(USA).

McKenney’s presentation, which can be found here, helped to frame how churches should approach becoming more inclusive to people with disabilities and in particular those with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs). McKenney identified barriers faced by individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities as well as barriers the church faces in supporting these individuals. She cleared up common misconceptions and suggested ways church leaders and members could change their mindset and approach to allow for more accessible models of ministry.

McKenney pointed out how relationship-building is central to any ministry and even more so in building relationships with people with IDDs. “Have people with various disabilities be a part of the conversation and the training,” McKenney said, encouraging leaders to consult people with disabilities on how they wish to be approached and supported.

McKenney differentiated between a “can/can’t mindset” in which leaders and helpers talk about an individual with IDDs in the third person and assess their capabilities in private before making an invitation to include them, and a “how mindset,” in which individuals with IDDs are asked how they live to worship or how the church can support them in getting to church or participating in a Bible study or supporting them in serving as an usher, acolyte or in another role.

The shift from asking “Can?” to “How?” is simple but transformative for congregations as well as the individuals they seek to include as it moves from a posture of judgment to a posture of hope, McKenney said.

The Rev. Dr. Deborah Huggins

According to the Rev. Dr. Deborah Huggins, the board of deacons at her church, Central Presbyterian Church in Summit, New Jersey, has been a good place to start the conversation on how to approach individuals with disabilities when they visit or join the church and how to model that needed support for the rest of the congregation.

“We try to also do a leadership training with elders around disability inclusion and to bring it up in youth spaces,” said Huggins, who, like McKenney, is a former chair of Presbyterians for Disability Concerns. Huggins talked about the various shifts in language around and by people with disabilities and her church’s embrace of the term “disability ministry” by all parties involved.

Huggins was the second to present to the group and said that “leadership is essential to belonging.” Huggins then described ways her church champions youth with disabilities in leading worship. Huggins reviewed a resource she wrote with the Office of Christian Formation called the Disability Inclusion Tool Kit, which breaks down everything a leadership team needs to be more inclusive, including what information to collect on forms, how to approach a visitor and how to recruit and support a volunteer with a disability.

Huggins pointed out how simple but intentional changes make impacts broader than one might expect. “When you design universally, you open up the doors wider and wider,” said Huggins, who explained how if you set your table and chairs at 36 inches or more apart to make room for a wheelchair, then you also make space for a stroller.

To help churches in whatever stage of their journey toward inclusion of people with disabilities, the Office of Christian Formation has also curated resources from McKenney, Huggins, Presbyterians for Disability Concerns and others in one online space titled “Disability Inclusion and the Church,” which includes ideas for creating transportation support procedures, building friendships across abilities, managing inclusive building space and communications, interrupting harmful theologies around disability and healing, and crafting liturgies for all bodies.

Whether it’s through adopting the principles of universal design or a “how mindset,” McKenney and Huggins believe that disability ministry is a ministry of hope for all.

“Increased community creates space for people you never expected,” said Huggins.