About elevators and chair lifts in places of worship.
By Jacqueline L. Salmon
Staff Writer for Justice for All
February 3, 2007
When Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld arrived to lead Ohev Sholom, the
National Synagogue, two years ago, it didn’t take him long to
notice a serious problem.
Steep staircases in the 50-year-old synagogue in Northwest
Washington made it difficult for the elderly and people with
physical disabilities to attend services and celebrations.
Now, Herzfeld is leading an effort to remedy the situation. After
raising almost $150,000, the synagogue is installing two elevators
and a stair lift so the steps no longer prevent disabled
worshipers from participating in the life of the Orthodox Jewish
synagogue at 16th and Jonquil streets.
After years of low-key resistance or inertia, houses of worship
such as Ohev Sholom are increasingly trying to make their
facilities, their programs and their worship services more
accessible to the country’s 54 million people with disabilities.
But for disability activists, the victories are coming slowly.
Seventeen years after the sweeping Americans With Disabilities Act
threw open the doors of workplaces, schools and other institutions
to the disabled, disability activists say that religious entities
have been less responsive because they are exempt from most of the
act’s requirements.
Historic religious buildings lack ramps and elevators, services
are difficult for people with hearing problems to decipher,
religious texts cannot be read by those with vision problems and
religious education program leaders tell parents of emotionally
disturbed children that they are not equipped to handle the
childrens’ special needs.
Many religious institutions simply don’t know how to respond to
the needs of members who are disabled, says Ginny Thornburgh,
director of the National Organization on Disability’s Religion and
Disability Program, which is pushing religious entities to become
more accessible to the disabled.
“There is relatively little interaction between houses of worship
and people with disabilities. There’s no antagonism, but there is
very little dialogue,” said Thornburgh, who is hard of hearing and
has a 46-year-old son who suffered brain damage as a child.
According to a 2004 Harris poll, 84 percent of people with and
without disabilities describe religion as “very important” or
“important” to them. But less than half of people with
disabilities attend religious services at least once a month,
compared with 57 percent of people without disabilities.
“We are incomplete as long as people with disabilities can’t
come,” said Herzfeld, whose synagogue also hosts programs for
people with developmental disabilities. “The congregation needs
these people. It’s not a house of God if not everyone can come and
worship.”
To nudge congregations along, the National Organization on
Disability launched the Accessible Congregations Campaign several
years ago to urge national faith groups, congregations and
seminaries to remove barriers to the disabled.
By signing on, a religious organization commits to removing
obstacles that hinder the full participation of all people with
disabilities. So far, 2,270 houses of worship have signed on.
Locally, 173 congregations in the District, Maryland and Virginia
are participating.
More than 100 religious leaders, educators and seminary faculty
members have also signed up for the organization’s Interfaith
Directory of Religious Leaders with Disabilities, which lists
religious leaders with disabilities who can serve as bridges
between the disability community and religious organizations, said
Thornburgh.
Jackie Mills-Fernald, director of Access Ministries at McLean
Bible, trains leaders at other churches on how to increase
services for the disabled. She also recently organized the Capital
Area Disabilities Ministries, a coalition of 20 Washington area
churches interested in improving access for people with
disabilities
Parents of disabled children are often the spark that ignites a
faith organization’s move to become more open to those with
disabilities, said Mills-Fernald.
“They’re just dying — begging — for a place where the entire
family can worship,” she said.
Many houses of worship mistakenly assume that becoming more
accessible to the disabled will be a financial drain and that it
involves making expensive renovations to their facilities,
Thornburgh said.
But, she said, the adjustments can be low-key and inexpensive.
People with intellectual disabilities, such as mental retardation,
can be invited to serve as greeters. Ushers can be stationed by
heavy doors to assist those with mobility impairments. Churches
that use video screens can display the text of the sermon for the
hard of hearing.
“Money is a distraction,” Thornburgh said. “We urge congregations
to begin with low-cost ways to make the congregation understand
the gifts and talents which children and adults with disabilities
bring to the congregation.”
Then, when a house of worship opts to make more expensive
investments in ramps and elevators, members are more likely to be
supportive, she said.
“Congregations get stuck on the issue of money, or they believe
that once they raise the money and address the barriers of
architecture, the job is complete,” she said. “The greater
challenge is to eliminate the barriers to attitude.”
At the Covenant Community of Jesus the Good Shepherd, a Catholic
church in Calvert County, lay leaders this month launched a
disability ministry called “Accommodating Hearts” that is aimed at
educating parishioners about those with disabilities and reaching
out to disabled parishioners.
Children in the religious education program will learn about
disabilities and their impact, special prayers will be inserted in
the worship services and volunteers are starting up a resource
library with materials on disabilities in the church.
“It’s not expensive things that we’re trying to do,” said
organizer Jean Reams, whose 12-year-old daughter has cerebral
palsy and a seizure disorder. “But it’s kind of beginning small
steps to get the community going and to reach out to the disabled
community.”
Source: Washington Post
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