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The Summer, 1997 issue of Mennonite Mutual Aid's Dialogue on Disabilities opens with this question. It notes that while churches are forced by building codes to make some physical accommodations for people in wheelchairs, they often are unaware of what else needs to be done. After all, not all disabilities place people in a wheelchair. The newsletter asks how accessible churches are to people with low vision, blindness, hearing loss, mental illness, mental retardation, etc.
The newsletter suggests that church leaders sit down and talk with individuals with disabilities and their families, since they may know solutions which are simple but very helpful. For instance, Mark and Donna Oklak, who attend a Brethren church, have two children who are vision impaired; Donna, who is also church secretary, began preparing large-print versions of the Sunday bulletin and song sheets for use by her children and by others who are visually impaired.
Other churches find it is easier for people with certain disabilities to be integrated into the church if there are other people with the same or similar disabilities in the church. People in the church begin to understand that disability and to accept whatever distractions and inconveniences come with it.
A concluding comment by editor Sheila Stopher Yoder notes that over 43 million people in the US (about a sixth of the population) have disabilities, and suggests that making churches accessible "can offer new opportunities to reach those untouched by church evangelism". JC
Dialogue on Disabilities is published quarterly by Mennonite Mutual Aid, Box 483, Goshen, IN 46527, phone 1-800-348-7468. It is distributed free of charge in Canada in association with Mennonite Central Committee Canada.
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