Within Your Congregation:
- Pass the ADA25 Pledge: Here
- Begin by talking with people with disabilities and family members who may be connected to your community. Explore ways together that they might wish to contribute to the life of your faith community through volunteer roles. They may also wish to put their faith into action and service.
- Utilize the Anniversary to begin to explore ways for your congregation or faith community to be more accessible, hospitable, and inclusive of persons with disabilities and their families. Check with your own faith tradition to see resources already developed and other online resources.
- Conduct a building assessment to uncover places that might be difficult to access for people with disabilities.
- If you have already worked on inclusive faith supports, use the Anniversary to celebrate that work and explore possible next steps to strengthen it or promote it to those who may not be aware of the resources you offer.
- Plan a worship service that addresses issues and possibilities for a more inclusive congregation and community. Your faith tradition may have resources and guides for planning those services. Include people with disabilities and/or family members in the planning and leadership for those services. For further information, see “That All May Worship,” an interfaith worship plan found here.
- Plan a series of adult education and children’s events to raise awareness. The best resource would be to have people with disabilities and/or family members speak about the ADA as well as their own faith journeys. Local disability organizations may also be sources for speakers. For young people and adults, note the video presentations from the Summer Institute on Theology and Disability or from other faith and disability organizations.
Provide a bulletin insert, flyer, or other announcement about what the ADA is and seeks to accomplish. - Host a movie night or documentary series related to disability.
- If your congregation has ministries with children and adults with disabilities, talk with the members to explore ways that both children and adults may be more fully included in the life of your community.
- Send a group to volunteer with disabilities ministries in your area.
- Explore ways that your congregation or faith community could begin new initiatives of support such as respite care ministries or helping people with disabilities find jobs.
- Employment is the largest area of need that has not been impacted substantially by the ADA and many other public and private initiatives. For ideas on how congregations could help, see the AAPD website and the Putting Faith to Work Project.
In Partnership with Others in the Community
- Make contact with disability advocacy groups, local governments, and disability service organizations to see if local celebrations or activities are being planned. If so, join in the planning. If not, be a catalyst for bringing people together to do so.
- Let the community know about activities being planned in your faith community.
- Invite other faith communities in your tradition and/or in your community to join in the ADA25 and Faith initiative.
- Offer your facilities for meetings and events.
- Help those organizations and networks to know about faith communities who are actively working on becoming more inclusive congregations.
- Explore with other organizations ways that congregations might support the people they serve and support and/or other parts of their mission.
- Work with other organizations and faith groups on a community workshop or series of awareness and training event for the whole community.
If you, your community, or your faith tradition are doing other work, please share with us your ideas! You can engage with us in the comments of these pages, on our facebook page, or on various social media using #adalegacytour