[three things] accessibility

Our bulletin every week says:

Persons of all gender identities, races, ethnicities, economic backgrounds, and sexual orientations are encouraged to participate fully in every aspect of this community's life together.

At our Seers meeting on Saturday night, we looked briefly at this statement as a possible articulation of one of our core values as a community.

Despite the temptations inherent in laundry-list inclusion, I really wish we could add dis/abilities to that list, but. Inviting someone to church when they can't get in the door, hear the sermon, or share fellowship without going into anaphalactic shock is an empty invitation.

We shouldn't say that people are invited when we can't be fully hospitable to them. I think this is an issue this congregation needs to think about in terms of lots of issues, like race and gender identity, but I'd like to use this Three Things to open a conversation about dis/ability, since disability is a health issue as well as a welcome issue.

Before I ask the questions, two points from disability politics 101:
1. Many of the difficulties disabled individuals face are not inherent to their condition. They are caused by a society that is designed for (temporarily) able-bodied people. Disabled people face many daily impediments that are not inherent to their disability or chronic illness.
2. No one is able-bodied, full stop. If we have general freedom of movement, sight, hearing, etc, we are temporarily able-bodied. That could change at any moment.

So, three things!

1. What are three ways that our worship space is accessible to people with particular mental or physical disabilities? How are people with disabilities able "to participate fully in every aspect of this community's life together"?
2. What are three ways in which our worship space is not accessible to people with particular mental or physical disabilities? How are people with disabilities barred from full participation in every aspect of this community's life together?

Let's talk in this post especially about physical issues: the layout of the worship space, the movements throughout that space, the printed worship material, audibility issues, foodstuffs, etc.

[spoons, willpower, and grace] your faith has made you well

1. Spoons is actually the first thing I wanted to post about when we started discussing this blog. Spoon Theory [link goes to main page where there's a link to the 2 page pdf] is a way of conceptualizing chronic illness/disability that's really meaningful and helpful for me and many of the people I know. Go ahead and read it; I'll wait.

Here, e.g., people describe their own particular spoon requirements in living with repetitive stress injuries, blindness, anxiety, and other conditions.

Spoons are resources/energy that temporarily able-bodied people (this designation is a reminder that anyone could become disabled at any time) have and don't think about. Walking/running through an airport to catch a plane is annoying for me, but for someone with chronic pain in her leg, it's not annoying. It's impossible. Could she do the walking? Well, probably. Probably, it's physically possible. But it would be so utterly exhausting that she wouldn't have any spoons left for anything else, so she chooses to use a wheelchair to navigate the airport and save spoons for getting luggage, navigating ground transportation, etc.

While Spoons per se should probably remain a term for discussing living with physical or mental disability, I think the idea of resources as finite is important for all of us.

I really appreciate Pr. Donna's wording in the sidebar; the goal is becoming the healthiest person you can be. That doesn't mean that chronic illness is gonna go away; it does mean that it's possible to be healthy within the constraints that illness imposes.

++

2. This actually makes me think of y'all's recent posts and thoughts: Niki thinking about willpower (do we choose to have or not have it) and Trudy's reflections on control (and acknowledging that we don't have it and ceding it to God), and Pr. Donna's June 28 sermon about how "you can't do that" is not a Jesus-like thing to think or say. ("If we're part of Christ's body, can't shouldn't be in our vocabulary.")

And... I don't think there's one answer. I don't think there's one way to conceptualize control, will-power, free will, and grace as we go about trying to build healthy bodies and healthy minds and healthy lives, because we're all at different places (although I know God is working in all of our lives, and we're never without grace).

For instance:
+I don't drink alcohol. This choice takes absolutely 0 willpower, energy, or spoons. I have no desire or temptation to drink alcohol.
+On the other hand, eating three meals a day? Is a massive, daily challenge at which I am currently failing. Pretty much all my meals are preceded by a grace wherein I thank God for helping to overcome the massive mental blocks between me and taking care of myself.

I know that for me, as soon as I start on the "I didn't get out of bed until past noon today -- I have no willpower -- no, I have willpower, I'm just lazy -- I am lazy and a failure --" track, there's no good that can arise from that. I'm still working on patterns of thinking that hold me accountable without holding me captive. (And I still think grace is the answer).

++

3. Accountability:

Joys:
+I meditate weekly with a small but committed group at Westport Pres. And the Jesus Prayer ("Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner") is constantly in my heart.
+Practicing openness and honesty with people who care about me.
+New medz, about which I have great hope.

Challenges:
+Uhh, getting out of bed before noon one two? I'd like to get back to midday services at Grace and Holy Trinity.
+Three meals a day. Seriously.
+Exercise, getting some.