Disability Awareness Sunday

Resources and information are now available for Disability Awareness Sunday 2011. Many churches are choosing to observe this special Sunday on February 27, but churches may choose any Sunday throughout the year.

Worship resources are available and can be used year-round.

This special Sunday gives every congregation the opportunity to challenge our hospitality and our inclusion of all persons into the full life of the church. This can be a time when persons with disabilities can offer their gifts and graces to the congregation and to God as participants, liturgists and leaders in this celebration.

As you celebrate this special Sunday, let it be an opportunity for the congregation to launch or extend its hospitality to persons with disabilities. The trustees and other groups should involve members of the congregation along with their sisters and brothers with disabilities in identifying and offering solutions to physical, architectural, communication and attitudinal barriers. Develop specific plans and strategies to eliminate those barriers so that your congregation might be fully hospitable to all of God’s people.

Ways you can make a positive impact:

• Be a support network. Caring for a loved one can be exhausting. Even a few hours of a regular break can be a boon to a caretaker.
• Try to include everyone in your services, social and recreational activities. Dealing with a disability 24/7 can be time consuming, but everyone can enjoy recreational opportunities.
• Through Disability Awareness Sunday, find ways for your church to become more accessible, in both architecture and attitude.