A Place for All

In the past couple of years I've become more aware of the need for our churches to more actively welcome persons with disabilities. Thanks to a few individuals with a calling, my local church has made strides in this area, and our North Texas Conference has, as well. More people are getting involved and realizing the importance of this intentional welcoming every day.

So it's encouraging that leaders from multiple faiths are part of this new documentary, A Place for All: Faith and Community for Persons with Disabilities, and United Methodism's own Bishop Peggy Johnson is among them.

From the news release:

November 19, 2009— Making faith communities more accessible to persons with disabilities is the topic of a unique interfaith documentary that will air on ABC-TV affiliates nationwide beginning December 6.

A Place for All: Faith and Community for Persons with Disabilities is presented by the Interfaith Broadcasting Commission (IBC), a coalition of Jewish, Muslim, Protestant, Orthodox and Catholic faith groups, as part of ABC’s 2009 Vision and Values series. 

The issue addressed by the program is critical, as it is estimated that 1 out of 5 Americans has a disability, says The Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches.  In the documentary, Kinnamon notes that both the faith community and the persons with disabilities lose when special needs aren’t properly addressed.

Watch the first few minutes of the documentary here, and check with your ABC affiliate to see the rest.
For more information on this program and other IBC presentations, see www.interfaithbroadcasting.com.

Comments

[Kevin]

One out of five people has a disability!? Where did that number come from?

[John of the Dead]

Kevin wrote:
"One out of five people has a disability!? Where did that number come from?"

From the Centers For Disease Cotrol:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE53T77620090430

And here's the raw data:

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/FASTATS/disable.htm

[Kevin]

John
That is a lot of disabled people. Looks like much of it comes with age.