I almost threw up in my local red bullseye store last week. I wasn’t sick, but the sight of employees in red polos and khaki pants erecting school supply displays full of notebooks, pencils, lunch boxes and backpacks with all manner of designs made my stomach hurt. There’s the classic Christmas Creep, where stores begin […]
“Sorry, we are late. We couldn’t find his favorite stuffed animal so he wouldn’t get in the car to leave until we found it.” “Sorry, he won’t wear a sweatshirt outside on the playground because it’s ‘too itchy’”. “Sorry, she’s been up all night and just now fell asleep. We won’t be there today after […]
Two steps. That’s really all I had to climb. I had climbed those steps hundreds upon hundreds of times before, but this time I had to think about it. I began to think about it Friday when I was getting x-rays on my often injured ankle. I thought about it again Saturday as I prepared […]
It’s a long story, but one day my friend and I got kicked off a bus in New York, with about a dozen other people, and walked aimlessly for hours until we reached our destination. We had never been to New York before, so when we were quite literally kicked to the curb, we found […]
When I was a special education teacher, I spent five days a week, six hours a day for 180 days with my students. I quickly got to know their strengths, their likes and dislikes, and challenges and was able to use all of that information in creating and implementing support plans for each student. When […]
“Hey, call me when you’ve got a minute. We have a kid with Down syndrome who started coming to church. What kind of stuff do we need in our class for them?” “Can I share contact info with our children’s pastor? Our kindergarten class has twins with autism and the pastor is overwhelmed and unsure […]
I have some news to share that may be sobering to ministry leaders: there will never be a perfectly executed Sunday school class. Anywhere. Ever. In fact, every Sunday, imperfect classes are executed across the globe in thousands of communities. But here is the good news. Maybe the BEST news: God, in His ever-perfect nature, […]
Recently, I stayed the night at a lake house with some friends. We ate snacks, hung out by the beach, and slept on our memory foam pillows. At the same time, a few miles away, dozens of athletes were preparing for an ultra marathon, running 100 miles through the mountains and the foothills. Runners ran […]
Dear Church, You might not know this, but I have a disability. I want to be in church; I really do. But some weeks it is very hard to be here. My disability goes everywhere I go: to work, to school, to the grocery store, to the dentis, and to church. Some people might already […]
I think one of the most extraordinary and compelling stories in all of the Bible is the calling of the disciples in Mark 1. In the narrative, Simon Peter and Andrew are fishermen, a career generally void of glamor, riches, or intrigue. They are not only fishermen, but at times (as in the Luke 5 […]
Because Jesus' table is accessible for everyone...
We desire to see the Church make room for all people affected by disability. To fully participate. To fully partner. To fully lead.
We exist to equip and empower the 25% of the population with a disability, their families, and their churches to become who God has created them to be.