A Church For Families with Special Kids
August 23, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
After a priest filed a restraining order against the parents of 13-year-old Adam Race back in May, there was a lot of (often very heated) discussion about the exclusion and inclusion of autistic individuals in public spaces. The August 22nd Morning News reports on The Point at Bella Vista, a church meant for families with a relative who has special needs. Ginny Thornburgh, director of the American Association of People with Disabilities Interfaith Initiative in Washington, notes that
“the trend is to acknowledge the gifts and challenges children and adults with disabilities bring to the congregation…….. All people of all faiths have a right to be honored and welcomed – a right to worship, study, serve and learn.”
Hope that this is a trend that will certainly continue.
Go here to read about the Interfaith Disability Connection.
Thanks for this —especially the link. Finding or creating places for families to workship with a person with developmental disabilities is so difficult. There are some links to some wonderful programs and information I can take to churches in my community to start to create those places…I hope!
We’ve been away from Church for a long time but I liked the support it used to provide us and support is something we need a lot of these days. So we started going again. I’ve been blogging about the steps we’ve taken to make our Church a friendly place for Heidi –
http://leechbabe.wordpress.com/2008/08/25/going-to-church/