Our church family is incomplete without individuals and families who have disabilities, including hidden disabilities and mental health conditions. In this episode, Beth Golik runs through a checklist for creating a disability-inclusive church event and urges event planners to include those with disabilities in the decision-making process.
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Quick Links:
Ep. 11: How to Make Your Event Planning Go from Stressful to Successful
Brandon Gaskin social media: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin
IFL2022 presentation: Deafness: Why Accessibility and Inclusiveness Matters.
Sensory-Friendly Worship Night Visual Schedule
Transcript:
Welcome to Key Ministry: The Podcast. I’m Beth Golik, one of your co-hosts, and in this episode, we are going to run through a checklist for creating a disability-inclusive church event.
But before we dive in, would you please do me the honor of lifting my co-hosts in prayer today? A couple of them are going through some hard things right now. If you are driving while listening to this podcast, please don’t bow your head and close your eyes. But let’s join our hearts in prayer.
Father God, I lift up my co-hosts who are each dealing with some really tough personal issues this week. And I lift up each listener who might also be dealing with challenges, too, be it the loss of a loved one or gaining an unwanted health diagnosis. Lord, be with each person in such a real way that they feel your presence. Give them the strength they need to navigate the tough roads ahead and put the people in their paths to walk alongside them when they need it most. Thank you, Lord, for your faithfulness. In Jesus’ name, amen.
OK, back in episode 11, I shared some strategies to help take some of the stress out of event planning. You can review those suggestions at keyministry.org/podcast. Today we are going to delve into an important area of church event planning that we only just touched on in the previous episode, and that is making sure that your events are disability-inclusive.
I’m defining disability-inclusive events as events where thought has been taken about creating an environment or an experience that is welcoming to individuals and families with physical disabilities, hidden disabilities, and mental health conditions.
Let me share a few examples. Probably the first thing that comes to mind is physical barriers. Is the venue itself accessible to people with mobility issues or who use wheelchairs or walkers? Does the seating include space for wheelchair users to fully participate in the event? What’s the accessible parking situation? If you haven’t thought through this yet, I have a couple of recommendations for you. There are facility accessibility checklists you can download from a variety of sources both church-related and for any type of building.
But what’s even better is having someone who is an actual wheelchair user provide their input during the event planning process.
Will your event have visuals, such as slides? Your choice of fonts and colors will determine how accessible your slides are for people with low-vision or limited vision. And let’s face it, even if you aren’t living with a visual impairment, the older we get the harder it can be for us to read things that are at a distance. I’m putting myself in that category for sure. Slides with a dark background and white or light text are easier to read than images with less color contrast. San serif fonts, such as Helvetica, are the easiest to read on slides.
Will you be providing an ASL interpreter? A few months ago, at Inclusion Fusion Live which is the national disability ministry conference hosted by Key Ministry, I had the incredible opportunity to learn more about ASL interpreters in the church environment. If, like me, this is an area that is relatively new to you, may I suggest two sources to check out. First off, please get to know Brandon Gaskin from the Deaf Millennial Project. We’ll link to Brandon and his ministry in the show notes and I hope you’ll follow him on social media. I would particularly encourage you to watch his main stage presentation from IFL2022 titled: Deafness: Why Accessibility and Inclusiveness Matters. I’d also encourage you to seek out Sonshine Interpreting if you are considering hiring an ASL interpreting team for a big event, such as a conference. In addition to providing qualified, certified Christian interpreters, they will provide guidance to help you better understand deaf culture so that you can welcome and honor deaf individuals and their loved ones.
Let’s talk about some hidden disabilities and mental health conditions.
What will your event be like for someone with a sensory processing disorder? Light and sound are often the biggest triggers for someone who experiences sensory overload. Is your AV team aware? Do you have a mitigation plan such as headphones or a quieter area that is available to anyone who needs it? On the subject of lights, my personal feeling is just to ditch the strobe lights, people. I’m going to go ahead and hashtag it, so picture me creating a hashtag sign with my fingers as I say: #NeverStrobes.
For your participants that have anxiety--whether it’s a diagnosed anxiety disorder or not--what are some things you can do to eliminate some of the barriers that would keep them from attending or enjoying your event? Helping participants in your event know what to expect is huge. You can do this by providing photos and a description ahead of time on your website or maybe providing a schedule at the event. If you know me, you know I love me a visual schedule. I’m including a sample for a sensory-friendly worship night in the show notes so please check it out.
Whenever possible, allow options so that the person with social anxiety disorder can comfortably participate in the event without being put on the spot. I’m going to throw out a couple of considerations so you get the idea: Will attendees be expected to gather together in small circles of strangers to pray out loud? Can a family easily navigate your venue without having to ask for directions to the restroom? These are just a few scenarios, but you get the idea.
If the planners of your church event aren’t familiar with some of the challenges that individuals with disabilities and special needs families experience when trying to participate fully in the life of the church, please make sure that they invite someone to the planning table that can speak into this. You don’t know what you don’t know, so go ahead and include someone who does know.
Our church family is incomplete without individuals and families who have disabilities, including hidden disabilities and mental health conditions. Please make sure that your church is thinking through what it takes to create a welcoming and inclusive environment. Do the research.
Make room at the planning table to include people with disabilities in the decision-making process.
Your event is going to be better for everyone and your church family will be blessed.
Thank you for joining me for today’s episode of Key Ministry: The Podcast. I encourage you to do two things: subscribe so that you don’t miss an episode and then share this particular episode with another ministry leader.
