ARTICLES

Parish advocates use survey to aid the disabled

By Nita Grignol
Special to The Catholic Virginian

Many of the parish advocates for people with disabilities are distributing surveys and launching disability awareness campaigns during the upcoming Respect Life Week in January.

The advocates’ goal is to determine what types of accommodations and assistance are needed so that parishioners with disabilities can be fully integrated and accepted within the entire faith community.

At St. Mary’s parish in Richmond the Disability Committee is chaired by Disability Advocate Jack McGrath and is staffed by Human Concerns/ Social Justice Coordinator Rebecca Oxenreider. The committee also includes the parish nurses and parishioners who either work in the disability field, have a disability or a family member with a disability.

The committee recently designed a one-page survey that focused on accommodations and accessibility as well as the gifts, interests, desires and abilities of the parishioners with disabilities.

“The committee worked hard on designing the survey and it went through several revisions and some field testing before we [the committee] decided it was ‘good to go,’” Mr. McGrath said.

They plan to have the survey available for parishioners at the beginning of Respect Life Education Week Jan. 12–13.

“Respect Life Week was selected because we want to focus on Respect Life for all and recognize that all have gifts,” Mrs. Oxenreider explained. “We want to raise awareness by reflecting on how Respect Life encompasses all – from the unborn child to the person with a disability to the person on death row.”

Likewise, Susan Ellebracht, parish advocate at Church of the Good Shepherd in Smithfield, used last year’s Respect Life Week to launch a disability awareness campaign.

“This year we are again focusing on disability awareness by highlighting different disabilities beginning during Respect Life Week and continuing each month,” she says.

“Awareness is ongoing,” she said. “It’s not just a one time event and it is Respect All Life.”

Barb Kelly, disability advocate at St. Mary Star of the Sea at Ft. Monroe, also developed and distributed a one-page survey designed to find out what church ministry parishioners with disabilities would like to become involved in and what is preventing them from participation in that ministry.

Barb, who uses a wheelchair says, “I know there are people in my church who need some accommodations and I believe there are people who are not attending church because of their disabilities.”

During a month-long Respect Life campaign Deacon Tom Duszynski from St. Matthew’s in Schaumburg, Illinois paraphrased words of the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago.

“If there are any kinds of barriers; like attitude, communication, or even how accessible our church is — our Christian community is weakened for all. God always sees each person’s wholeness of Spirit, where we might only see the brokenness of mind or body.”

In other words, we are all the same in God’s eyes. The parish advocates are volunteers who are selected by their pastors and administrators and represent over 75 churches.

They are all working hard to break down barriers; attitudinal, communication and accessibility and, thereby, respecting life and strengthening our Christian community.

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