A new adventure for the church

 There's a running joke in the disability community called: Crip Time. It basically alludes to the fact that we either 1) run late because things just take us longer due to disability, or 2) our time is not valued by society because of our disabilities so we are expected to wait longer for things than abled people. Thus the passage for time when in a constant state of disability is nebulous and weird. Like, I had appointments this week with my Neurologist, Cardiologist, and Physical Therapist, which seems like a lot of medical stuff in one week to an abled person, but for me is normal. The other days this week, however, we're mostly spent getting ready for these appointments and sleeping. Which makes it all the more strange when people in the "real world" tend to ask me "what have you been up to these days?" I mean, the same old thing I always am, and also kinda nothing, because very few of these medical appointments feel like progress anymore. It's just a lot of issues they can't solve, referrals, presciption refills, and nebulous test results. For example, the pain in my shoulder that regularly renders my left arm unusable, shows up perfectly normal on X-rays, and isn't changed by months of physical therapy.  It just means that I drive one handed, or can't type while sitting up, or hold heavy things with both hands. It is a mysterious pain in the ass, and nothing really makes it better, but a lot of things make it worse. It causes Crip Time, since getting showered and dressed take longer one handed, and it exists in crip time, since I don't even really know when it started being a problem or when it's ever gonna get fixed. The bottom line is that time is not linear, which I first learned from Doctor Who, but is constantly reinforced by being disabled.

But the recent surprising thing is that I have actually been getting something done towards a goal lately!  I have begun the process of starting a business. It's called Faithful Access and is designed to help churches become more accepting and accessible to disabled people. I've spent most of my life (literally for the past 20 years) working with disabled people and within the disability community, long before I counted myself part of it. Now with lived experience on top of that, and having learned from many a disabled activist in the last 6 years of being disabled, I know I have expertise that my church family could benefit from. Faithful Access offers both an accesibility assessment option and a one day workshop covering disability basics, disability etiquette, disability theology, and disability programming.

I can tell you, because of my familiarity with the Episcopal Church, this is desperately needed. One, because there is no one else organizing to do this work anymore. As far as I can tell, the network of disabled episcopalians became defunct back in 2012, nearly 10 years ago, and they never offered any actual program to educate non-disabled episcopalians before that. Two, getting older is pretty much what the Episcopal church is truly the best at. I'm only kinda joking here, although arguing amongst ourselves and managing to give out communion are probably close seconds. Anyway, getting older is often accompanied by increased disability needs, so the need for my services will only increase as congregations age. Plus, disability access to a church is often a secular issue, since many churches serve as polling places for voting, disabled people's right to vote is dependent on churches being accessible, despite not being forced to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Some of you reading this may be episcopalians yourselves and thinking this sounds intriguing for your church, but you may have some questions like:

1. Will you come to my church? I am prepared to travel to any english speaking congregation (I do not have the linguistic or cultural competency to offer this training in other languages) within the United States (where I am familiar with applicable disability law), however it will be the host's responsibility to cover necessary travel expenses since I literally have less than $200 to my name until I get a response to my social security application. In a similar vein, there is a suggested honorarium for my services, but I am willing to discuss "prices" further based on congregational resources.
2. Do I have to do both components? No, travel is necessary for the accessibility assesment, so that's something to keep in mind, but a parish can choose to only have the assessment, only utilize the workshop, or (my recommendation) do both for maximum utility.
3. Covid is real, can we do the workshop virtually? Yes! It'll still take most of the day, so it's not any faster than doing it in person, but it should be just as effective remotely.
4. How can I find out more? There's a website! And an instagram! And eventually there will be a facebook page. I'll put the links below.
5. How soon can I sign up? Well, given my disability limitations, I take one client parish a month, so the sooner you sign up, the more options you'll have. I will start working with clients as soon as January 2022. You can register via the link on the website homepage.
6. Who should attend a workshop? The ideal attendee is "anyone who is interested" but beyond that, my reccommendation includes: clergy, vestry, ministry leader, and ushers. When these folks are disability informed, your parish is much more likely to have overall positive interactions with disabled people and be able to integrate them into the full life and ministry of the church.

If you're interested in learning more, you can find us at our current website:

faithfulaccess.wordpress.com

or on instagram @faithful_access

Even if you're not a church person, there are posts to both areas about disability information that can benefit anyone. 

And if you are disabled yourself, and want to offer your two cents, you can contact me personally (if you have my contact info already) or through the website "About" page.

In the mean time, I'll be here, taking the "wibbly wobbly timey wimey" crip time route to my future.