Imagine that you need a cane, walker or wheelchair daily to get around. You put much effort into planning before you go out, hoping to participate in an activity without having problems. Most steps and stairs you can't anticipate are sufficient barriers to worry about and threaten your autonomy. You are often embarrassed when too many obstacles prevent you from using a bathroom with dignity. Will you, once again, avoid visiting stores, churches and even friends' homes where you know such problems await you? Will you risk rejection, exclusion from a group or activity, public humiliation in case of an accident, or feeling utterly dependent on the mercy of strangers? Are you anxious just thinking about it? This may not be your reality today, but it probably will be one day.
Despite the United Church of Canada's reputation for inclusiveness, our churches and community activities are not accessible enough to people with disabilities who feel accepted only halfway. We are invited under the guise of enriching the community with our unique gifts and perspectives. Still, hosts fail to honour our inevitable limitations by placing barriers in our way. As a minister with a disability, I face this every day. Some churches have already taken good steps to ensure that their sanctuaries are more accessible, but only for people who remain in the pews, not those up there at the front, where leaders are active. People forget that ministers like me and other community leaders of all ages can also be people with disabilities.
Accessibility is not only a physical issue but also an emotional and spiritual one. For example, an inaccessible business sends the message that management does not believe I can be a respectable customer. Likewise, an inaccessible church sends the message that I am a person who deserves only charity but not active participation in the body of Christ.
In all the churches I have worked in or visited, I have heard leaders shirk their duty of accessibility. The financial argument dismisses conversations before they can even be considered: "we'd like to, but we can't afford it; the necessary renovations would cost too much or be too complicated."
Suppose we believe that the problem only affects a small minority; spending so many resources on so few people may seem absurd. However, one billion people, or 15% of the world's population[1], are living with a disability at any given time. But this number does not tell the whole story. This proportion inflates to represent the majority if we consider that all bodies change during a lifetime. The only difference is that we don't all experience it at the same time. All human beings who are lucky enough to live long enough are destined to live with a disability one day and will end up suffering the same problems as those who have experienced disability before them. Some, like me, have been disabled since birth; others will become disabled through illness or accident. In the best of cases, natural aging will impose problems of mobility, vision, hearing, memory, cognition, pain and fatigue on everyone.
Disability often comes as a shock, a cold shower in the lives of those who did not think they were concerned. It causes frustration, discouragement and exclusion on a daily basis. Neglected accessibility problems even threaten the mental health of those who are too often confronted with them. Will you wait until you are also a victim before taking action to defend accessibility? In the name of everyone's well-being, we must no longer wash our hands of it.
Some suggestions for getting started
Explain to members of your community why accessibility issues are of universal concern. The point is not to scare people but to motivate them to be concerned now so that, ultimately, everyone would be spared from painful exclusion as much as possible.
Check out the Accessibility Audit checklist[2] and the Disability, Accessibility and Inclusion page[3] developed by the United Church to avoid accessibility oversights.
Check with local, provincial and federal agencies that can provide you with resources to help fund your accessibility efforts.
Notes and References
1. World Health Organization, “World Report on Disability,” December 14, 2011, https://www.who.int/publications-detail-redirect/9789241564182.