Disability Concerns


	Volunteer Respite Manual: Creating Valuable Options for Family Caregivers Posted on March 22, 2012, 10:45 am Topics: Caring Respite allows family caregivers to take a short pause from their continuous tasks as caregivers while their loved ones continue to be cared for at home or in safe, meaningful, and appropriate community settings. Read more »
	A Lecture on Being Human by a Man who Cannot Speak Posted on March 20, 2012, 8:01 am Topics: Accessibility Chris said that when his parents gave him his first voice synthesizer, he went from not speaking to talking in complete sentences in one day. I praise God for Christian leaders like Chris who can speak so articulately. He talks about disability, of course, but more importantly, he talks about what it means to be human. Read more »
	Making Church Communications More User Friendly Posted on March 12, 2012, 1:56 pm Topics: Accessibility Newsletters, web pages, projected slides, and bulletins can enhance or hinder communication depending on how they are formatted and the colors used. Lighthouse International has produced guidelines for print, electronic, and web communication that will help anyone who wants to make their church resources more useful. Read more »
	Grace and Truth Instead of Fear Posted on March 12, 2012, 11:15 am \| 2 comments Topics: Advocacy Can you imagine the firestorm of criticism if some media outlet speculated about the state of this soldier’s marriage as a reason for his violent behavior? A firestorm would be justified. Yet no firestorm erupts when pundits speculate about his mental state. Read more »
	Should Infanticide be Legal? Posted on March 6, 2012, 9:16 am \| 5 comments Topics: Advocacy In a recent article in the Journal of Medical Ethics, the authors, Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva, promote the idea that regions where abortion is legal should also allow the killing of newborn children. The Princeton University bioethicist Peter Singer put forth a similar argument a number of years ago. Read more »
	One Question Posted on February 29, 2012, 9:14 am Topics: Caring In this seven and one-half minute video, 35 people with intellectual disabilities answer the same one question: If you can change one thing about yourself, what would you change? Their answers will surprise you. Read more »
	Amazing Gifts: Stories of Faith, Disability, and Inclusion Posted on February 28, 2012, 8:51 am \| 2 comments Topics: Hospitality Making your congregation welcoming and accessible can be done because it has been done—somewhere by people just like you. Amazing Gifts tells those stories. Read more »
	Survey: the Christian Community and People with Disabilities Posted on February 28, 2012, 8:40 am Topics: Accessibility The Disability Studies Institute (DSI) of California Baptist University is interested in creating a snapshot of the current status of the Christian community's interaction with people with disabilities by means of a survey. DSI is hoping that individuals and representatives of church, parachurch organizations, or other Christian faith-based organizations will participate in this study by completing the survey. Read more »
	Watch Out for Stereotypes Posted on February 21, 2012, 10:30 am \| 3 comments Topics: Advocacy Jeremy Lin, a point guard with the New York Knicks, has been in the news. Thanks to his fine playing, people are taking notice of him, and with that extra attention some commentators have engaged in stereotyping resulting in racial jokes and slurs about Lin's Asian heritage. Read more »
	Camping Out: Disability, Longing, and Romantic Love Posted on February 10, 2012, 9:07 am Topics: Caring Please don't ask if I'm content in my singleness. I'm not there yet, and I don't know when I will be. I see myself as single by circumstance, not necessarily by choice. Read more »
	Let everything, even dogs, praise the Lord Posted on January 31, 2012, 9:40 am \| 2 comments Topics: Accessibility When Frank Eckl and his family sat down for dinner at Don Julio’s restaurant last November, they had no idea this decision would begin a series of events that would result in the arrest of a young woman and the closing of the restaurant. Read more »
	Mental Illness and Families of Faith Posted on January 23, 2012, 7:49 pm Topics: Caring This tool is designed to be used with clergy, members of congregations, family members and anyone desiring to learn more about mental illness and how to respond with compassion and care. It can be used as a small group study or as a resource to quickly find information on a specific topic when the need arises. Read more »
	Focus on People Not Labels Posted on January 23, 2012, 4:23 pm \| 3 comments Topics: Caring A controversy rages about the definition of autism. The American Psychiatric Association is considering a redefinition of the term for the newest edition of their Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM). Should the definition of “autism” or any other disability matter for us who are involved in churches? Read more »
	National Association for Rural Mental Health Posted on January 19, 2012, 9:40 am Topics: Caring Finding resources in a rural setting for people with mental illnesses can be especially challenging. The National Association for Rural Mental Health (NARMH) is a professional organization that serves the field of rural mental health. Read more »
	Medline Plus Posted on January 19, 2012, 9:33 am Topics: Caring Medline Plus, a service of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, provides solid medical information about various disabilities including mental illnesses. Read more »