Religious Leaders Affirm Disability Rights
By Ginny Thornburgh
Director, AAPD Interfaith Initiative
Sometimes what seems impossible is actually possible.
When our president, Andy Imparato, asked me to bring the “powerful and prophetic voice of the faith community to the 21st Century disability agenda,” I was stunned. Through almost twenty years of work at the intersection of religion and disability, I had learned that disability rights issues were not generally high on the agendas of most denominations and faith groups.
How in the world does one bring the “powerful and prophetic voice of the faith community to the 21st Century disability agenda?” Through AAPD’s newest effort – the Interfaith Disability Advocacy Coalition (IDAC). That’s how.
IDAC is a diverse, nonpartisan
coalition of religious and religiously-affiliated organizations whose core
spiritual values affirm the rights and dignity of people with disabilities. The
mission of IDAC is to mobilize the religious community to speak out and take
action on disability policy issues with Congress, the President and
Administration, and society at large.
The IDAC Steering Committee consists of both lay and ordained interfaith leaders who care deeply about issues of disability. At our initial meeting in October 2008, we hammered out our goals, our procedures and our membership requirements. Finding common ground and common cause across faith lines and across disability experiences was hard but very rewarding work.
Our first public policy effort was to draft an IDAC letter for House and Senate leaders in support of the Community Choice Act (indicate information on the AAPD website), legislation which promotes independence with dignity and allows individuals who receive long-term services through Medicaid to have a choice in where, how and from whom they receive personal assistance. By allowing older adults and people with disabilities to receive care in their homes and communities, passage of this legislation will ensure that they can remain active participants in their families, neighborhoods and religious communities.
When the IDAC CCA letter went to the hill on June 22, 2009, twenty two respected organizations from a wide range of national religious groups had signed on and lent their moral support to the Community Choice Act. Sometimes what seems impossible is actually possible.
Our next step was to invite these twenty two very respected
religious organizations and others who care about disability public policy
issues to become Members of the Interfaith Disability Advocacy Coalition. Organizations seeking membership in IDAC must be a
national religious or religiously- affiliated organization with the capacity to
take action on national public policy issues; must agree to support IDAC’s
mission and follow IDAC’s procedures; and must have a grassroots constituency
and the authority to take positions on their behalf.
The variety of the first ten
organizations completing IDAC membership applications was impressive: Lutheran
Services in America, Union for Reform Judaism, National Catholic Partnership on
Disability, Islamic Society of North America, Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America, The Episcopal Church, The American Baptist Home Mission Societies,
National Apostolate for Inclusion Ministry, United Methodist General Board of
Church and Society, and United Jewish Communities/Jewish Federations of North
America.
On Monday, July 27, 2009 we held
the first IDAC Membership Information Meeting with featured speaker, the
Honorable Tony Coelho, AAPD Board Chairman and Former Majority Whip, U.S. House
of Representatives. A key author of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA),
Tony spoke with passion about the need for more and better employment
opportunities for people with disabilities and he described the discrimination
he had encountered as a person with epilepsy. His remarks were gratefully
received.
Also during that first IDAC
meeting, AAPD president Andy Imparato, a self described “disability policy wonk,” outlined the landscape of the disability rights movement
and drew particular attention to the Community Choice Act and the U.N.
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which will be at the
forefront of IDAC’s agenda. Following Andy, Rabbi Lynne Landsberg, Senior
Advisor on Disability Issues, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, spoke
of her personal experience with brain injury and her strong belief that
disability is a social justice issue which deserves the fullest attention of
the religious community.
All in attendance at the July 27th
meeting offered enthusiastic support for IDAC. The meeting made us realize that
once members of the religious community became aware of the pain of
discrimination, exclusion and isolation which people with disabilities and
older adults often experience, their support for disability rights issues is
likely to be sure and swift. So that which seemed impossible is now very
possible. Stay tuned as we gather new IDAC Members and begin to use the moral
authority of the Interfaith Disability Advocacy Coalition for the good of our nation.
In the Unitarian Universalist community, a group called "Equual Access" works to promote full inclusion.
Posted by: Cynthia Parkhill | August 03, 2009 at 04:51 PM
This fills my heart. CWS
Posted by: Cheryl Sensenbrenner | February 07, 2010 at 06:44 PM