Too many disabled people encounter excuses when they ask for access to worship spaces. “It’s not in our budget,” religious leaders will say to the wheelchair user who can’t fit into a bathroom stall. Or, “We can’t make that alteration just for you.” Budget constraints are real, but too often, enabling greater access to people Read more
“God told me to pray for you!” is about the last thing Amy Kenny wants to hear when she cruises into church riding Diana, the mobility scooter she has named after Wonder Woman. It’s not that she has anything against prayer. Kenny, a Shakespeare scholar and lecturer at the University of California, Riverside who is Read more
“I agree online church is an intriguing idea to include families and individuals affected by disability,” I said, leaning back in my chair. “But I don’t think it can work.” I spoke those words in 2009, in a casual conversation with other inclusive ministry leaders about what it might look like for churches to be Read more
People with disabilities want to be treated as people first – rather than by being defined by impairment and everyone has a role to play in helping bring that to fruition. That was the message from the 2018 Social Justice Week Workshop held last Saturday at St Thomas More Parish Church in Mt. Maunganui. Caritas Read more
A suggestion to abort a Down syndrome pregnancy in the popular New Zealand television soap opera Shortland Street has drawn fire from The Down Syndrome Association. They say they weren’t consulted about the storyline which is described as reflecting outdated thinking and failing to represent an inclusive society. Association spokesperson Kim Porthouse said the organisation Read more
“What is clear is that this Bill intends to go beyond terminal illness; what is unclear is exactly what conditions are in or out,” says the Disability Rights Commissioner. “It is readily apparent that the scope is unclear and misunderstood,” said Paula Tesoriero. Paula Tesoriero published a scathing assessment of David Seymour’s End of Life Read more
The Disability Commissioner and some people with disabilities say legalising euthanasia could lead to the erosion of rights for disabled people who choose to live. Disability Rights Commissioner Paula Tesoriero says David Seymour’s private member’s the End of Life Choice Bill, which was currently before the Justice Select Committee, undermined years of work to change perceptions Read more
BEIJING, China — As soon as the first sisters moved onto the church grounds in a rural region outside of Beijing, the babies started showing up on the doorstep. They were babies with severe disabilities, abandoned at a few months old, with no trace of the family who left them behind. China’s one-child policy was not Read more
A heartfelt letter from a small Otorohanga primary school principal has left a autistic student smiling and his parents speechless and emotional. The Maihiihi School principal, Glenn MacPherson, snuck a gift wrapped parcel and a letter into student Cam Uden’s school bag last Tuesday. His dad, Jason Uden, discovered it and shared the letter on Twitter as a show of thanks. Read the letter
Abortions of British babies with cleft palates has tripled in just four years as would-be parents rely on ultrasound scans to get advance warning of health problems and thousands of others are aborted because of various disabilities. New government data indicate while four unborn babies were aborted in 2011 because they had cleft palates, 11 Read more