Transcript Church Accessibility Seminar

Church Accessibility
Seminar
“For my house shall be called a house
of prayer for all people”
- Isaiah 56:6
Who needs accessibility?
You can’t always tell when
someone has a disability.
Disabilities come in many forms:
 Visible
 Non-visible
 Permanent
 Non-permanent
What is a disability?
People can have one or a combination of
the following:
 physical disabilities
 vision loss
 deafness or being hard of hearing
 intellectual or developmental disabilities
 learning disabilities
 mental health disabilities
 other disabilities
Churches
Churches are at the centre of
communal life, ritual observance,
and spiritual practice
Churches and Disability
Studies and anecdotal evidence on
people with disabilities support the:
 importance of personal faith and
spirituality
 benefits of communal support from faith
based communities
Churches are and can be an
important resource for people with
disabilities
Barriers to Accessibility
Barriers are:
 obstacles that prevent people with
disabilities from fully participating in
all aspects of society
 visible — physical features of a
building
 invisible — attitudes, policies
Barriers in Churches
1. Architectural and physical features of
buildings or spaces that cause problems for
people with disabilities.
In the Sanctuary
 An inaccessible prayer platform
 Lack of seating options for church attendees in
wheelchairs
 Poor lighting
In General
 Inaccessible restrooms
 Narrow doorways
 Inaccessible floors/rooms
 No elevator
Barriers in Churches
2. Information or communication that prevents
people from easily understanding
information.
 Intellectually challenging sermons/community
lectures
 Lack of plain language newsletters/registration
forms/publications
 Newsletters/registration forms/publications only
available in one format
 Small-print Bibles and song books
Barriers in Churches
3. Attitudes can discriminate against people
with disabilities.
 Congregational expectations related to
appropriate church behaviour
 Social stigma of people with disabilities
 Uneducated perspectives on people with
disabilities
 Fear of people with disabilities
 Cosmetic Inclusion - A tendency for the term
inclusion to be used without a sincere attitude
necessary to create a truly inclusive environment.
Barriers in Churches
4. Technology that is incompatible
with assistive devices.
 Churches websites that are
incompatible with assistive software
 Unavailable or broken assistive
devices
 Ushers and greeters lacking training
on the use of devices offered by the
church
Barriers in Church
5. Systemic policies, practices or procedures
that discriminate against people with
disabilities
 The presence of service animals in the church
 The integration of non-Christian support persons
into public ritual observance
 Lack of leadership opportunities for congregants
with disabilities
 Segregated programming for people with
disabilities
 Hosting of programs in inaccessible rooms
Legislation


On June 13, 2005 the Accessibility
for Ontarians with Disabilities Act
(AODA) was passed
Its goal is to develop mandatory
accessibility standards to ensure
that Ontario is accessible to people
with disabilities by 2025
AODA
The act focuses on five key areas of
accessibility:
1. Customer Service
2. Information and Communications
3. Built Environment
4. Employment
5. Transportation
How Accessibility Standards Become Law





Standards Development Committees (SDCs) draft
proposed accessibility standards for the five key
areas
Proposed accessibility standards put forward for
public review
Feedback incorporated
Final proposed accessibility standards submitted
to Minister of Community and Social Services
(MCSS)
Within 90 days all, part, or revisions of proposed
accessibility standards enacted as legislation
Accessibility Standards for Customer
Service





First standard to become regulation came
into force January 1, 2008
Public Sector compliance by January 1,
2010
Private Sector compliance by January 1,
2012
Applies to all organizations and businesses
with one or more employees
Churches will have to comply by 2012
Requirements
1.
Establish policies, practices and
procedures on providing programs and
services to people with disabilities.
2.
Use reasonable efforts to ensure that your
policies, practices and procedures are
consistent with the core principles of
independence, dignity, integration and
equality of opportunity.
Requirements continued….
3.
Set a policy on allowing people to
use their own personal assistive
devices to access your programs
and services.
4.
Communicate with a person with a
disability in a manner that takes
into account his or her disability.
Requirements continued…
5.
Allow people with disabilities to be accompanied
by their guide dog or service animal in those
areas of the premises you own or operate that
are open to the public, unless the animal is
excluded. If a service animal is excluded, use
other measures to provide services to the
person with a disability.
6.
Permit people with disabilities who use a support
person to bring that person with them while
accessing programs or services that are open to
the public or third parties.
Requirements continued…
7.
Where program fees are charged,
provide notice ahead of time on what
admission, if any, would be charged for
a support person of a person with a
disability.
8.
Provide notice when facilities or services
that people with disabilities rely on to
access your programs or services are
temporarily disrupted.
Requirements continued…
9.
Train staff, volunteers, contractors and any other
people who interact with the public or other
third parties on your behalf on a number of
topics as outlined in the customer service
standard.
10.
Train staff, volunteers, contractors and any other
people who are involved in developing your
policies, practices and procedures on the
provision of programs and services on a number
of topics as outlined in the customer service
standard.
Requirements continued…
11.
Establish a process for people to
provide feedback on how you
provide programs or services to
people with disabilities and how
you will respond to any feedback
and take action on any complaints.
Make the information about your
feedback process readily available
to the public.
Churches Guide to the
Customer Service Standard
The guide is an important reference document for
church administrators and includes:
1.
2.



Suggestions on how church can meet each of the
eleven specific requirements under the legislation
Templates for:
Creating accessibility policies
Receiving member feedback on accessibility
Providing notice of disruption of service
Please review this important document at
your convenience
Author

The information contained within is
based on the Accessibility Standards
for Customer Services (Ontario
Regulation 429/07) and was
adapted and formulated by
Christian Horizons for use in
churches.