We're Still Here! October 9-15, 2011

[Salk Institute]

This is an annual event sponsored by <a href="http://post-polio.org">post-polio.org</a> This year they are focusing on "accessibility in places of worship".

 

Here's a blurb on their website:

 

As Post-Polio Health International embarks on its fifth WE’RE STILL HERE! week, October 9-15, 2011, remember that part of the aim is to spread the word that polio survivors, even as we age, can help ourselves and others. That is why each year we pick a focus that encourages action and makes the world a better place for all people with disabilities.

 

http://post-polio.org/werestillhere/wsh-2011main.html

 

Here's a link to a checklist: http://post-polio.org/edu/pphnews/PPH27-2sp11p2-5.pdf

[JAMES E DAVIS JR]

I hesitated a bit before commenting here regarding a "accessibility in places of worship". Actually I just started attending my Church a few months back and just recently I have spoken to my pastor and deacons about being baptized.

The Church itself has been VERY accessible to me and I suspect even more so for those in wheel chairs. I have never, that I can recall been to a church that was not accessible to someone with a disability. If someone had a problem then you can bet the pastor and members would find them a way to have access. As far as I'm concerned.......GOD'S HOUSE WILL ALWAYS BE ASSESSABLE to everyone! If you come to a place you wish to worship at or in and you come to an obsticle......speak to the paster and deacons.....I can assure you that if YOU can't find a way to over come it.....they will. If not, then it is not the right church for you......this is just my personal opinion.

Just last week I asked my paster and deacon......"can I be baptized" and right away they answered yes but then I said, "But I wish not to be "sprinkled" but "submersed" into the water." At first there was a bit of silence and then the deacon said, "It will be ok, we can put in a stool for him to sit on." The following Sunday I asked if I could see the baptismal area behind the pulpit.

There was a bit a pause and then I was walked back, I had to hold the deacons arm to go up the few short steps of the pulpit and entered a door leading to the baptismal pool. There appeared to be several narrow steps going up to the pool......to me it looked like a "mountain" and my stomach dropped but then I saw the rails and hope picked my stomach back up and a deacon said, "I'll be there with you."

We then moved around to the the window behind the pulpit where the family and others would stand to observe. As a looked at the pool, my stomach once again.....dropped....there was more narrow steps leading down into the pool, five or six this time, more or less? For me it just looked like a hundred! I was told the steps could be a bit slippery. The pool was fairly large and the deacon once again said there would be a stool for me to sit on and they would all be there for me. The pastor let me take his arm and I was led off the pulpit. Those few pulpit steps I over came by taking the pastor's arm, ALL OBSTICLES can be overcome.

As for the baptismal area......I've climbed and gotten down higher hills/mountains and to be baptized, there will be no obstacle stopping me from having this done.

Should and entire pulpit be rebuilt just to accommodate me and that of a few others, should lawas be made and rules passed to force a church to do this? My answer is an absolute and FLAT NO! To enter a true house of God, to worship and praise, to be baptized.......there is NO obstacle that can't be over come to enter this house and do the honorable and religious deeds! We don't need laws and rules for this. That is just my opinion and I'm going to stand by it :-)