[Faith-talk] {Spam?} Division?

[Justin Williams]

Sarah, I agree with you 100 percent.  I've left churches because of that.
There is not a good way to describe that to folks who are sighted, and I really don't want to beg to go to lunch every day, so I just quit going until I got hooked up with Uber.  
I just couldn't get myself pumped enoughto do that.
 Also, I had a 5000 member church, one with an actualy elevator in the church, an elevator need I say it again, tell me that they couldn't sen dsomeone to pick my up on Sundays.  The cab ride would have been astronomically expensive just to get there, and of course, doubled, on the way back.  But the lunch thing, as well  as attempting to be an actual member of social activities in the church is really depressing.  I've had the same church members talking about how a group of them got together. Now, I don't expect everyone to call everytime, but I do expect to find my way to become a part of a group of people somehow who do call more often times than not.
If it did happen, it was for the very brief honeymoon time at the beginning which cam sometimes occur. 
I've been in and out of many churches; this was a pattern that nearly always repeated itself, but I learned to just leave before I could get really disappointed.  

 Justin

-----Original Message-----
From: Faith-Talk [mailto:faith-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Sarah Blake LaRose via Faith-Talk
Sent: Monday, September 5, 2016 6:31 AM
To: Faith-talk, for the discussion of faith and religion <faith-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Sarah Blake LaRose <sarah at sarahblakelarose.com>
Subject: Re: [Faith-talk] {Spam?} Division?

Linda, my point is that sometimes the solution a person wants isn't for the NFB to contact their church leaders but for their to be a place where it is good to build skills and understanding for how to self-advocate in the faith community. I encounter many people who don't know, for instance, how to have good discussions about working in the nursery. I was among them for a long time.

It has always been easy for me to have discussions among church groups about Bible questions. It is not easy to have discussions about the social issues associated with church. We lose a lot of people because of these things, and I think it is an important thing to talk about--not only in the blind community but in the church. I am trying to find the right words because I observe that it annoys sighted people when I bring up the fact that blind people leave the church because they feel isolated. The sighted people's response it typically, "Well, all they have to do is call and ask for a ride." It's hard to explain how it feels when you hear people making plans to go to lunch and you are not among any of the groups, but someone offers to drop you off at home. This is one of the most common reasons why I find people leaving the church. I think it would take more than NFB advocacy to bring about change in the face of this. This is the kind of thing that I have personally encountered throughout most of my life. I chose to stay anyway, and sometimes to be vulnerable with the community about what was going on. It usually didn't work. Most people cannot distinguish well between the types of silly conversations they have with me, e.g. "You're teaching Hebrew? I couldn't teach English and I'm sighted" and the respectful exchanges they have with each other that result in ongoing relationships. I have taken other people to church with me, but they don’tdon't have the fortitude to stick around in that kind of environment. I don't blame them. This is what they cope with all day every day. Why shouldn't the church be a different place?



Sarah Blake LaRose, M.Div., accessible instruction in biblical languages Personal mail: sarah at sarahblakelarose.com http://www.sarahblakelarose.com Info for seminaries and faith communities: http://www.night-light.org -----Original Message-----
From: Linda Mentink via Faith-Talk
Sent: Sunday, September 04, 2016 11:40 PM
To: Faith-talk
Cc: Linda Mentink
Subject: [Faith-talk] {Spam?} Division?

Hi Sarah,

I have tried to explain the purposes of the NFB's Communities of Faith division.  What is it that you're not clear about? I guess I'm frustrated because I don't know what you want to know, and I have done my best to give a brief overview.

Of course there are still issues of blind people not being welcome or getting the materials they need.  We can't help those we don't know about.  We can't advocate for what we don't know about.  We can't contact your church leaders if we don't know there's a problem.  Um, that's what we're here for!

Blessings,

Linda

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