[Faith-talk] {Spam?} Division?

[Ericka]

You said it very well Sarah! I too have stuck around but I see so many who are not treated well. It's not just us, we had a family leave my old church because nobody wanted to understand autism. Their son is autistic and all they thought he was was a brat. They tried to give them parenting advice and they just didn't understand even when they explain everything in a congregational meeting to the church members. I was so sad to see them go. Another family left because of how people treated their wheelchair-bound somewhat communicatie son. We all know that if this little boy was an older man with the stroke everyone would've been talking to him and try to find a way for him to be participatory. Instead, Sunday school teachers and everyone else didn't want to deal with him. As soon as the older brother was confirmed they left the church and never came back. Very sad day. There's no reason that Parents had to be with that child in Sunday school. There were only a few of us in the church willing to try to communicate. One was a Sunday school teacher thankfully. But that was just one year. They were gone by the time he was in fourth grade.

Ericka Short
1750 Fordem Ave. #508
Madison. WI. 53704
608-665-3170

 from my iPhone 6s

> On Sep 5, 2016, at 5:31 AM, Sarah Blake LaRose via Faith-Talk <faith-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> 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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