January 3, 2025 • 14 mins
Discover how to transform your church into a more inclusive and welcoming environment for individuals with disabilities. Learn actionable strategies that are both practical and cost-effective, like integrating frequent breaks, utilizing fidget tools such as stress balls, and embracing flexible seating and standing options. These small yet impactful changes can make a significant difference, allowing everyone to participate and engage more fully in church services. By varying physical activities and seating arrangements, churches can prevent monotony and cater to diverse learning needs, ensuring that each member feels valued and included.
Join me, Tracie Corll, as we explore the critical role of inclusivity in fostering spiritual growth. This episode emphasizes the importance of intentionality in creating a space where everyone can deepen their relationship with the Lord, regardless of their abilities. We'll discuss how churches can continue the conversation around disability ministry to offer opportunities for people of all abilities to know Christ, grow in their faith, and serve with their unique gifts. Together, we'll reinforce the message that everyone has a place and purpose within the faith community. Let's work towards a future where every individual is welcomed and celebrated for their contributions.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hi, my name is Tracy Correll and welcome to
Indispensable People.
I'm a wife, mom, teacher,pastor and missionary, and I
believe that every person shouldhave the opportunity to know
Christ, grow in Him and serveHim with the gifts that he has
given, no matter their ability.
Over 65 million Americans havea disability.
That's 25% of the population.
(00:26):
However, over 80% of them arenot inside the walls of our
church.
Let's dive into those hardtopics biblical foundations,
perceptions and world-changingideas.
(00:52):
Hey, welcome to this episode,and we're talking about basic
accommodations.
What are some simple thingsthat we can do on a regular
basis to support people withspecial needs in our churches?
Let's start with some reallyeasy, low cost, less invasive
accommodations that anyone canreally do.
So one is providing frequentbreaks.
(01:15):
This can be beneficial forpeople who have ADHD or maybe
some sensory sensitivities orjust struggling in some sort of
way with self-regulation.
We can offer breaks through,whether it's in the room, in the
spaces that we provide, or witha buddy, and here are some
(01:36):
things that you could do.
You could offer a stress ballor a fidget.
Super simple Can happen in thespace that you're at.
Here's what I want to tell youabout a fidget tool or a stress
ball or anything that is in thatkind of realm.
Let's just know that, no matterwhat you offer someone or the
(01:59):
strategy that you use, let's notbe willy-nilly about it.
Let's make sure that we haveset up some boundaries and some
understandings so that we don'tget to a point at which we then
have to remove, or the fidget isan added problem instead of a
help.
So you want to set out somerules, simple as hey, you can
(02:25):
use this, but we can't distractothers with it.
I would also say that anyfidget that you have or that you
need doesn't need to be noisyand should not have any kind of
distracting parts to it orotherwise.
We have now created anotherissue that didn't need to exist,
created another issue thatdidn't need to exist.
(02:49):
Another super easy thing to do,and maybe less easy with adults
, but definitely youth andchildren you can incorporate
physical movement into yourBible lessons.
Whether that is, you know, adrama acting things out, whether
it's movements to engage in thestory, whatever it might be,
all of those kinds of things arebeneficial and only help the
(03:10):
brain to learn, even at agreater depth.
Now again, harder in an adultsituation, unless you have a
specific adult special needsclass, then all of those
strategies are easy to employ.
Another thing we want toconsider is to allow the
individual to stand.
I have told this story beforeabout a gentleman who attended
(03:33):
my church at one point.
He is diagnosed with ADHD andhe told me that on a Sunday
morning if he has to sit in achair and listen to the sermon,
that he struggles to really beable to listen to anything
because he's so focused on beingable to sit in the chair.
But if he just stands in theback and kind of shifts his
(03:57):
weight from one foot to theother, he said that he can
basically tell pastor his sermonright back to him, can
basically tell pastor his sermonright back to him, and so
offering that availability tojust have a different way to
engage and listen.
Again, we don't have to alwaysfit the mold right.
Just because we fit the molddoesn't give us a gold star.
(04:18):
Fitting the mold just makes iteasier for the person that's in
charge, so we can findstrategies and things that work
that benefit everyone in thespace.
In addition to that, you know,standing we can offer flexible
seating, which are justdifferent options of seating in
the space.
(04:38):
This is really really easy todo outside of a sanctuary space.
In the sanctuary you typicallyhave pews or chairs, and in some
of those spaces they're notmovable and so you're kind of
stuck with what you have.
But that doesn't mean that youcan't put something on the seat,
like a wiggle seat, or put arubber band, a stretch band, on
(05:03):
the legs of the chair whileyou're in there.
But in a children's space or ayouth space you can offer all
different kinds of seating whichmay be more comfortable for
someone else to sit in.
So those are really great, easyaccommodations to make in the
spaces and, in all honesty, alot of that stuff is available
(05:23):
at kind of minimal cost.
We don't have to necessarily gotherapy grade in all the
purchases that we have Now.
If you have something that's astaple and you want to keep it
long term and the investmentmakes sense to put in,
absolutely go for it.
(05:52):
No-transcript.
Also, consider alternativeseated and physical activities.
When I taught first grade, thiswas the way that I taught all
day long.
There is not one human beingliving on this planet.
Okay, maybe there are, and youguys are extra special, but it
is not something I can do If youtake me and put me in a room
(06:14):
and tell me to sit there all daylong in the same chair at the
same table and not move.
Okay, I've got to eat my lunchthere.
I've got to eat my dinner there.
I'm going to stay, I'm going tostruggle, and this is the same
case for other people.
Listen, I, I.
Okay, I'm going to saysomething and I might regret it,
(06:35):
but if, for example, if you'rein the Catholic church my
husband, who has never been to aCatholic church except to a
wedding with me for my family hewas like what is all this deal
with the up and down, the sit,the stand, the kneel, the move,
the thing, all of the things?
However, they're changing up thespace and they're changing up
the pace and it really helpsyour brain to connect and keep
(07:00):
track because you're not gettingbored with the movement that
you're in In any other space.
In my Pentecostal church, we'regoing to stand and we're going
to worship.
We're also going to standwhenever the scriptures are read
and then for the rest of theservice if I'm in an adult
service, I'm going to be sittingfor the rest of the time.
(07:21):
Now we can go and talk aboutattention spans and what the
typical attention span for everyperson is.
But the benefit to movement andchanging things up are really
really helpful to keep the brainengaged.
Now, on a previous podcast wetalked about transitions and
(07:43):
this requires transitions.
But if you're prepared for it,if you are consistent in it,
then those transitions will helpand move faster and help people
to stay engaged.
Another thing that you want toconsider is it doesn't matter if
you are in children's space,youth space or adult space.
(08:05):
There are jobs, volunteerassignments that have to happen
in all of those spaces to makethe ministry run okay.
Those job assignments for alack of a better term
assignments for lack of a betterterm really help people to
engage in that movement, have apurpose and find ways to become
(08:32):
connected and involved and thoseactually end up being utilized
as a break whenever you have toget up and do something for that
volunteer position.
So whenever I was teaching oneof the things, if we knew that a
kiddo in the room needed abreak, sometimes I would just
write a little note to my nextdoor teacher and say this child
needed a movement break.
Close that up, stick it in anenvelope and send the child on
(08:54):
an errand and have them comeback Just because they needed
some movement.
They needed to be able to dosomething, to engage at that
moment, and those are beneficialaccommodations that can do.
Also, this is something that'sused in the education world and
we call them brain breaks, and Ithink they could be called
brain breaks, sensory breaks,whatever you want to call them,
(09:16):
but it's just an option to move,to change, to engage in
something different, to kind ofcatch the brain off guard and
re-engage it into the same thing, because after a while
especially a child with ADHDyou've lost them because they're
trying to maintain attention onsomething for a very long
(09:40):
period of time.
But if you switch things up andmove things and change whether
that's a little Bible quiz inbetween the transitions of the
things that you're doing or agame In children's church and
youth this is the easiestbecause, in all honesty, most of
you are already doing this asyou are engaging kids with the
(10:00):
Bible and turning it intodifferent things.
So earlier I had mentioneddoing those movement breaks or
going from sitting to standing,to moving to all of those
different spaces.
Well, let's just consider abasic schedule in a children's
church or youth You're going tostart with games.
(10:22):
Then you're going to enter intoworship and after worship you
are going to do maybe for theyounger kids like an object
lesson type thing.
Then you're going to move intothe scriptures and the Bible but
maybe through that you're goingto do an acting out or reader's
theater or some kind of a dramato engage that and then after
(10:44):
that you might have a responseto the altar or prayer stations
or something like that.
All of those things aremovements and different ways to
engage.
I would say we have to have acouple of things to be
intentional about that Plan yourtransitions, prepare for your
transitions, provide visualschedules so that people know
(11:09):
what's coming next through allof those things.
And then also, you're going toreally want to be intentionable
about the time spent on eachthing and especially considering
the age groups that you're inand the needs that they have, so
that you know if you spend 30minutes on a Bible lesson where
(11:31):
they're just sitting andlistening, you're going to lose
them, regardless if they haveADHD or sensory sensitivities or
any of those kinds of things.
That's not where theirattention span is.
They have a less ability to dothat because of their age and
you're going to only increasethat time as they get older.
(11:54):
But, again, be aware ofeveryone in the room and the
needs that they have.
And all of these strategies,everything that has been shared
with you today, really benefitsevery single person in the room.
These things are not supercostly.
They are not super timeconsuming.
However, again, you need to beintentional about it, plan for
(12:17):
it, prepare for it and, once youdo that, set up those
boundaries on some of the thingsthat you're offering, like
flexible seating and the fidgettools, that kind of stuff, so
that you're specific andexpectations are known.
These will be great benefits toany space that you're
(12:38):
ministering, to ministering inand to the people that will be
engaging in those activitieswith you.
It will be a huge benefit.
It opens up the doors, helps formore engagement, which means
we're discipling, which meanspeople are growing in their
relationship with the Lord andthey are knowing that they are
(13:00):
welcomed into the family, thatthey have a plan and a purpose
for their lives, because Jesusprepared for it long before they
were ever born.
And we can do it withintentionality and purposeful
choices so that every personbelongs and every person has a
place and a seat at the table.
(13:21):
Do I know everything aboutdisability ministry.
Do I have all the answers?
Have I done everythingperfectly?
I have absolutely not.
I done everything perfectly?
I have absolutely not.
But we are going to continuethis conversation so that people
of all abilities can have theopportunity to know Christ, grow
in Him and serve Him with thegifts that he has given them.
(13:42):
We'll see you next time.
Hi, my name is Tracy Correll and welcome to
Indispensable People.
I'm a wife, mom, teacher,pastor and missionary, and I
believe that every person shouldhave the opportunity to know
Christ, grow in Him and serveHim with the gifts that he has
given, no matter their ability.
Over 65 million Americans havea disability.
That's 25% of the population.
(00:26):
However, over 80% of them arenot inside the walls of our
church.
Let's dive into those hardtopics biblical foundations,
perceptions and world-changingideas.
(00:52):
Hey, welcome to this episode,and we're talking about basic
accommodations.
What are some simple thingsthat we can do on a regular
basis to support people withspecial needs in our churches?
Let's start with some reallyeasy, low cost, less invasive
accommodations that anyone canreally do.
So one is providing frequentbreaks.
(01:15):
This can be beneficial forpeople who have ADHD or maybe
some sensory sensitivities orjust struggling in some sort of
way with self-regulation.
We can offer breaks through,whether it's in the room, in the
spaces that we provide, or witha buddy, and here are some
(01:36):
things that you could do.
You could offer a stress ballor a fidget.
Super simple Can happen in thespace that you're at.
Here's what I want to tell youabout a fidget tool or a stress
ball or anything that is in thatkind of realm.
Let's just know that, no matterwhat you offer someone or the
(01:59):
strategy that you use, let's notbe willy-nilly about it.
Let's make sure that we haveset up some boundaries and some
understandings so that we don'tget to a point at which we then
have to remove, or the fidget isan added problem instead of a
help.
So you want to set out somerules, simple as hey, you can
(02:25):
use this, but we can't distractothers with it.
I would also say that anyfidget that you have or that you
need doesn't need to be noisyand should not have any kind of
distracting parts to it orotherwise.
We have now created anotherissue that didn't need to exist,
created another issue thatdidn't need to exist.
(02:49):
Another super easy thing to do,and maybe less easy with adults
, but definitely youth andchildren you can incorporate
physical movement into yourBible lessons.
Whether that is, you know, adrama acting things out, whether
it's movements to engage in thestory, whatever it might be,
all of those kinds of things arebeneficial and only help the
(03:10):
brain to learn, even at agreater depth.
Now again, harder in an adultsituation, unless you have a
specific adult special needsclass, then all of those
strategies are easy to employ.
Another thing we want toconsider is to allow the
individual to stand.
I have told this story beforeabout a gentleman who attended
(03:33):
my church at one point.
He is diagnosed with ADHD andhe told me that on a Sunday
morning if he has to sit in achair and listen to the sermon,
that he struggles to really beable to listen to anything
because he's so focused on beingable to sit in the chair.
But if he just stands in theback and kind of shifts his
(03:57):
weight from one foot to theother, he said that he can
basically tell pastor his sermonright back to him, can
basically tell pastor his sermonright back to him, and so
offering that availability tojust have a different way to
engage and listen.
Again, we don't have to alwaysfit the mold right.
Just because we fit the molddoesn't give us a gold star.
(04:18):
Fitting the mold just makes iteasier for the person that's in
charge, so we can findstrategies and things that work
that benefit everyone in thespace.
In addition to that, you know,standing we can offer flexible
seating, which are justdifferent options of seating in
the space.
(04:38):
This is really really easy todo outside of a sanctuary space.
In the sanctuary you typicallyhave pews or chairs, and in some
of those spaces they're notmovable and so you're kind of
stuck with what you have.
But that doesn't mean that youcan't put something on the seat,
like a wiggle seat, or put arubber band, a stretch band, on
(05:03):
the legs of the chair whileyou're in there.
But in a children's space or ayouth space you can offer all
different kinds of seating whichmay be more comfortable for
someone else to sit in.
So those are really great, easyaccommodations to make in the
spaces and, in all honesty, alot of that stuff is available
(05:23):
at kind of minimal cost.
We don't have to necessarily gotherapy grade in all the
purchases that we have Now.
If you have something that's astaple and you want to keep it
long term and the investmentmakes sense to put in,
absolutely go for it.
(05:52):
No-transcript.
Also, consider alternativeseated and physical activities.
When I taught first grade, thiswas the way that I taught all
day long.
There is not one human beingliving on this planet.
Okay, maybe there are, and youguys are extra special, but it
is not something I can do If youtake me and put me in a room
(06:14):
and tell me to sit there all daylong in the same chair at the
same table and not move.
Okay, I've got to eat my lunchthere.
I've got to eat my dinner there.
I'm going to stay, I'm going tostruggle, and this is the same
case for other people.
Listen, I, I.
Okay, I'm going to saysomething and I might regret it,
(06:35):
but if, for example, if you'rein the Catholic church my
husband, who has never been to aCatholic church except to a
wedding with me for my family hewas like what is all this deal
with the up and down, the sit,the stand, the kneel, the move,
the thing, all of the things?
However, they're changing up thespace and they're changing up
the pace and it really helpsyour brain to connect and keep
(07:00):
track because you're not gettingbored with the movement that
you're in In any other space.
In my Pentecostal church, we'regoing to stand and we're going
to worship.
We're also going to standwhenever the scriptures are read
and then for the rest of theservice if I'm in an adult
service, I'm going to be sittingfor the rest of the time.
(07:21):
Now we can go and talk aboutattention spans and what the
typical attention span for everyperson is.
But the benefit to movement andchanging things up are really
really helpful to keep the brainengaged.
Now, on a previous podcast wetalked about transitions and
(07:43):
this requires transitions.
But if you're prepared for it,if you are consistent in it,
then those transitions will helpand move faster and help people
to stay engaged.
Another thing that you want toconsider is it doesn't matter if
you are in children's space,youth space or adult space.
(08:05):
There are jobs, volunteerassignments that have to happen
in all of those spaces to makethe ministry run okay.
Those job assignments for alack of a better term
assignments for lack of a betterterm really help people to
engage in that movement, have apurpose and find ways to become
(08:32):
connected and involved and thoseactually end up being utilized
as a break whenever you have toget up and do something for that
volunteer position.
So whenever I was teaching oneof the things, if we knew that a
kiddo in the room needed abreak, sometimes I would just
write a little note to my nextdoor teacher and say this child
needed a movement break.
Close that up, stick it in anenvelope and send the child on
(08:54):
an errand and have them comeback Just because they needed
some movement.
They needed to be able to dosomething, to engage at that
moment, and those are beneficialaccommodations that can do.
Also, this is something that'sused in the education world and
we call them brain breaks, and Ithink they could be called
brain breaks, sensory breaks,whatever you want to call them,
(09:16):
but it's just an option to move,to change, to engage in
something different, to kind ofcatch the brain off guard and
re-engage it into the same thing, because after a while
especially a child with ADHDyou've lost them because they're
trying to maintain attention onsomething for a very long
(09:40):
period of time.
But if you switch things up andmove things and change whether
that's a little Bible quiz inbetween the transitions of the
things that you're doing or agame In children's church and
youth this is the easiestbecause, in all honesty, most of
you are already doing this asyou are engaging kids with the
(10:00):
Bible and turning it intodifferent things.
So earlier I had mentioneddoing those movement breaks or
going from sitting to standing,to moving to all of those
different spaces.
Well, let's just consider abasic schedule in a children's
church or youth You're going tostart with games.
(10:22):
Then you're going to enter intoworship and after worship you
are going to do maybe for theyounger kids like an object
lesson type thing.
Then you're going to move intothe scriptures and the Bible but
maybe through that you're goingto do an acting out or reader's
theater or some kind of a dramato engage that and then after
(10:44):
that you might have a responseto the altar or prayer stations
or something like that.
All of those things aremovements and different ways to
engage.
I would say we have to have acouple of things to be
intentional about that Plan yourtransitions, prepare for your
transitions, provide visualschedules so that people know
(11:09):
what's coming next through allof those things.
And then also, you're going toreally want to be intentionable
about the time spent on eachthing and especially considering
the age groups that you're inand the needs that they have, so
that you know if you spend 30minutes on a Bible lesson where
(11:31):
they're just sitting andlistening, you're going to lose
them, regardless if they haveADHD or sensory sensitivities or
any of those kinds of things.
That's not where theirattention span is.
They have a less ability to dothat because of their age and
you're going to only increasethat time as they get older.
(11:54):
But, again, be aware ofeveryone in the room and the
needs that they have.
And all of these strategies,everything that has been shared
with you today, really benefitsevery single person in the room.
These things are not supercostly.
They are not super timeconsuming.
However, again, you need to beintentional about it, plan for
(12:17):
it, prepare for it and, once youdo that, set up those
boundaries on some of the thingsthat you're offering, like
flexible seating and the fidgettools, that kind of stuff, so
that you're specific andexpectations are known.
These will be great benefits toany space that you're
(12:38):
ministering, to ministering inand to the people that will be
engaging in those activitieswith you.
It will be a huge benefit.
It opens up the doors, helps formore engagement, which means
we're discipling, which meanspeople are growing in their
relationship with the Lord andthey are knowing that they are
(13:00):
welcomed into the family, thatthey have a plan and a purpose
for their lives, because Jesusprepared for it long before they
were ever born.
And we can do it withintentionality and purposeful
choices so that every personbelongs and every person has a
place and a seat at the table.
(13:21):
Do I know everything aboutdisability ministry.
Do I have all the answers?
Have I done everythingperfectly?
I have absolutely not.
I done everything perfectly?
I have absolutely not.
But we are going to continuethis conversation so that people
of all abilities can have theopportunity to know Christ, grow
in Him and serve Him with thegifts that he has given them.
(13:42):
We'll see you next time.
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