FAQ: Build Safety, Preserve Dignity, Open The Gospel

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We lay out the legal baseline for disability ministry and show how to move beyond minimums to real inclusion. We share de-escalation tools for meltdowns, clear safety steps, and policies that protect dignity while lowering risk.

• disability attendance gap and why it persists
• ADA exemptions for churches and local law checks
• insurance requirements tied to programs and events
• treating laws as baseline, aiming for excellence
• practical upgrades like adult changing tables and supplies
• building policies for seizures, elopement, evacuation
• sensory-aware drills and alarm planning
• de-escalation before meltdown, triggers, tools
• safety first, clear the room, create space
• legal limits on restraint and contacting caregivers
• two-adult rule and incident documentation
• dignity, privacy, and reducing audience effects
• policies as pathways to responsible gospel access

If you want to dive deeper on your own, you can check out the indispensable-people blog or my books on Amazon called The Indispensable Kid or Gospel Accessibility and the Indispensable People.

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:02):
Hey, hey, my name is Tracy Coral and welcome to
Indispensable People.
I'm a pastor, a teacher, amissionary, a mom, a wife, and I
believe that every person shouldhave access to the gospel so
that they can know Christ, growin him, and serve him with the
gifts that he has given.
Over 65 million Americans have adisability.

(00:24):
That's 15 to 20% of everycommunity.
And over 85% of thoseindividuals do not attend
church.
90% of pastors believe that theyare a disability-friendly
church, but only 20% of parentsand families agree.
Let's dive deep into hardtopics, big questions,

(00:47):
perceptions, stereotypes, and somuch more.
Thanks for joining me today.
We are covering a series calledFrequently Asked Questions,
where viewers, listeners,readers have supported and have
sent in some questions that theyare wondering about.

(01:09):
And we love to be able to answerthis because if one person has a
question, it is likely that manymore have that question as well.
So what's today's question?
It is what are the legalrequirements of a special needs
ministry?
And it's kind of a trickyquestion, simply because, first
of all, if you're a religiousentity, you we have different

(01:32):
things that we're exempt from.
For example, ADA, and so thataffects your facilities, your
programs, things like that.
The number one thing that anychurch uh working to create a
special needs ministry shouldconsider is to check with your

(01:54):
local and state law, make surethat your state requirements are
specific to your church and yourarea.
I am in Ohio, so what Ohiorequires of me may be very
different than what is requiredin another state.
So that's something to consider.

(02:14):
The next thing that any churchshould do is check in with their
insurance.
Different types of insuranceshave different requirements, and
also based on your activity andevent and all that other kind of
stuff, it will applyspecifically in that way.
So that's gonna be an across theboard thing to do.

(02:39):
And here's what I want toencourage when it comes to this
question of um what are ourlegal requirements?
Those are going to be your base,right?
Your foundation, you where youstart, but it doesn't have to be
where you finish.
Whenever we talk about ADA andall that other kind of thing, we

(03:02):
know that that means things aresufficient, but they aren't
necessarily excellent.
And just because you have awheelchair ramp or an automatic
door or an accessible bathroom,there are so many more stages
and steps that could be providedthat change the whole ball game.

(03:24):
For example, in our accessiblebathroom at my local church, we
have an adult changing table.
We also have a cabinet that hasaccess to wipes and blue pads
and sanitizing spray and gloves.
Those are not required.

(03:44):
None of that is required.
It is chosen to do so to supportfamilies.
Because if I'm coming to churchwith an adult child who needs to
be changed, the other option isI'm finding the bathroom floor
or hopefully closed room placesthat are probably not clean or
sanitized for that use.

(04:05):
And so as the church, we can goabove and beyond.
The next thing that we want totalk about is, and it's not
really legal requirements, but Ibelieve that every ministry
should have some checks andbalances in place.
So I love some good policies andprocedures.

(04:25):
And we've talked in the past alittle about policies and
procedures and how that canapply, but you really want to be
specific when it comes tospecial needs ministry and the
things that you're going toexperience within that ministry
that you wouldn't in otherplaces.
And the flip side to that is usewhat you already have to build

(04:49):
your foundation for your specialneeds ministry policies and
procedures so that you can buildon those kinds of things.
So you're going to considerthings like policies for
seizures, what like evacuation,fire, tornado, all that kind of

(05:09):
stuff to consider those withespecially with physical
disabilities and those withsensory sensitivities.
I work at a school and thenumber one issue when you know
you have to practice thosedrills and all that kind of
stuff, the alarms go off andthen they panic the individuals
or the sounds of the alarms hitthem.

(05:30):
And so that becomes a struggle.
So there's lots of things toconsider within that.
And we've covered some of theADA before, we've covered some
of the policies and procedures,but when we're considering the
legal requirements, we want tounderstand that yes, they're
requirements, they're the baseof what we have to do, but we
want to be able to go above andbeyond because the church is

(05:51):
expected to have excellence.
It's scriptural, so we want togo above and beyond.
We want to take intoconsideration the things that
can be done, not just thebasics.
So with that, I want to go aheadand answer another question
since that was kind of an easy,quick one.

(06:13):
And there are lots of optionsthat we could go with, but here
is something that goes alongwith how do you prepare with
policies and procedures andconsidering law requirements and
stuff like that.
So here's the question.
When considering policies andprocedures, one of the major

(06:36):
considerations and probably thetop question that I receive has
to do with behavior andmeltdowns.
So this question is how do youhandle a meltdown?
First, I want to preface that weneed to do a lot of things
before we get to the meltdown.

(06:56):
We want to use de-escalatingstrategies, which means like if
we see someone is gettinganxious or over, you know,
overly upset, whatever, justthose kind of differences in
behaviors.
If you start to see those kindsof things, you're going to do
things so that it doesn't getworse.

(07:18):
Do they need to take a break?
Do they need to switchactivities?
Do they need noise-cancelingheadphones?
Do they need a fitget?
All of those kinds of things.
We want to offer that.
We want to look for triggers,things that are going to get
them upset.
And then we need to understandand know the things that helped
them to calm.
So we want to get all of that inplace before we get to the

(07:41):
meltdown place.
Now, sometimes a meltdown can'tbe avoided.
For instance, a buddy said to melast week, so-and-so has been
doing so great, but last weekwas a little bit of a rough
week.
He wasn't feeling well.
So there was something going onthat triggered some behavior
that wasn't natural for him.

(08:01):
And so we could make someadjustments to help with that.
Also, understanding thatbehavior is a form of
communication.
If they are behaving in acertain way, are they trying to
tell you something or their bodyis trying to tell us something?
We need to remember that wealways want to stay calm, right?
If you rise in your stress oranxiety or something like that,

(08:26):
so will they because they pickup on that.
Again, we want to catch itbefore it gets too far.
We want to try thosede-escalation strategies.
And then when we get to thepoint where we've done all that
we can do and there's nothingmore that we can do to help it,
we want safety is number one.
Safety is number one for thatindividual, and safety is number

(08:49):
one for the individuals thatmight be in the space with them.
So you're going to clear thespace, which means you're going
to get all the other people thatthat are in the same space as
that individual who might behaving a meltdown out of the
space.
And this is a twofold reason.
One, sometimes that behavior isattention getting.

(09:45):
Safety purposes in case thatperson might be throwing
something or, you know, yellingor hitting or any of that kind
of stuff.
So we remove for safetypurposes.
Once that has been done, youwant to clear the space.
You want to make room aroundthat individual.
So if they're close to a tableor chairs or things like that,

(10:07):
you might want to just push themoff to the side so they're not
in the way or in grabbingdistance for that individual.
Then you're going to havesomeone else go get the parents
or the caregiver because thereare things that they can do that
we can't do as the church,right?
We are not operating in aclinical setting.

(10:29):
We do not have certifications.
And don't get me wrong, some ofyour volunteers will have
certifications, but it's not thesame venue, it's not the same
experience.
And we're taking on legalconcerns.
So this is how it ties back intothat first question.
There are legal concerns when wedo some of the things that that
training requires.

(10:50):
That hands-on, you know, therewill there will be some people
who will explain that they knowhow to take an individual down
or you know those types ofthings, and that's what we're
going to avoid in the church.
And we're going to avoid thatwith everything that we have

(11:11):
because there could be legalissues that would arise.
And so the rule of thumb is thatif at all possible, we do not
put our hands on anotherindividual to push them into a
behavior or out of a behaviorthat they're having.
So we want to keep that safeacross the board.

(11:46):
But in those moments, things canturn really quick.
And so we want to be sure thatwe're being as cautious as we
possibly can.
And some of those individualswon't have had that experience
where someone just gives themspace, gives them time, watches
them from a little bit of adistance, and puts them in a

(12:08):
safe space.
And that may be an alt like analternate or a quick switch in
their behavior when they seesomething different like that,
because it's going to catch themoff guard.
Always remember that you, andthis is a legal issue also, to
never leave an individual alone,that there should always be a

(12:30):
second volunteer of some sort inthat.
That's protection and across theboard as explanations of
situations and things like thatcome about.
It's always great to have morethan one person, a second set of
eyes, and also a second perceptperception, right?

(12:51):
So that's going to play all theway through.
So those do become, yes,behavior things, that's almost
its own question, but thebehavior question leads into
other legal issues if it's notdone properly.
So we just want to be cautious,careful, make sure that we are
honoring that person, givingthem as much dignity as

(13:14):
possible, protecting ourselvesand other volunteers and
protecting whether it's kids,church, teens, or other adults,
protecting those individuals,not only from the physical of
the meltdown, but also themental experience of watching it
happen and seeing those thingshappen.
So, and also, like I said, wewant to remove the audience from

(13:38):
that experience in case some ofthat behavior is happening due
to attention seeking.
So, frequently asked questions.
Legal is one of the big ones,especially in formulating a
special needs ministry andcreating safe spaces for
individuals with disabilities.
And yes, policies and proceduresare probably the least fun part

(14:01):
of building a disabilityministry, but it's necessary,
it's smart, and it allows thegospel to be accessible in a
responsible way.

(14:27):
We're gonna keep thisconversation going.
We're gonna make the accessiblegospel available to individuals
with disabilities in ourchurches and in our communities
so that every person has theopportunity to know Christ, to
grow in him, and to serve himwith the gifts that he is given.
If you want to dive deeper onyour own, you can check out the

(14:47):
indispensable people blog or mybooks on Amazon called The
Indispensable Kid or GospelAccessibility and the
Indispensable People.