November 7, 2025 • 12 mins
We trace why churches are exempt from the ADA but called to a higher standard, then lay out practical steps for safe, welcoming ministry that serves people of all abilities. We share policy baselines, seizure and behavior plans, medication boundaries, and how to build social and spiritual access.
• ADA exemption contrasted with a call to excellence
• Physical, social, and spiritual accessibility defined
• Insurance consultation and state-specific checks
• Volunteer screening, two-adult rule, bathroom protocols
• Seizure preparedness and individualized action plans
• Identifying on-site medical professionals and roles
• Behavioral safety plan for self/other harm risks
• Medication boundaries and emergency exceptions
• Documentation, training, and continuous improvement
• Vision for belonging and discipleship for all abilities
For deeper dives into these topics and more, check out indispensable-people.com and visit Amazon to purchase the books The Indispensable Kid and God's Full Accessibility and Indispensable People
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:03):
Hi, my name is Tracy Coral 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 is
given, no matter their ability.
Over 65 million Americans have adisability.
(00:24):
That's 25% of the population.
However, over 80% of them arenot inside the walls of our
church.
Let's dive into those hardtopics, biblical foundations,
perceptions, and world-changingideas.
(00:49):
Hey, hey, and welcome to thisepisode of Indispensable People.
We are in a series of facts,questions, and answers, and we
are ready to answer some more.
So we're first of all, where dothese questions come from?
Who gets to submit these?
Every year we do a training inour local area in Youngstown,
(01:10):
Ohio, and we offer it free.
And as a part of thatregistration, we ask people to
submit a question that if theyhad anything they wanted to be
answered in that particular dayof training, what would it be?
And so we have talked about acouple topics already, which is
interaction with individualswith disabilities, how to serve
(01:32):
them best.
And now we're on to somelogistics, right?
So for those of you who reallylike the planning procedures
stuff, here we go.
And really, I'm not gonna giveyou a ton of information on
that.
I am gonna give you your basicgeneralities because every state
(01:55):
is different and expectationsare different, and your church
insurance is applicable and allthat kind of stuff.
So here are the question.
Well, here's the question.
What are the legal requirementsof a special needs ministry?
Well, I'm gonna tell you acouple of things that you need
to do.
(02:16):
But first, we need to know thatreligious entities are exempt
from Title III of the ADA.
So that means that all of theirfacilities, programs,
activities, whether they arereligious or secular in nature,
are exempt.
So that means, and listen, theADA just sets some mostly
(02:36):
physical accessibilityguidelines.
And I say guidelines becauseit's meant to be sufficient.
It is not meant to be excellent,but scripture calls the church
to be excellent.
So we go above and beyond whatis considered sufficient to make
(02:57):
sure that people withdisabilities are welcomed,
included, and have an accessiblechurch.
And we know that accessibilitygoes beyond the physical.
It is not just physicalaccessibility, entrance to the
building, using the restrooms,able to wash your hands, reach
the towels.
It is social, meaning, can I bewith people in my own peer
(03:20):
groups, build relationshipswhere those relationships are
interactive, that I can dependon them and they can depend on
me.
And last but certainly notleast, are we spiritually
accessible?
Are we discipling all people?
And so the ADA will never beable to direct or make that
(03:46):
sufficient.
But here's what you need toknow.
And I'm gonna say what I alreadysaid.
The ADA is sufficient, thechurch is called to be
excellent.
So just remember that.
So when it comes to the ADA,we're not required to you, you
don't fall under all of thosesame things, but that doesn't
(04:06):
mean that's where we stay.
So the next thing that you'regoing to want to do as a church,
if you are going to considerserving individuals with
disabilities and have maybespecific ministry to them
through events and other thingslike that, you want to check
with your insurance.
Like I said, every state isdifferent, the requirements are
(04:28):
different.
And so if you bring it up tothem, share with them what
you're doing, the next thingthat you're gonna want to do is
you're gonna check your church'spolicies and procedures.
Oftentimes people will say tome, Do you have a disability
ministry policies and proceduresbook?
I do.
I utilize it.
However, the majority of it isthe same as my children's
(04:53):
ministry and youth ministry inthe church.
So we have a lot of the samevolunteer requirements.
Our volunteers are backgroundchecked, no volunteers ever
alone with a child and a teen oran individual.
We have other things in place,such as, you know, bathroom
usage and how that works toprotect both parties, all of
(05:16):
that kind of stuff that youwould have in place for those
ministries you're going tocontinue utilizing.
There are a couple of thingsthat I will highlight at this
point with those policies andprocedures that they just may
not come up as regular things inyour youth ministry or your
children's ministry.
(05:37):
However, you need to have someemergency procedures in place
specifically for seizures.
That's one of the bigger thingsthat you're gonna maybe
encounter.
So knowing what the, you know,where the medical personnel in
your church are or what thesteps that are suggested by
(05:59):
medical professionals to do andyour reaction to it, you're
gonna have, you know, a generalmedical direction, but also
sometimes individuals will comewith a plan.
We have an individual whoattends our respite nights.
(06:19):
It's a teenager, and he hasseizures that are typically very
prominent, very invasive, severefor him, that he oftentimes ends
up at the hospital.
And so there are steps andpolicies and procedures in place
that this is what we would do tohelp him in an emergency.
(06:44):
And along with that, I will tellyou that I don't do any big
events without a medicalprofessional that's volunteering
in this space that way, andwe're covered in in that
respect.
We also know who the medicalprofessionals are in the church
and where they sit on a Sundaymorning so that they can be
(07:07):
retrieved in a medical event.
The second thing that I wouldtell you that you should be
aware of and have a plan forthat may or may not be in your
children's or youth policies andprocedures is a behavioral
safety plan.
So if an individual is harmingthemselves or potentially going
(07:30):
to harm someone else, what doyou do?
So as a general rule of thumb,this is what we suggest.
It doesn't apply to every personin every situation.
So, you know, take parts of whatyou what work for what you need
to do.
But if an individual is in anunsafe situation where they are
(07:53):
causing harm to themselves orharm to someone else, then we
remove all the other someoneelse's from the space.
After we've done that, then wemove back any furniture or
anything that's in the spacethat could cause harm.
And then we have anotherindividual get the parent or
(08:17):
caregiver because at that pointthere are things that they can
do that we cannot.
So I'll give you a kind of itwas a little bit of a crazy
example.
We had, I was serving at a verylarge event for my denomination,
and we had lots and lots ofkiddos, and we had several
(08:39):
identified children withdisabilities, and one of which
could not be a part of or attendin the space with all the other
kids just because her needs weresignificant and she would not
thrive in that space.
And so we had to set up adifferent space for her.
(08:59):
And the parent indicated at onepoint that this particular
individual, that if sh if shewere to get angry or out of
control, they instructed us toadminister a an emergency
sedation drug, at which Iresponded to the parent and I
(09:20):
said, We do not do that.
However, if there comes asituation, we will notify you.
And if you feel that that's whatneeds to be done in that moment,
then you may administer thatmedicine across the board,
except at our summer getawayprogram, which is an overnight
camp for people withdisabilities of all ages.
(09:43):
Aside from that environment, wedo not pass medication.
There are lots of layers andreasons.
Obviously, there are emergencymeds and you know, inhalers,
epipens that are, you know, forlife-threatening situations.
And regardless if they had adisability or not, you would
still teach someone how to dothat and utilize that in a
(10:10):
life-saving situation.
So there are going to be thingsthat you're going to need to
consider extra in your policiesand procedures, but I would I
would really say that themajority of the things that
you're going to consider fordisability ministry are going to
apply across the board.
And the things that I mentioned,the behavior, the seizure
(10:33):
policy, all that kind of stuffcan happen with a child without
a disability or a teenagerwithout a disability or an adult
without a disability.
And so having plans andprocedures in place will only
better prepare everyone for thatsituation.
Again, I will tell you to checkyour state requirements.
(10:55):
And again, just because we'renot required to do certain
things doesn't mean we shouldconsider ourselves exempt.
Again, we're called to beexcellent.
So we want to make sure thatwe're living up to God's
standards, not the world'sstandards, not the state
standards.
(11:16):
We can go above and beyond tomake sure people know that they
are loved, welcomed, wanted, andcared for inside the walls of
our church.
Do I know everything aboutdisability ministry?
Do I have all the answers?
Have I done everythingperfectly?
I have absolutely not.
(11:37):
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.
For deeper dives into thesetopics and more, check out
indispensablepeople.com andvisit Amazon to purchase the
(11:59):
books The Indispensable Kid andGod's Full Accessibility and the
Indispensable People.
Hi, my name is Tracy Coral 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 is
given, no matter their ability.
Over 65 million Americans have adisability.
(00:24):
That's 25% of the population.
However, over 80% of them arenot inside the walls of our
church.
Let's dive into those hardtopics, biblical foundations,
perceptions, and world-changingideas.
(00:49):
Hey, hey, and welcome to thisepisode of Indispensable People.
We are in a series of facts,questions, and answers, and we
are ready to answer some more.
So we're first of all, where dothese questions come from?
Who gets to submit these?
Every year we do a training inour local area in Youngstown,
(01:10):
Ohio, and we offer it free.
And as a part of thatregistration, we ask people to
submit a question that if theyhad anything they wanted to be
answered in that particular dayof training, what would it be?
And so we have talked about acouple topics already, which is
interaction with individualswith disabilities, how to serve
(01:32):
them best.
And now we're on to somelogistics, right?
So for those of you who reallylike the planning procedures
stuff, here we go.
And really, I'm not gonna giveyou a ton of information on
that.
I am gonna give you your basicgeneralities because every state
(01:55):
is different and expectationsare different, and your church
insurance is applicable and allthat kind of stuff.
So here are the question.
Well, here's the question.
What are the legal requirementsof a special needs ministry?
Well, I'm gonna tell you acouple of things that you need
to do.
(02:16):
But first, we need to know thatreligious entities are exempt
from Title III of the ADA.
So that means that all of theirfacilities, programs,
activities, whether they arereligious or secular in nature,
are exempt.
So that means, and listen, theADA just sets some mostly
(02:36):
physical accessibilityguidelines.
And I say guidelines becauseit's meant to be sufficient.
It is not meant to be excellent,but scripture calls the church
to be excellent.
So we go above and beyond whatis considered sufficient to make
(02:57):
sure that people withdisabilities are welcomed,
included, and have an accessiblechurch.
And we know that accessibilitygoes beyond the physical.
It is not just physicalaccessibility, entrance to the
building, using the restrooms,able to wash your hands, reach
the towels.
It is social, meaning, can I bewith people in my own peer
(03:20):
groups, build relationshipswhere those relationships are
interactive, that I can dependon them and they can depend on
me.
And last but certainly notleast, are we spiritually
accessible?
Are we discipling all people?
And so the ADA will never beable to direct or make that
(03:46):
sufficient.
But here's what you need toknow.
And I'm gonna say what I alreadysaid.
The ADA is sufficient, thechurch is called to be
excellent.
So just remember that.
So when it comes to the ADA,we're not required to you, you
don't fall under all of thosesame things, but that doesn't
(04:06):
mean that's where we stay.
So the next thing that you'regoing to want to do as a church,
if you are going to considerserving individuals with
disabilities and have maybespecific ministry to them
through events and other thingslike that, you want to check
with your insurance.
Like I said, every state isdifferent, the requirements are
(04:28):
different.
And so if you bring it up tothem, share with them what
you're doing, the next thingthat you're gonna want to do is
you're gonna check your church'spolicies and procedures.
Oftentimes people will say tome, Do you have a disability
ministry policies and proceduresbook?
I do.
I utilize it.
However, the majority of it isthe same as my children's
(04:53):
ministry and youth ministry inthe church.
So we have a lot of the samevolunteer requirements.
Our volunteers are backgroundchecked, no volunteers ever
alone with a child and a teen oran individual.
We have other things in place,such as, you know, bathroom
usage and how that works toprotect both parties, all of
(05:16):
that kind of stuff that youwould have in place for those
ministries you're going tocontinue utilizing.
There are a couple of thingsthat I will highlight at this
point with those policies andprocedures that they just may
not come up as regular things inyour youth ministry or your
children's ministry.
(05:37):
However, you need to have someemergency procedures in place
specifically for seizures.
That's one of the bigger thingsthat you're gonna maybe
encounter.
So knowing what the, you know,where the medical personnel in
your church are or what thesteps that are suggested by
(05:59):
medical professionals to do andyour reaction to it, you're
gonna have, you know, a generalmedical direction, but also
sometimes individuals will comewith a plan.
We have an individual whoattends our respite nights.
(06:19):
It's a teenager, and he hasseizures that are typically very
prominent, very invasive, severefor him, that he oftentimes ends
up at the hospital.
And so there are steps andpolicies and procedures in place
that this is what we would do tohelp him in an emergency.
(06:44):
And along with that, I will tellyou that I don't do any big
events without a medicalprofessional that's volunteering
in this space that way, andwe're covered in in that
respect.
We also know who the medicalprofessionals are in the church
and where they sit on a Sundaymorning so that they can be
(07:07):
retrieved in a medical event.
The second thing that I wouldtell you that you should be
aware of and have a plan forthat may or may not be in your
children's or youth policies andprocedures is a behavioral
safety plan.
So if an individual is harmingthemselves or potentially going
(07:30):
to harm someone else, what doyou do?
So as a general rule of thumb,this is what we suggest.
It doesn't apply to every personin every situation.
So, you know, take parts of whatyou what work for what you need
to do.
But if an individual is in anunsafe situation where they are
(07:53):
causing harm to themselves orharm to someone else, then we
remove all the other someoneelse's from the space.
After we've done that, then wemove back any furniture or
anything that's in the spacethat could cause harm.
And then we have anotherindividual get the parent or
(08:17):
caregiver because at that pointthere are things that they can
do that we cannot.
So I'll give you a kind of itwas a little bit of a crazy
example.
We had, I was serving at a verylarge event for my denomination,
and we had lots and lots ofkiddos, and we had several
(08:39):
identified children withdisabilities, and one of which
could not be a part of or attendin the space with all the other
kids just because her needs weresignificant and she would not
thrive in that space.
And so we had to set up adifferent space for her.
(08:59):
And the parent indicated at onepoint that this particular
individual, that if sh if shewere to get angry or out of
control, they instructed us toadminister a an emergency
sedation drug, at which Iresponded to the parent and I
(09:20):
said, We do not do that.
However, if there comes asituation, we will notify you.
And if you feel that that's whatneeds to be done in that moment,
then you may administer thatmedicine across the board,
except at our summer getawayprogram, which is an overnight
camp for people withdisabilities of all ages.
(09:43):
Aside from that environment, wedo not pass medication.
There are lots of layers andreasons.
Obviously, there are emergencymeds and you know, inhalers,
epipens that are, you know, forlife-threatening situations.
And regardless if they had adisability or not, you would
still teach someone how to dothat and utilize that in a
(10:10):
life-saving situation.
So there are going to be thingsthat you're going to need to
consider extra in your policiesand procedures, but I would I
would really say that themajority of the things that
you're going to consider fordisability ministry are going to
apply across the board.
And the things that I mentioned,the behavior, the seizure
(10:33):
policy, all that kind of stuffcan happen with a child without
a disability or a teenagerwithout a disability or an adult
without a disability.
And so having plans andprocedures in place will only
better prepare everyone for thatsituation.
Again, I will tell you to checkyour state requirements.
(10:55):
And again, just because we'renot required to do certain
things doesn't mean we shouldconsider ourselves exempt.
Again, we're called to beexcellent.
So we want to make sure thatwe're living up to God's
standards, not the world'sstandards, not the state
standards.
(11:16):
We can go above and beyond tomake sure people know that they
are loved, welcomed, wanted, andcared for inside the walls of
our church.
Do I know everything aboutdisability ministry?
Do I have all the answers?
Have I done everythingperfectly?
I have absolutely not.
(11:37):
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.
For deeper dives into thesetopics and more, check out
indispensablepeople.com andvisit Amazon to purchase the
(11:59):
books The Indispensable Kid andGod's Full Accessibility and the
Indispensable People.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!