Far too often, the welcome that LGBTQ+ people receive in faith communities does not fully extend to those who are disabled. People with disabilities are part of the LGBTQ+ community, yet they frequently experience exclusion from both mainstream LGBTQ+ spaces and congregations.
A genuine welcome, one that reflects the expansiveness of God’s love, must actively and intentionally include disabled LGBTQ+ people. This means moving beyond simple access to ensuring full participation, belonging, and leadership.
Here are some ways your congregation can begin this vital work:
- Begin with Physical Accessibility: Conduct an accessibility audit of your physical space and your online presence. This includes checking for ramps, accessible doorways and bathrooms, clear signage, and seating that accommodates various mobility aids. Make sure that your website and digital materials are compatible with screen-readers and offer materials in large print.
- Presume Competence and Follow the Lead: An important first step in this work is to presume that disabled people are fully capable and have agency over their own lives. Ask people how you can best support them. Use people-first language (e.g., “person with a disability”) unless told otherwise, and always respect a person’s self-identification. This includes respecting their gender identity and pronouns.
- Make Your Events and Communication Accessible: When hosting events, include a line on invitations asking attendees about any access requirements. Provide spaces for people with sensory sensitivities to decompress, and ensure that presentations are captioned or have an interpreter for those who are Deaf or hard of hearing. For online events, offer the option to turn cameras off and use the chat function, and send materials in advance.
- Provide Inclusive Education and Visibility: Educate your congregation about the intersection of disability and LGBTQ+ identity. Include the stories and experiences of disabled LGBTQ+ people in your preaching, teaching, and the images used in your space and in your worship materials. Donate books and other printed materials that highlight these intersections to your congregational library.
- Offer Pastoral Care and Create Community: Be intentional about creating a community of care for disabled LGBTQ+ people. This may involve offering support groups and/or ensuring that pastoral care is accessible and affirming of all parts of a person’s identity. Facilitate connections with the broader LGBTQ+ community and advocacy groups.
All religious traditions call us to welcome all people, and genuine welcome involves listening, learning, and acting out of love. By taking these steps, your congregation can become a sanctuary where people of all abilities are not just welcomed but are embraced for who they are.
Some Resources
- Inclusive Church Network: A network of churches, groups, and individuals committed to an inclusive church that does not discriminate on grounds of disability, economic power, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, learning disability, mental health, neurodiversity, or sexuality. Many member churches use their statement to affirm their welcom
- Black, Kathy. A Healing Homiletic: Preaching and Disability. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996.
- Brock, Brian, and John Swinton, eds. Disability in the Christian Tradition: A Reader. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012.
- Creamer, Deborah Beth. Disability and Christian Theology: Embodied Limits and Constructive Possibilities. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
- Eiesland, Nancy L. The Disabled God: Toward a Liberatory Theology of Disability. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1994.
- Swinton, John. Becoming Friends of Time: Disability, Timefullness and Gentle Discipleship. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2016.
- Yong, Amos. The Bible, Disability, and the Church: A New Vision of the People of God. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2011.
Examples of Accessible Church Communities
