During our summer recess at RespectAbility, I was given the opportunity to serve as the Pastor of Pilgrim Pines Summer Camp in Southern California. I have written about Pilgrim Pines in a past newsletter edition regarding its inclusion of folks with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Pilgrim Pines is a profoundly sacred place for me. It [click to continue...]
The disability community is built upon mutual flourishing. We know that our survival depends on each of us caring for one another in collective solidarity. As a disabled person I often feel quite lonely in my experience of disability. It can be a solitary endeavor to lie alone in your sick bed for days, weeks, [click to continue...]
June is Pride Month, a month of profound and unending gratitude for me. I am an openly queer and disabled clergy person. Without the radical dreaming and action from our queer and disabled ancestors, my path would not be possible. Disability and Queerness have always been intertwined, from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) classifying [click to continue...]
In the disability community, we know that mental health-related disabilities are disabilities. It still feels like the rest of the world has yet to catch up. As a person of faith myself who has mental health-related disabilities along with fellow family members, I have wondered why this identity disparity existed between mental health conditions and [click to continue...]
We at RespectAbility’s Faith Inclusion and Belonging department know firsthand the importance of faith-based summer camps for providing spiritual and community formation. One might believe the work of faith inclusion is limited to what we do in worship services together, but as we learned from our recent webinar with Tammy Besser and Sarah McKenney, what [click to continue...]
Transcript Ben Bond: Hello, my name is Ben Bond. I am the Faith Inclusion and Belonging Associate here at RespectAbility. I use he/they pronouns. I’m a white genderqueer person with brown hair, glasses, and beard, with a burgundy shirt. I am here to welcome Feryaal. Feryaal Tahir: Hi everyone. My name is Feryaal Tahir. I [click to continue...]
In the Christian tradition, Holy Week is the last week of Lent. The significant days within Holy Week often include but are not limited to: Palm Sunday, when Jesus enters Jerusalem; Maundy Thursday, where Jesus has his last supper with the Disciples; Good Friday, which commemorates the death of Jesus; and Easter, which celebrates the [click to continue...]
When I was first offered the position of Faith Inclusion and Belonging Associate at RespectAbility, I was told, to my utter shock, that on my first day of work, I would be meeting Judy Heumann. Getting to meet your all-time hero on your first day on the job is a remarkable experience, and learning that [click to continue...]
This year I was fortunate to bear witness to the transformative work done during Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance, and Inclusion Month (JDAIM). One of my favorite events during JDAIM was at Temple Emanuel in Boston. I hit the road from my apartment in New Haven, Connecticut around 6 a.m. to make it for our first [click to continue...]
When I was offered the Faith Inclusion and Belonging Associate position at RespectAbility, I felt I was coming home. The intersectionality of faith inclusion and disability is at the heart of my calling, woven through the very fabric of my being. I have lived with dyslexia my whole life (what an ironically hard word to [click to continue...]
