The Autism Society Event and Education Recordings Archive

Religious communities have felt increased pressure to welcome and to be accessible to those with disabilities, and to provide/create meaningful methods to include them within their community. Discover strategies, resources, barriers and solutions including a detailed presentation of a successful program centered on peer-teaching/mentoring children and teens with autism. Individuals with disabilities of all types often find that they live in their community, but are not part of their community.  According to the 2010 Survey of Americans with Disabilities completed by Harris Interactive for Kessler Foundation and The National Organization on Disability (NOD), 79% of people with disabilities socialize with close friends, relatives, or neighbors at least twice a month compared with 90% of people without disabilities.  In addition, 50% percent of people with disabilities go to church, synagogue, or any other place of worship at least once a month compared with 57% of people without disabilities and 34% of people with disabilities are very satisfied with life in general compared with 61% of people without disabilities.

Although religious organizations are exempt from the Americans with Disabilities Act passed by Congress in 1990, structural modifications to accommodate people with disabilities have been made by many organizations, both religious and non-religious. It is evident, however, that more than structural modifications are needed in order for individuals with disabilities to be fully included into programs and have the same opportunities for success as individuals without disabilities.  In Texas, a network of faith-based organizations and disability advocates meet quarterly to address such barriers and identify solutions to full community inclusion for all people with disabilities, including autism.

This session includes lessons learned from this network using a variety of teaching methods, audience participation and accessible formats for attendees.  The learning objectives are to identify barriers and share strategies to engaging all types of faith communities for people or families with autism; to identify welcoming and accessibility opportunities within faith communities for people with disabilities; and to share resources for people with autism or their families to help connect fully within a faith community.  The intent of this session is to engage participants in discussion around faith inclusion and create opportunities to share resources and ideas on full faith inclusion for people with autism and their families.

This presentation includes statistics and research that was conducted by Bill Gaventa, M. Div, author, professor, former Director of the Elizabeth M. Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities; Erik Carter, Associate Professor of Special Education, Vanderbilt University; Texas Council on Developmental Disabilities; and local research by the Austin Interfaith Inclusion Network. Data from surveys, as well as videos and stories of faith and inclusion will be shared with the audience. A toolkit of faith and inclusion resources, as well as tips on engaging people with disabilities will be given to audience members. Promising practices of community engagement and faith inclusion will be provided for participants. Small group work, videos and an engaging presentation with data, stories and audience participation will be included. A local approach to community faith involvement will be presented and examples of how  faith and disability partners convened to remove barriers and strengthen community inclusion will be shared. The session will include small group work on finding and creating inclusive faith communities for people with autism and their families.

Learning Objectives: