“I just see myself as someone who can give back, and it really raises a question of mutuality.”

What We Believe

The United Church is committed to becoming an open, accessible, and barrier-free church, where there is full participation of people with disabilities. To start off, the church has been consulting with people with disabilities and their allies and exploring theologies of disabilities.

Jesus sought out the very people who lived with disabilities and marginalization in his society. He found ways of actively engaging them in their communities. But people living with disabilities—a dynamic category that anyone can join at any time—often find themselves on the margins of church life.

You are invited to join us in learning to dismantle barriers to full participation and create safe, trusting spaces that reflect the diversity of Christ’s body.

This ceramic raku by Rev. Susan Woodhouse reads “cup of blessings” in Braille. The colours represent discerning the God-given gifts of disability and offering them to God’s people.Credit: Rae Fletcher, The United Church of Canada

What You Can Do

• Pay attention to the stories of people living with disability, and learn to become an ally and advocate(opens in a new tab).
• If you identify as living with disability, get involved with the Disability Ministries Facebook group(opens in a new tab).
• Ask whether your regional council has a committee that has a focus on disabilities , and explore whether you can join it.
• Consider how your community of faith can become more accessible . The Accessibility Audit for Communities of Faith (available under Downloads, below) might help .
• Get more involved with the church’s intercultural vision, which calls us not to merely expand categories of inclusion but also to challenge relations of domination.
• Get involved in efforts to build more accessible community spaces. The United Church welcomes the Accessible Canada Act to make Canada fully inclusive.
• Watch the United in Learning webinar series Disabilities and the Church(opens in a new tab).
• Read background reports on the church’s disability initiatives (e.g., Open and Accessible, 2012; Theologies of Disabilities, 2015) at the United Church Commons(opens in a new tab).
• Find worship materials on our  UN International Day for Persons with Disabilities page.
• Explore the Student Christian Movement of Canada’s Disability, Faith and Justice Devotional (opens in a new tab)(free download ).