Disability Awareness Sunday
Disability Awareness Sunday is to be held this Sunday (November 19) and it is hoped it will provide a stepping stone for more people with disabilities to enter fully into the life of the church.
This special day was held for the first time last year, and the Church's Working Group on Disability has reported that feed-back was largely positive. If the date does not fit in with parish plans this year, rectors are being encouraged to celebrate the occasion on another Sunday. The setting aside of a designated day enables churches to highlight disability, and provides an opportunity to encourage people with disabilities to take part in the services, and through this and other ways to realize the awareness of disability among the church community in general.
Dr Judith McGaffin, a member of the Working Group on Disability, said:
"Disability Awareness Sunday will be an important day in raising awareness of those issues which often isolate people with a disability."
"At the same time", she said "it will celebrate the skills and gifts which people with disabilities have to offer us".
If you need any more information please contact Dr Judith McGaffin at Judi.McGaffin@whssb.
n-i.nhs.uk. mob: 07802 412731.
Disability Awareness Sunday has the active support of the Archbishop of Armagh and the other Bishops. It was held for the first time last year, and has now become an annual event.
As a group disabled people are amongst the poorest; least well educated; 5 times more likely to be out of work; the least evangelized; the least involved in our churches and the least able to access transportation. Other facts and figures about disabilities include: 9% of us will be disabled at some point in our lives, 8% of disabled people use wheelchairs, 3% of children have one or more disabilities; 1 in 8 people have a hearing loss and there are 650 million disabled people in the world.