Program Activities

• Developing ecumenical educational materials
• Conducting research
• Sharing best practices
• Providing disability-related theological field education internship opportunities for future religious leaders and educators
• Providing disability-related trainings for faith communities (coming soon)
• Hosting lectures and workshops
• Developing community partnerships to support inclusive religious and spiritual practices

Background

In 2007, the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (VKC UCEDD) facilitated a series of focus groups to assess the issues and barriers to full participation in communities of faith of individuals with disabilities and their families in Tennessee.  Over 200 focus group participants included:

• Individuals with disabilities and their families
• Local religious and lay leaders
• Disability service providers
• Vanderbilt Divinity School and Vanderbilt Kennedy Center faculty, staff, and students

The groups were asked why inclusion of people with disabilities and their families in faith communities might be important and why inclusion is sometimes difficult.  The groups brainstormed about how to bridge disability and faith communities more effectively.  The VKC UCEDD is seeking funding to establish a full program on disabilities, religion, and spirituality.

Activities and Events

• “Where Personal, Professional, and Communal Ethics Meet: The Challenge and Promise of Inclusive Spiritual Supports with People with Developmental Disabilities and Their Families,” lecture
  Delivered by Rev. William Gaventa (Director of Community and Congregational Supports, Elizabeth M. Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities; Editor, Journal of Religion, Disability, and Health) took place on February 5, 2009. See resources section below for materials shared during this lecture by Rev. Gaventa.
• Disabilities, Religion, and Spirituality: A Survey on Inclusion
  Investigators from the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center conducted a survey (closed June 2009) to assess the ease and challenges as communities of faith have sought to fully include people with disabilities and their families. Research findings will allow us to develop trainings, service programs, and educational materials for faith communities, individuals with disabilities and their families, and disability service providers.
• Praying With Lior film screening.
  A screening of the documentary film, Praying With Lior, took place in September 2008. The film follows Lior, a young man with Down syndrome, as he prepares for his bar mitzvah. The screening was co-sponsored by the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, Vanderbilt Hillel, Vanderbilt Office of Religious Life, and the Vanderbilt Chapter of Best Buddies. The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center owns an institutional copy of the film and it has been made available for check out. To check out a copy to screen for groups of 50 or less, contact: 936-8852, laurie.fleming@vanderbilt.edu

Resources

Disabilities, Religion, and Spirituality Program Flyer

Tips and Resources Fact Sheets
For individuals and families, for religious leaders, and for congregational care teams are free and available for download.

Resources provided by Rev. William Gaventa

• 2008 Exhibit Listing with Mission and Order Form (.pdf)
• 2008 WRDH Flier (.pdf)
• AAIDD brochure (.pdf)
• My Friend Charlie (.pdf)
• Resources for Creating and Building Partnerships between Provider Agencies and Religious Organizations (.pdf)
• Beginning Ministries (.pdf)
• Disability, Religion, & Spirituality Resources (.pdf)
• Personal, Professional. and Communal Ethics Meet Nashville (.ppt)

We continue to gather local and national programmatic resources to share with individuals with disabilities and their families and with religious and lay leaders. We want to know about your community. Do you know of religious/spiritual resources in Tennessee that may be useful for individuals and families, disability service providers, and/or religious and lay leaders? Send them to courtney.taylor@vanderbilt.edu.

Visit Tennessee Disability Pathfinder and search the religious and spiritual resources section. There are resources for individuals and families, religious leaders and educators, and disability service providers.

To make a donation that will allow the VKC UCEDD to further develop activities in these areas, please visit the Giving page of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center website. Specify that your gift go to the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center Disabilities, Religion, and Spirituality program.