Introduction
Today, I got to share what it is like to be a wheelchair user, at the St. John’s Ben Rhydding Church in Ilkley, during their first ever Disability Awareness Sunday! There were also other disabled members who watched the service on Zoom.
Opening worship
Songs Amazing Grace ( My chains are gone)
Waymaker
Then we had a scripture Reading. Our scripture reference was Luke 5: 17-26. We watched a video at this point of this service: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54HVIqckVMc.
Through the Roof and Roofbreakers was founded upon this scripture. The founder of the foundation is Joni B. Eareckson Tada.
Song God of the poor (Beauty for brokenness)
Daniella Jade’s experience
What difference in access to things did you find coming from Bermuda to here?
College and University was wheelchair accessible, however the college made it mandatory to get an electric wheelchair because Bradford is very hilly.
In education, what barriers were there and how were things changed to help you?
Wheelchair Accessibility and Integration were the recurring barriers. There were two public high schools to choose from. One building was completely wheelchair accessible from it’s inception but I would’ve ended up in a special class/program instead of being integrated while the other high school was nowhere near wheelchair accessible which impeded on things like class participation, attendance and receiving an accurate product grade. Once I got to the high school phase of life, I started out in a building with all stairs, which made it hard to get to classes easily and on time. But in my second year, I moved to a fully wheelchair accessible building.
What barriers do you in coming to church and how can we help you to be included?
None
Then we included the church in a Talk – including a time for discussion.
Song Be still for the presence
Prayers
Song God of justice
The audience seemed quite interested and receptive. I’m very thankful for this opportunity. I enjoyed sharing my experiences and hearing other people’s perspective.
http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/my-body-is-not-a-prayer-request/409340