c. 2005 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) Diagnosed with cerebral palsy as an infant, Will Gathro spent most of his teenage years at home with his parents.

“I didn’t have any friends that would invite me anywhere,” wrote Gathro, who speaks with the help of a computer. “I played Nintendo and watched TV all by myself”.

That changed when he joined Young Life Capernaum Partnership _ a nationwide Christian ministry for teenagers with disabilities. The ministry, says Will’s mother, Kathy Gathro, has been a social lifeline because “they see our kids for the abilities they have, not the disabilities they have.”

The program, which empowers disabled teens to get out of their homes and live a full life, is just one example of how, after years of neglect, churches and religious nonprofits are beginning to meet the needs of people with “special needs.”

Will Gathro, now 20, has been a part of the Arlington, Va., Capernaum Partnership for four years, and has emerged as a group leader since his years of isolation. The organization, a subsidiary of Young Life, a national evangelical outreach, gives disabled teens and young adults an outlet for socializing, as well as a place to hear a weekly gospel message.

Capernaum Partnership is named after the place described in the Bible’s second chapter of Mark, where Jesus heals a paralytic who is lowered to him through a roof by four friends. Kathy Gathro praised the ministry for aiding “the integration of the social and spiritual development” in her son’s life.

“They’re a model for the whole church,” she said.

Will Gathro is one of approximately 54 million Americans, one-fifth of the population, living with a legally defined disability.

Every day barriers of architecture, communication and attitude exclude people with disabilities from living out their faith and fully participating in their congregation. As a result, their spiritual needs are not being met, said Ginny Thornburgh, vice president and director of the Washington-based National Organization on Disability’s religion and disability program.

“Many congregations think (having) a ramp is enough to qualify them as being accessible to persons with disability.”

However, “Getting a person with a disability to church is not enough.”

The National Organization on Disability announced an interfaith congregations accessibility campaign in 1998 that aimed to secure 2,000 commitments to increase access by the year 2000.

While the organization fell short of meeting its deadline, at least 2,210 congregations across the U.S. had joined the campaign as of this year, said Lorraine Thall, campaign coordinator and program officer for the National Organization on Disability’s religion and disability program.

By participating in the campaign, congregations commit to valuing people with disabilities as individuals, working toward removing barriers and encouraging all people to practice their faith through worship, service, study and leadership, Thornburgh said.

“When I visit a congregation and see that the bimah, altar or chancel is wheelchair accessible,” regardless of if they have a leader that uses a wheelchair, “that means they get it,” she said.

But recognizing the needs of a person with disability isn’t always easy.

“Usually it takes seeing a problem through the eyes of a person with disability, whatever it may be,” said the Rev. Robert F. Molsberry, senior pastor of the United Church of Christ Congregational in Grinnell, Iowa.

Molsberry was in an accident eight years ago that left him paralyzed _ he was hit by a car while bike riding.

Before the accident, “the church called itself accessible and it was in a lot of ways,” Molsberry said, referring to an elevator and wide bathroom doors that accommodate the needs of wheelchair users.

“But, I discovered pretty quickly when I entered (the sanctuary) with a wheelchair, that not everything was accessible,” he said.

Molsberry noted that the most troublesome area was the chancel, near the altar. Maneuvering the church doors was problematic as well.

Molsberry’s church quickly came together on his behalf: installing electronic door openers and tearing down a few pews from the sanctuary to give wheelchair users access.

As the parent of a 13-year-old son with a developmental disability, Francesca Pellegrino knows what it is like to feel excluded from her congregation.

Parents are often “inclined to hide in the back of church, hoping their disabled children won’t make too much noise” Pellegrino said.

After talking with other parents at the Shrine of The Most Blessed Sacrament, a Catholic church in Washington, she realized that she was not alone.

“It became clear that there was a huge need that was not being served,” Pellegrino said.

But with Pellegrino’s help, a disabilities ministry was formed. Under the sponsorship of the Special Olympics Unified Sports program, the parish enrolled their youth in a basketball team that unites Special Olympics athletes and those without disabilities.

The partnership raised awareness about the needs of people with disabilities and showed people “how similar they can be to everyone else,” Pellegrino said.

The team was “a success,” and brought together children with disabilities, their siblings, and other members of the community. One recent game drew more than 300 spectators.

The parish plans to expand its disability ministry by forming a group for teens, led by a special education teacher and speech therapist. The group will participate in social events such as bowling and going out for pizza, Pellegrino said.

The National Jewish Council for Disabilities/Yachad is another organization that has embraced the disabled, providing lifelong lessons on personal and professional growth.

“The single greatest variable to success by any measure or criteria would be social skills,” Dr. Jeffrey Lichtman, national director of the National Jewish Council for Disabilities, an agency of the Orthodox Union, said.

Trips to both the East and West Coast, as well as to Israel, are offered to adults 18 and older, who are accompanied by high school students.

In addition to sight-seeing, the members are taught “relationship building skills,” such as personal hygiene, how to start a conversation or leave a message on the phone throughout the trips.

The programs focus on inclusion, and by bringing people with disabilities into the community, and “we are educating the larger community” as well, Lichtman said.

While ensuring accessibility to people with disabilities remains challenging, advocates say it is worth the effort. “Giving people the opportunity to flourish,” is what it is all about, said Kathy Gathro, Will’s mother.

This summer, instead of playing video games by himself, Will Gathro plans to attend Lake Champion camp in New York, as a worker. With the help of a “buddy” who is without a disability, the pair will run the camp’s go-cart activities.

MO/ RNS END

Editors: Search the RNS photo Web site at https://religionnews.com for photos of Will Gathro.