We published earlier an announcement of the fringe event held alongside the recent General Synod meeting on 9 February. This was a partnership between St Martin in the Fields and Inclusive Church.
We are now publishing the text of one of the presentations that was given. Fiona MacMillan is a Trustee of Inclusive Church and Chair of the Disability Advisory Group at St Martin in the Fields.
Her talk can be downloaded from this link.
The booklet which celebrates five years of jointly sponsored conferences on disability & church can be downloaded from here.
Information on the earlier conferences is available here.
Meeting pods are essentially a little room within a room. They are primarily used for meetings, hence the name, but can be used for all kinds of purposes. These meeting pods come in all shapes and sizes to meet different needs. Pods can be open like the office itself or closed off for privacy and confidentiality. Closed pods are more beneficial because of their natural soundproofing. Open pods still have some basic level of soundproofing, so people can still hold private conversations. meeting pods
Synod has become, sadly, a platform for those with privilege to speak. It should be an opportunity for those in authority to be challenged and to answer but one only needs to read the questions and answers session to appreciate that questions are not valued by bishops and they effectively duck most of them, unless the question is simply seeking statistics.
The disabled – left to speak at fringe events. Survivors of abuse – relegated to the visitors gallery while the Archbishop of Canterbury talks about them. We could go on.
It’s first and foremost a sign of lacking imagination. As Fiona says, we all know about physical access to buildings, that’s something we can imagine. And if there’s only one person in our church with another disability, and if they seem to be coping ok, most people will genuinely not realise what is required and why. I’m recognising this in myself: with each new friend with a disability I have to make a real and prolonged effort to start understanding from scratch, and I often feel a real inner resistance that takes a stern word with myself to overcome. Can’t… Read more »