'Access begins in the heart'

At the Enabling Faith conference held this past month in New Jersey, advocates sent this message to a religiously diverse audience: "people with disabilities will be welcomed, valued and honored at religious services. Not shuttled off to a separate program, the "crying room,'' or the last pew, but invited to be full participants in spiritual events."

Ginny Thornburgh, director of the American Association of People with Disabilities Interfaith Initiative and author of "That All May Worship.' stated that access includes thinking in new ways and begins in the heart, stressing it is "about social justice, not pity." She added that inclusion "creates an environment "where no one is treated like a troublemaker or a nuisance, but is honored and enjoyed."