Environment: Personal access to ministry and pastoral care:
We need one another when we mourn and would be comforted
We need one another when we are in trouble and afraid.
We need one another when we are in despair, in temptation, and
need to be recalled to our best selves again.
We need one another when we would accomplish some great purpose,
and cannot do it alone.
We need one another in the hour of success, when we look for someone
to share our triumphs.
We need one another in the hour of defeat, when with encouragement
we might endure, and stand again.
We need one another when we come to die, and would have gentle
hands prepare us for the journey.
All our lives we are in need, and others are in need of us.
- From reading #468 by George E. Odell
- Our faith community provides not only an opportunity for us to
come on Sunday mornings to worship, but also an opportunity to speak
our personal truths in a safe setting.
- Ministers' offices should be wheelchair accessible, or
there should be accessible, private, comfortable rooms (with doors
that close) for pastoral care.
- Personal amplification systems, such as Williams Pocketalkers,
should be available for use by people with hearing impairment.
- Environmental essentials, e.g. space for wheelchairs, good
lighting, should be followed in any room used for counseling or
pastoral care (see general information about fellowship and meeting
rooms).
- Ministers and pastoral care providers should have a good knowledge
of community services that are available for people with disabilities.
- Ministers and pastoral care providers should have training
in counseling (or training by a counselor or social worker who
has worked with people who have disabilities.)
- Sign language interpreters should always be used if a person
seeking pastoral care is a Deaf sign language user. Counseling/pastoral
care communication must take place in a person's own language.
- Ministers and pastoral care providers should refrain from wearing
personal scents and make personal accommodation (such as using
unscented detergents) because of the chance that people may have
chemical sensitivities.
›› Take the Accessbility Audit for: Ministry & Pastoral Care 
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