Faith and the Built Environment – Kate Sheehan

Attending and being part of a church is extremely important, it is a place we can all come together to worship, be encouraged, and learn from God’s words for spiritual growth, for me personally it’s about belonging, being part of a large extended family and the unconditional love that your fellow congregation feel for you.

But what happens when you cannot attend due to the physical, cognitive or sensory barriers which make it impossible to get in or use the building, where does that leave us as a member of a church and more importantly as an individual Christian or for someone wishing to explore Christianity. 

Access to a place of worship is key to our spiritual journey and without it we cannot serve Jesus. Churches therefore need to review how people with disabilities can access and use their buildings and this is not just about a ramp or a grab rail in the toilet, this is reviewing in-depth how their built environment is useable by all their congregation. 

From a very personal viewpoint, I have a significant hearing impairment and really benefit from having a screen to follow words of a hymn and it also assists me with lip reading and a loop system allows me to hear as much as I can, without these resources I am unable to fully engage with any service or event and this can lead to me becoming isolated very quickly, which can impact my feeling of belonging and spiritual wellbeing.

How do we create inclusive church environments? We need to start by understanding what that means, Inclusive Design is the design of an environment so that it can be accessed and used by as many people as possible, regardless of age, gender and disability but it is more than this it has to include the facility management of that building as well, there is absolutely no point in providing an accessible toilet, if it is then used as a storage room for the mop and bucket or the sanitary disposal bin in placed in the wheelchair transfer space or having a loop system that does not work. Providing an inclusive environment is a process that allows access and more importantly the USE of the building.

A simple way to start to provide a more inclusive church environment is to ask for a Growing Hope accessibility audit or seek help from National Register of Access Consultants (NRAC) https://www.nrac.org.uk or learn more about what inclusive environments are from Inclusive Design Scotland https://inclusivedesign.scot or from The Design Council https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/fileadmin/uploads/dc/Documents/the-principles-of-inclusive-design.pdf

We need to embrace diversity and include everyone in faith, just as Jesus did, he welcomed everyone to the house of The Lord.