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At the meeting—organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network from 16- 20 December in George Town, Guyana—church workers and persons with disabilities explored the powerful role of grassroots advocacy.
“This gathering is a sacred opportunity to affirm God’s given dignity of persons with disabilities,” said Gertrude Oforiwa Fefoame, chairperson of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
“This is not just about policy or law. It’s about how we, as people and communities of faith, can live out the values of love, respect, and equality in practical ways,” said Fefoame.
Rev. Dr Gordon Earls Cowans, regional coordinator of the WCC Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network in the Caribbean, said the disability leaders’ gathering was crucial for churches.
“People with disabilities are vital yet are often an overlooked part of congregations and membership. It has been lamented that even in our very churches, the weakest and most vulnerable, who the Lord came to heal, experience varying issues of inaccessibility and systemic discrimination,” said Cowans, a Jamaican cleric and academic.
Angeline Okola, programme executive for the WCC Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network, said the meeting sought to bridge the gap between the convention and grassroots advocacy groups work. “Their involvement is very important and that is why the selection of participants was drawn from the grassroots church networks and community-based organisations dealing with the practical experience of disability inclusion,” she said.
Rev. Dr Collin Cowan, former general secretary of the Council for World Mission, gave a practical theological reflection on disability from a perspective of a parent struggling to confront the implications of accompanying a daughter with a mild intellectual disability. “It has been mixed emotions for us throughout,” he said. “No lesser so is it for our daughter who has to live with the implications of her story for education, employment and integration.”
Learn more about the Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network
