Accessibility Audits and Becoming a Place that Welcomes All

The Center For Leadership Excellence presents a webinar with Lynn Swedberg…

Does your congregation and church building offer intentional hospitality to people with disabilities? An accessibility audit is a tool to measure not just physical accessibility but also attitudes and accommodations for sensory and communication needs. The audit process helps you set goals for continued progress in making your ministries fully inclusive so that everyone’s gifts and graces are utilized in the service of God. This webinar will give you tools and tips to complete the scorable Annual Accessibility Audit for UM churches and determine if you qualify for a badge to affirm and communicate the work you have done.

Other webinars in our Disability Ministries series include:

• Disability Theology with Amy Kenny (August 1)
• Ableism in the Church, with Melinda Baber (August 22)
• Behavior 101: Understanding Human Behavior in Faith Settings, with Joy Van Staalduinen (August 29)

About Lynn Swedberg

Deaconess Lynn Swedberg has been part of the Disability Ministries Committee of the UMC since 2003 and serves as disability consultant and newsletter editor. Her passion is improving accessibility to ensure that people with disabilities are fully and safely included in faith communities and ministries. Identifying as a disability ally, she wrote the “Understanding Ableism” article and Toolkit with input from voices of DMC members with disabilities. She wrote a chapter addressing disability ministry needs for the new Upper Room Safer Sanctuaries book and the Leader’s Guide for the Mission u study on The Church and People with Disabilities. She and the Rev. Debbie Hills co-developed the Annual Accessibility Audit for UM Churches and the related badge program. She is certified in Ministry with People with Disabilities and recently received her Graduate Certificate in Accessibility Studies. Lynn uses her occupational therapy background in teaching accessibility and disability awareness at Central Washington University. She makes her home in Spokane, Washington.