Get your church involved in Disability Sunday 5th June 2011

66% of churches say they need ideas for how to include disabled people in church activities*

Details of this year's theme are still to be released but in response to the statement above, the theme of the 2010 Disability Sunday was Finding Hidden Treasure and resources were provided to help congregations engage more fully with disabled people.

Churches For All believe that disabled people have an enormous amount to offer the life and ministry of the Church. However too often barriers are put in their way that hide the contribution they can bring: too often the gifts and faith of disabled people are Hidden Treasure waiting to be discovered.

To download and use the DS2010 resource pack visit: Disability Sunday 2010 Resources

If June 5th is already booked in your church calendar, you are welcome to use the resources on another Sunday.

THUNDER FOR ALL

Just think about how much you take the Internet for granted

Whether you use it for email (we send around 250 billion emails a day apparently), looking up information or just telling the world through social network sites like Facebook what you had for lunch, the Internet can play a big part in your daily life. Basically, the World Wide Web is brilliant, isn't it?

But how do you access the Internet if you are visually impaired or dyslexic?

Click here to watch a new video about how screen reading software Thunder, makes being able to use the Internet a life-changing experience for visually impaired people. In the video made by See The Difference, Roger and Margaret, shown above with their guide dog Tania, explain how Thunder is used on a daily basis by over 40,000 users world-wide.

Thunder is made available as a free of charge download to visually impaired people and the charity, Communication For Blind People welcomes donations to keep the Thunder software up to date with the latest trends in web development.

Torch Trust do not endorse any particular screen reading software but the local fellowship have tested Thunder successfully with the low graphics version of Network Norwich, the local Christian News portal.

Fellowship Group July Meeting Report

Instead of a visiting speaker, we changed the format of the last meeting of our 36th year before the summer break and encouraged our members and supporters to contribute.

A lady chose a favourite Bible passage, one man sang a solo while another gave a dramatic recitation, and one of our newer members, Freda(above), introduced her favourite hymn.

The afternoon finished with Roy Merton, our regular pianist, giving a brief talk about the Kingdom of Heaven. More time was allowed for fellowship over tea and nibbles before the drivers and taxis arrived to collect their passengers.

Thanks

A big thank you to all those who have supported us in any way this year: drivers, the refreshment team, City Church for providing the venue, visiting speakers, choirs and soloists and those who donate regularly to enable the worldwide work of the Torch Trust amongst blind and partially sighted people to continue and expand.

Advice for Drivers offering lifts to visually impaired people

When collecting visually impaired passengers, please go to the house and knock on the door. Then introduce yourself by name and state your purpose. Blind people have to be sure of their security.

If there is a need, you should guide visually impaired people to a vehicle by allowing them to take an arm. When they reach the vehicle, drivers should carefully open the door themselves. After this, you should offer to guide the hand of whoever is in their care to a safe part of the vehicle entrance. Please be sure to protect the head of your VI passenger as they enter the doorway. Following this, VIP may need assistance with seat belts.

When the vehicle reaches its destination, drivers must not allow people with sight problems to open vehicle doors themselves. They may accidentally open them into the path of moving traffic or pedestrians. The driver must do this himself, then help his passengers out of the vehicle and into the church building.

As you drive along, describe where you are and what you can see