From sensory rooms to buddy systems: How churches are building inclusive spaces for people with disabilities

Love INC has built a free wheelchair ramp lending program to fill a gap left by insurance providers that typically don’t cover them. After securing grant funding and secondhand ramps at steep discounts, Love INC developed an application process, recruited volunteer installers, and now has three ramps in active circulation across the community.

Soar Experiences, a New York-based nonprofit, provides free guided outdoor tours for people with limited mobility using Trackchairs, rugged, battery-powered all-terrain wheelchairs that can traverse hiking trails. The program has recently expanded to 15 public hikes across New York and Connecticut, helping people living with disabilities connect with both nature and each other.

Before DOGE cut the program’s funding, Charting My Path for Future Success was helping students with disabilities learn ways to successfully transition from high school to college or the working world with greater self-sufficiency. Before it was canceled, 1,600 high school juniors enrolled in the program, learning how to set goals, take care of themselves and build their confidence and self-determination skills.

The Alliance Center for Independence (ACI) started working with people who have disabilities to create better disaster preparedness measures that consider disabilities, ensuring support and shelter are accessible to anyone and everyone. ACI held an overnight shelter simulation exercise that allowed them to practice each step of an emergency shelter response with people who have disabilities to identify any areas that could be improved. These simulations have become a model for other counties across the state, inspiring more shelters to make improvements to their accessibility.

“AGATEBE” was developed to help make it easier for the elderly and people with disabilities to access toilets. It is a portable, durable, low-cost toilet chair that is easier to use than traditional latrine pits. So far, more than 5,000 have been sold.

To improve access to live theater for the Deaf community, the Omaha Community Playhouse stages an annual shadow-interpreted performance of "The Christmas Carol," in which ASL interpreters in costume "shadow" the actors on-stage.

The Center for Ability, Rehabilitation, and Empowerment (CARE) helps people with disabilities navigate the boarding and departing process at airports by setting up a disability desk with resources including people trained in navigating the challenges people with disabilities often face at airports.

Gallaudet University has interior design and architecture built with the needs and preferences of people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing in mind. By analyzing the effects of lighting, color, space, and other design principles emphatically, restaurants and other public spaces can be similarly accommodating for individuals with different hearing abilities.

TV Bra is a Norwegian news station where all reporters are autistic or have learning disabilities that produces a weekly one-hour news cast tailored to its audience. TV Bra helps ensure news is accessible to everyone, helping people who are historically excluded from journalism stay up-to-date, and has significant viewership, with upwards of 5,000 people tuning in each week.

Floare de Cires addresses the employment barriers people with disabilities face by training them in culinary and hospitality skills that help them integrate into the workforce and build a sense of independence.