Join us on April 16th and April 30th for a two-part Book Study Presentation on Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, presented by SarahRuth Wekoye Davis and EqUUal Access. This offering is for Unitarian Universalist religious professionals and lay leaders, as we examine disability intersectionality within our places of worship.

Registration: https://tinyurl.com/CareWorkPresentation

Panelists include Rev. Julián Jamaica Soto, Aryanna Graff-Jones, Lay Minister Justine Nyakwara Magara, Rose and Sean Irvin, Mx. Anunnaki Ray Marquez, and Rev. Naomi King. Panelists will present on topics from the book, personal and professional experience with disability intersectionality, and will offer recommendations for congregations and religious professionals. The workshop will include question and answer sessions and small group discussion.

Participants are encouraged to read the book and bring their thoughts and questions! Guided reading and discussion questions will be sent out to registered participants prior to each 90-minute session. We hope to see you there as we work together in love, toward a more just world.

Congratulations, Rev. Jennifer!

Rev. Jennifer D. Alviar’s sermon, The Art of Language to Liberate & Empower, has been selected as the winner of the 2023 Carolyn Cartland Sermon Contest!

The sermon will be honored as part of the EqUUal Access Celebration on June 15.  All are welcome. You can read the sermon and find out more about Rev. Alviar on our Sermons page under the Resources tab.

Information for submitting a sermon for consideration for the 2024 Sermon Contest is available now!

We are seeking a coordinator for our online booth at GA 2023. Stipend and online GA registration provided. For full details and the link to the application form, please check our GA 2023 page

If you want to submit a video, please fill out the EA-AIM Media Release at the following link: link EA-AIM Media Release and include the release when you submit your recording. Please submit your video by 11:59 PM ET on May 19, 2023 to info@EqUUalAccess.org. In the subject line of your email, please put “EA Celebration Video”. 

EqUUal Access and the Unitarian Universalist Association have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that marks new and renewed commitments to anti-ableism for our faith movement.

The text of the joint press release is below, and it can also be found on the UUA website.

Unitarian Universalists Commit to Addressing Ableism

Boston, Mass. (October 19, 2022) – The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) and EqUUal Access are announcing today that they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to support our Unitarian Universalist faith communities’ work for accessibility and inclusion, and expanding our commitments to disability justice. The MOU builds on the historic partnership between the two organizations. It ensures that the UUA will provide more resources and staff to address ableism within Unitarian Universalism and to support equity in the engagement of disabled people in society as a whole.

“We are thrilled to move forward together with the UUA on the work defined in this memorandum of understanding,” said EqUUal Access Board of Directors in a statement. “It has taken a long time and much perseverance by those doing disability advocacy and disability justice work to arrive at this important milestone. We look forward to our collective efforts to establish disability justice as a priority for our association, its congregations, and the broader communities we are part of.”

With the MOU, the UUA and EqUUal Access agreed to:

1. Build up the use of an anti-ableist lens in Unitarian Universalism, and provide resources to UU faith communities for this work;
2. Invest in the leadership of disabled people, and build up the capacity of the UU disability community to create by-us-for-us spaces; and
3. Advance disability justice as a core aspect of the UUA’s justice and organizing.

“This MOU creates a strong, transparent and accountable foundation for our relationship with EqUUal Access for years to come,” said Carey McDonald, the UUA’s Executive Vice President. “It puts resources into our commitment to countering ableism, advancing disability justice, and promoting full inclusion in UUA spaces and in our local congregation and communities. We are grateful to EqUUal Access for their long-term partnership, and recognize that expanding the UUA’s support of historically marginalized communities is a core recommendation of the 2020 Widening the Circle of Concern report from the Commission on Institutional Change.”

About the UUA

The UUA is the central organization for the Unitarian Universalist (UU) religious movement in the United States. Our faith is diverse and inclusive and the UUA’s 1000+ member congregations are committed to Seven Principles that hold closely the worth and dignity of each person as sacred, the need for justice and compassion, and the right to choose one’s own beliefs.

About EqUUal Access

EqUUal Access is a voluntary organization of Unitarian Universalists committed to disability justice. We promote anti-ableism, equity, and access for disabled Unitarian Universalists in Unitarian Universalist communities and the broader society.

Skinner House Books will be publishing a collection of new Unitarian Universalist rituals. As part of their work to make an ethical anthology, Skinner House is establishing an open comment period until April 15.  To learn more about the reasons for this and the invitation to comment, use the link embedded in this letter from Skinner House Books:

Invitation to comment period:

Dear EqUUal Access Community,

Subject: Open comment period for new collection of rituals from Skinner House Books

Top-Level Summary:

• •       Revs. Allison Palm and Heather Concannon have been working with Skinner House Books on a new collection of rituals.
  •       In consultation with the Skinner House Equity and Accountability panel, we are establishing an open comment period (until April 15) before proceeding further.
  •    We have posted our proposed plans and details for how to give input online.
  •       We are deeply grateful for any input you choose to share with us.

We are writing with regard to a call for submissions that we shared in August 2020 for a new collection of rituals edited by Revs. Allison Palm and Heather Concannon, to be published by Skinner House Books. This project is designed to offer new rituals that commemorate occasions that have not traditionally been ritualized in Unitarian Universalism, with the larger goal of improving the range, quality, and integrity of rituals as they are practiced by UUs in congregations, in homes, online, and in circles of support outside of congregations.

We received a wealth of beautiful rituals and made a very good start. Thanks so much to those of you who have offered your ritual creations.

In the time since we shared that call, we have been learning more about what it means to publish new rituals in our current UU context. We know that the gifts of rituals offered to our UU community, particularly by BIPOC, LTBTQIA+, disabled, and other marginalized peoples are too often taken and used in ways that do not have integrity and do not represent our highest values.

As a result of our learnings, we have decided to slow this project down. We have some tentative ideas about things we can do in the book to encourage respectful, authentic, accountable, and inclusive use of the rituals. But no final decisions have been made yet.

With this message, we are establishing an open comment period until April 15 to invite your input before proceeding further with this project. You can find details about the book and our proposed plans at https://www.uua.org/publications/skinnerhouse/rituals-comment-period, along with information about how to reach us should you choose to share your reactions and suggestions.

We know there are a lot of demands on your time and we are grateful if you choose to carve out some time to share your longings and your expertise with us. We hope to hear from you.

With thanks,

Mary Benard, Publications Director, Skinner House Books, mbenard@uua.org, https://calendly.com/mbenard-1

Revs. Allison Palm ( palmalli@gmail.com ) and Heather Concannon ( hconcannon@uua.org ), book editors

in consultation with the Skinner House Equity and Accountability Panel: Julica Hermann de la Fuente, Alex Kapitan, Rayla D. Mattson, Rev. Elizabeth Nguyen, Rev. Sunshine Wolfe

UPLIFT: Uplifting the LGBTQ+ Experience Within Unitarian Universalism and Beyond published a newsletter for this year’s Day of Mourning. It includes new reflections from disabled UUs Jessi Sadaka, Heather Petit, and the Reverend Molly Brewer, and from UUA Co-Moderator the Reverend Meg Riley, with an introduction by the Reverend Suzanne Fast.  With newly updated graphics from Meredith Plummer and Alison Carville.  Also includes links to anti-filicide and anti-ableism resources beyond Unitarian Universalism.

The graphics in the UPLIFT newsletter are part of a series of newly updated Day of Mourning images suitable for use on social media from Meredith Plummer and Alison Carville.  The full suite of images are free to share.

Congratulations, Rowan!

Rowan Van Ness’s sermon, Intersections & Interdependence, has been selected as the winner of the 2021 Carolyn Cartland Sermon Contest!

The sermon will be honored as part of the EqUUal Access Celebration on June 17.  All are welcome. You can read the sermon and find out more about Rowan on our Sermons page under the Resources tab.

Information for submitting a sermon for consideration for the 2022 Sermon Contest is available now!

Dear Ones, here are links  to PDF and Word versions of your EqUUal Access and AIM Fall News.

Enjoy!

EqUUal Access News Fall 2020  (PDF)

FALL News 2020 EqUUal Access (Word)

We are delighted to introduce Elizabeth Foster, who is doing a part-time student ministerial assignment with EqUUal Access this year.  You may remember Elizabeth as our 2020 Sermon Contest Winner.  Welcome, Elizabeth!

Hi, I’m Elizabeth Foster and I’m excited to be the new EqUUal Access Student Minister. I’m a second-year M.Div. student at Boston University, and I also hold an M.S. in Nonprofit Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania. I’m originally from Chicago, and I spent several years in Philadelphia working with community nonprofits serving children and teens. I also coordinated religious education programs for the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia, and later directed religious education programs at UU congregations in Boston. During my first year of seminary, I founded the BU Cross-Disability Club to provide a supportive space for disabled students on campus and to challenge ableism in our spiritual communities.

During the pandemic, I’ve found joy in experimenting with new recipes, taking walks, playing music, and spending time with my adorable tortoiseshell cat, Jade. In more normal times, I enjoy contra dancing and help organize Boston Does Broadway, a series of community singalongs benefiting local charities. I also sit on the Executive Board of the Riders Transit Access Group for Boston’s MBTA.

I’m looking forward to getting to know all of you this year, and to working with you to shape our shared vision of EqUUal Access and disability justice within the UUA and our larger communities.