EqUUal Access has spoken to all UUA Moderator candidates and, while being mindful that the UUA will be well served by whoever wins the election, has decided that our endorsement is Kimberly Quinn Johnson and Bill Young.

Congratulations, Jen!

Jen Salamone’s sermon, Beloved Community for Every Body, has been selected as the winner of the 2024 Carolyn Cartland Sermon Contest!

The sermon will be honored as part of the EqUUal Access Celebration on June 13.  All are welcome. You can read the sermon and find out more about Jen on our Sermons page under the Resources tab.

Information for submitting a sermon for consideration for the 2025 Sermon Contest is available now!

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”. 

We invite you to contribute your story of lived experience of disability in your congregation.

Nothing about Us without Us! That is the rallying cry of the Disability Rights Movement and one we intend to honor. We are working with Skinner House to publish a book on the lived experience of disability in congregations. We are seeking authors, named or anonymous, who would be willing to share their authentic story. If chosen, these candidates will receive an honorarium.  We want the book to have a strong intersectional framework, so we are looking for stories in which authors bring their whole selves.  We welcome you to reflect on how your other identities are part of your experience as a disabled person in a UU community.  This book is meant to give insight into how disabled people worship and experience life in their congregations; how disability impacts a person’s faith, spiritual identity, and showing up with your authentic self. It will show the gifts that disabled people can bring to their congregations. It is also a book on moving from the Disability Rights Movement to the Disability Justice Movement. Please let us know if you would be able to write your story or be interviewed.

We hope that this message is viewed far and wide and realize that we may need additional permissions. If you are under 18, or sharing with someone under 18, we welcome your story! AND we ask that you let us know, so we may obtain the proper permissions.

The average contribution for books like this one is around 3,000 words, and the typical range is 1,500-5,000 words.

A rough draft of your submission is due on May 15, 2023.

Rev. Barbara Meyers

Shelly McFadyen Rohe

Please send your submission to uudisabilitybook@gmail.com

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.

At a meeting during General Assembly, EqUUal Access members approved these new bylaws for the organization. EqUUal Access Bylaws 2022

EqUUal Access is seeking a Virtual Booth Coordinator for General Assembly 2022! This is a stipended position; the stipend will cover registration for Virtual GA as well as an additional $300 in compensation. To apply, please fill out the following form asap. Thank you for your interest! Please email GA@EqUUalAccess.org with any questions, or if there are ways we can make this process more accessible to you.

Here’s a link to a form to fill out if you are interested: Booth Coordinator Form