My name is Mark Pinsky. I'm a longtime religion journalist and author. As some of you may have heard, the Alban Institute of Northern Virginia has contracted with me to produce a book based on the stories of faith communities and people with disabilities, their families, friends and caregivers.
Some of you may also have seen my column outlining the book in the Wall Street Journal:
Making God More Accessible
My name is Mark Pinsky. I'm a longtime religion journalist and author. As some of you may have heard, the Alban Institute of Northern Virginia has contracted with me to produce a book based on the stories of faith communities and people with disabilities, their families, friends and caregivers.
Some of you may also have seen my column outlining the book in the Wall Street Journal:
Making God More Accessible
The book is designed to motivate and empower lay and ordained leaders across the denominational and theological spectrum, especially in smaller congregations, and will emphasize measures and programs that do not necessarily require large expenditures.
I am interested in personal experiences, as well as examples and anecdotes involving individuals you may know that could be instructive to our target audience.
I am particularly interested in experiences which have not previously appeared in other books or national, general interest newspapers or magazines, or on broadcast/cable networks. While inspirational efforts are and can be instructive, I am also interested in those that may not have succeeded, at least at first. We can learn from these experiences as well.
In particular, I have recently read T.R. Pearson’s new book, "The Year of Our Lord," which tells the inspiring story of Lucas McCarty, a young in the Mississippi Delta who uses the Minnspeak icon-based keyboard. Do any of you know of similar new technologies that help facilitate individual worship? If so, who tends to pay for these?
On the other side of the equation, what about technologies, preferably affordable, that congregations are using, say for hearing or visually impaired worshippers.
I would be grateful if you would contact me directly with any ideas you might have, or have heard about. Please briefly describe them, including whatever contact information you have, so he can conduct the interviews. My email address is: osopinsky@aol.com. In addition, please forward this email to anyone else who might want to help.
Best,
Mark I. Pinsky
www.markpinsky.com
AAIDD Religion & Spirituality Network 