[Vision2020] Letter to the Editor: Church is noninclusive

[Donovan Arnold]

Maybe everyone should ask themselves why there are no other 40 or 50  year old adults with Down Syndrome in first grade classrooms in the  country? I bet the reasons no other school district in the country has  a 48 year old women or 50 year old man with Down Syndrome in with 6  year old children is the same reasons this church used to decide not to  have a 48 year old woman with Down Syndrome have a sleep over with  these children. 
  
 I can on a professional level say that a  woman with Down Syndrome is not a six year old child even if she reads  at the same grade level. That is a misuse and misunderstanding of what  those grade levels indicate, it is not intended to be used in a manner  of mainstream classroom placement. 
  
 I would suggest that a  more appropriate placement for this woman would be as a volunteer  assistant to the teacher. If this teacher rejects her in that capacity,  I have the name and number of a teacher that would most likely love to  have her as an assistant to the teacher--if this family wants to  contact me, I will happily provide it. 
  
  Best,
  
  _DJA
  
  
Art Deco <deco at moscow.com> wrote:  Perhaps all professional Christian church religionists, church employees, 
and other church functionaries should read very carefully the four gospels. 
Even a casual reading would show that Jesus would have quite another thought 
about Ginger than the head pastor and the director of children's ministries 
in the church referenced.  Somehow the main message of Christ about the poor 
and sick has been lost or severely down-graded by most of modern 
Christianity.

I hope the particular church at issue here are not slandering Christ by 
calling themselves a Christian Church.

Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
deco at moscow.com

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Saundra Lund" 
To: 
Sent: Friday, August 04, 2006 11:04 PM
Subject: [Vision2020] Letter to the Editor: Church is noninclusive


> Dear Visionaries:
>
> It's not often I'm moved to heartbroken tears by a letter to the editor, 
> but
> it happened today.  For those who don't subscribe to the Moscow-Pullman
> Daily News, I'm pasting the letter below my signature.  I've been around
> long enough to know that there are always at least two sides to every 
> story,
> and this letter tells only one side.
>
> I hope everyone takes the 45 seconds or so it will take to read the 
> letter,
> but I'm hoping for more than that:  my fervent prayer is that each of you
> who reads this will find out what your place of worship would do in this
> situation.  Let your feelings be known, and demand that inclusive policies
> be more than policies -- insist that inclusiveness be practiced.
>
> And, if any of you happen to know the family in question, please pass 
> along
> my heartfelt prayers for them and for Ginger . . . and for their church.
>
> Please don't forget to scroll down to read the letter!
>
>
> Wiping Away Tears of Sorrow,
> Saundra Lund
> Moscow, ID
>
> The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do
> nothing.
> - Edmund Burke
>
> Published: 08-04-2006
> Church is noninclusive
>
> I am writing so I can stand up for a disabled person who has no voice to
> challenge the policy of a big church.  Ginger has Down syndrome.  Since 
> the
> death of her mother six years ago, her sister in Florida has been taking
> care of her.  Now it's my wife's turn to take care of her.  She just came
> here to live with us.  My wife is doing her best to do what's good for
> Ginger.  We take her out to numerous places so that she is "mainstreamed."
>
> We have lived in different parts of the United States, and this is the 
> first
> time we have had any issues with organizations who provide services.  We
> attended this particular church that we thought had great youth programs.
> So, when Ginger came to live with us, we placed her in a first-grade 
> Sunday
> school class.  The teacher was more than welcoming and accepting to her, 
> as
> well as the other students in her classroom.
>
> Although she is 48 years old physiologically, her mental age is about that
> of a first grader.  She is well mannered, loves to color, write letters to
> her sisters, reads at first-grade level, etc.
>
> This church was having a vacation Bible school from July 17-21.  We had
> hoped to place her in the first-grade class, however, we were told the
> director of children's ministries had made a decision along with the head
> pastor to exclude Ginger from the program.
>
> I don't understand.  An institution like a church promoting 
> "inclusiveness"
> didn't let Ginger participate.  My wife was going to be one of the helpers
> at the vacation Bible school, so that she could keep an eye on Ginger if
> something happened.
>
> I didn't know where to turn so I am writing this letter.
>
>
> Yoshi Smith, Pullman
>
>
> =======================================================
> List services made available by First Step Internet,
> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>               http://www.fsr.net
>          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
> =======================================================
>
> 

=======================================================
 List services made available by First Step Internet, 
 serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.   
               http://www.fsr.net                       
          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
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