Our UMC Mandate: Paragraph 2533.6 of The Book of Discipline 2016 states:

“The board of trustees shall conduct or cause to be conducted an annual accessibility audit of their building, grounds, and facilities to discover and identify what physical, architectural, and communication barriers exist that impede the full participation of persons with disabilities and shall make plans and determine priorities of the elimination of all such barriers. It is highly encouraged that members of the congregation or from the community who have disabilities, who are family members of persons with disabilities, and who are builders or architects or rehabilitation professionals be involved in conducting the audit. The Accessibility Audit for churches shall be used in filling out the annual church and/or charge conference reports.”

Resources:

The Disability Ministries Committee (DMC) developed an Accessibility Audit for this purpose, which is found on umcdmc.org on the Resources - Accessibility & Accommodations webpage . The General Council on Finance and Administration (GCFA) Forms and Resources - Local Church Forms page. See also “Guidance for Completing the Annual Accessibility Audit. If you need additional support, contact your annual conference or the DMC can usually find someone to assist you to complete the audit. We also provide training to conference committees to help them with their audit program.

A bishop or an annual conference Disability Concerns Committee (Paragraph 653, Book of Discipline) may elect to substitute another audit form, but we encourage churches to complete the above-referenced audit.

Scoring and Communicating your Findings:

Once you have completed and scored the audit, determine whether you have earned an “Accessible and Disability-friendly Badge.”

Include your findings in your Charge Conference packet. Be sure to mention your badge and accessibility features on your church website and the UMC Find-a-Church site so that people searching for accessible congregations can find you.