Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 54:50 — 75.3MB)
Subscribe: RSS
Season 1, Episode 15 — 26 November 2016
About this episode
Mona Fuerstenau of Bethesda Lutheran Communities and Anthony Armitage of One-Classroom discuss a breadth of ways for faith communities to become agents for greater inclusion for people with disabilities, including advocating for inclusion in parochial schools, how faith communities can be networks of natural supports, and how places of worship can leverage their networks to help people with disabilities in areas such as employment.
This is a preview of the “Faith and Inclusion: Embracing Inclusion for People with Disabilities in School and Community” Wednesday Workshop at the 2016 TASH Annual Conference.
About the presenters
Mona Fuerstenau worked as Speech Language Pathologist for 13 years in multiple settings; early intervention, schools and with veterans. Her passion as a disability advocate stems from the inequities witnessed in all of these arenas. She is passionate about communities of belonging and is working primarily in faith communities at this point. Her current role with Bethesda Lutheran Communities is Director of Ministry Partnerships. She is a parent of two young adults who are very diverse learners. A fan of Asset Based Community Development, she regularly encourages thinking “outside the DD bubble”. Her vision includes communities who become places of sanctuary, belonging, meaningful participation and mutual support with families experiencing disability.
Anthony Armitage and his wife LeeAnn Armitage are the founders of One Classroom, parents of two children and members of Mary Queen of Peace Parish in Webster Groves, Missouri. Their youngest child Christopher was born with Down Syndrome. After extensive research to determine the optimal educational pathway for their son LeeAnn and Anthony were inspired by inclusive education and the many Catholic schools around the country implementing inclusive programs. The opportunity of inclusive education, a strong belief in Catholic education, and the desire to educate their children together in one school created a passion to help all families of children with special needs and to serve Christ’s church by helping the St. Louis archdiocese schools offer a new option for educating children with special needs. One Classroom is a non-profit organization dedicated to creating inclusive educational opportunities for children with special needs. We believe every child deserves a Catholic education in their local parish school in full community with their peers. One Classroom creates awareness, promotes and supports inclusive education by providing funding, training, expert resources, sharing of best practices and connecting parents.
Donald Taylor is the Membership Manager at TASH and the producer of Amplified.
Transcript
Complete transcript forthcoming
You can receive updates from TASH on this podcast and our other activities by following us on Facebook or on twitter at @TASHtweet.
This has been a sample of the colleagues and conversations available through TASH. It is only because of the excellent work that our members do that we can bring you this information. For more resources such as this and to become a member, visit tashorgstg.wpengine.com/join.
We’ll hear from another outstanding advocate again in two weeks.
Musical coda
This interview was originally recorded on 21 October 2016.
The audio of this interview and the transcript have been lightly edited for clarity.
Do you have an idea for an episode? We would like to hear from you! Fill out our suggestion form and let us know.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. You are free to copy, redistribute or adapt it for any purpose, commercial or non-commercial, provided you adhere to the terms, including that you attribute the original source.