Video Transcript: Personalization Through Responsive Design

The third part, though, of our plan, I wanted to just spend a little bit of time fleshing this out, more so than then what we've had a chance to think about. Again, this is going to be a big part of what we're learning later on in the course, because of all of the options and all of the creative work God has done for us to learn a little bit more about some of those people that we may meet as part of our congregation who might need a more personalized plan. So Perspective, Participation, Personalization, three parts. And again, there's your framework, I'm handing it to you right now. And we're going to keep working within that trio. As we go through this course. 

We call it responsive design, partly because if it's universal design for 100%, we also may need to respond to an individual. So universal design, responsive design. Now this is about, you know, Tia, whoever that may be. I think, again, we need to remember most congregations that put a lot of effort into Universal Design, have very few responsive designs plans to make. They have very few personalized plans that are needed because they've just sort of built a lot of stuff in. You don't need to have a personalized plan for a person who's gluten free if you're just always served gluten free communion bread, right? If the Lord's Supper always has that choice available, well, now you don't need a plan. But there might be some individuals for whom you do need a plan. So because they won't be able to access the Lord's Supper without that plan. Again, it's a big group of people. But pulling out of there, there might be some individuals who need some special support. 

Let me just give a quick example of Marie. And I'll be talking a little bit more about Marie later on. Marie happens to be an individual who is a wheelchair user. She is, her IQ is very typical, she enjoys reading. But Marie has only voluntary control over one body part, and that is her eyes. And so if you're talking to Marie, she answers yes by looking at you. She answers no by looking away from you. She actually can scan and use a whole system for other pieces of communication. But Marie would not be able to partake of the Lord's Supper if we didn't have a plan for Marie, because in order to safely digest the Lord's Supper elements, not only do we want to make sure Marie wants to participate in the Lord's supper on that day by asking her yes or no, so we need to know about her eye communication, but we also need to know that we need to take that piece of bread, get it really soaked, wafer, whatever you're using, it's got to be wet, and sort of, we have to launch it in the back of her mouth. So in order for Maria to participate safely, we need a plan for that. That's what we term a personalized plan - responsive design.  So who needs that plan and your congregation? 

Well, identification can be a little bit tricky. You know, sometimes, we really have to dive into, like, we can't so always ask that person. We're going to talk about that when we get to the Responsive Design section a little bit more.  Do you walk up to that parent and say, we think your kid needs a personalized plan? I mean, how do you know when to do that? 

But I think, we're going to give you some tips and tools for how to work through that process. But I think, what we need to get to know once we've decided that that person would benefit, child or adult, from that personalized plan, we need to get to know that person. Sometimes it's getting to know that puzzle piece. And the book that you'll be reading for this course has some suggested questions in there. And we'll talk that through a little bit later when we get to the responsive design question. 

We need to get to know that person and we need to get to know their story. What does this person love to do? What's easy for this person? What's it like to travel to church on Sabbath or on Sunday morning or whatever that group is meeting? What is it like for that individual? Where are the roadblocks? What works and what doesn't work when coming to a church setting? So, we need to get to know that person. We need to get to know that person's story. And that's the delight of getting to sit with that individual or with a parent or with a group of people; to just really get to know that person. 

But I also would like to just let you know now that every good plan, I said before, has at least two parts, but sometimes there's a third part as well. So there's a plan for the individual, a plan for the everybody else, and a plan for the family, often. So let me bring this into a situation. 

There was an individual who needed to have some adaptations in their community. They were sort of new for the church, and so this was an experience. They had had this person, as part of the personalized plan, come in with their parents and visit the church when it was empty. They sort of put, they put named cards on chairs. The first week that the family came, they actually came during coffee time because this is a real gift of that particular person. She loves to shake hands and say hi to people. And she liked cookie. So, whatever; they had that all figured out. So the first week that was just a delight. And then she explored the sanctuary with the family, they reserved some, but they weren't really sure how this was going to work in worship. 

But the pastor again had a plan in mind for the others as well. So the family came to worship, they were there, they sat in their seats, and then all of a sudden, during the middle of the, during the middle of the pastor's preaching, you heard the girl go, Stop! No! Don’t! And of course, everybody gasped, and they turned around because you're not supposed to interrupt the pastor during preaching. And again, this pastor knew in order to be effective, there needed to be a plan. And while they had intended to do a neat little handout with parents’ permission to the congregation, just a little bit about Melanie, they found themselves in a position where they needed to hand out information fast. 

So quick plan for the others, without missing a beat, smile on his face, the pastor said, Oh, I'm so glad for a chance to introduce to you one of the new families. I know, some of you have had a chance to shake Melanie's hand last week and this week during coffee and cookie time. I have been given permission from parents, because you can't give out permission or information without permission, I've been given permission to let you know that Melanie has autism and sometimes there are noises that bother her. Her parents know what to do. We are working on a plan that's in place. Today, I'm counting her as my cheering section. And he went right on with a message.

Now, what he said took maybe 15 to 20 seconds, right? Just right in the middle of the message, he was prepared. He had a plan for the others. There was a bigger plan coming into place because she was going to be part of youth groups. They were going to educate youth group leaders about autism and they were going to educate, and this is not a picture of her by the way. Clearly this woman has Down syndrome, not autism, but the team was getting ready to receive her and they were going to do some understanding built among the peers as well. 

In any event, the pastor equipped that congregation very quickly. Five minutes later, the exact same thing happened – Stop! No! Don't! How many people do you think even turned around? You know what? They didn't need to because they had the information they needed in order to continue to worship. They had a filter. They had, I call them eyeglasses, right? You quickly are there to hand out these puzzle piece eyeglasses to people. He was fast. They didn't need any more explanation. They got it. 

And so again, I think preparing the others, whether those are other children in Sunday school, whether those are other worshipers in the sanctuary, whether that's informing the seniors group more about the changes or differences that they might see with dementia. I don't know what that is. But information is powerful. And whether we give that in general puzzle pieces, or whether we give that specifically about an individual, would be a decision that you make along the way with those involved. But a good personalized plan has to address not only what tools and features do we need for this individual to participate, but also how are we going to facilitate, equip the others peers, leaders, whoever that may be in that environment. 

So again, I felt so strongly about this. The first book I ever wrote was the book Helping Kids Include Kids with Disabilities. That, too, has a second edition now I'm very thankful for that. But how do we take, in a puzzle piece honoring way, give information to that book is focused on children's settings, children and youth settings. So again, another tool, but it's all about handing off those eyeglasses to the others. Learn that quickly in a school environment that that's a critical part of a responsive design plan or a personalized plan. So you might have a plan for the individual, a plan for the others. I will say that sometimes plans need a third part and it could be for the family. 

So I was in a community the other day. They had asked us to talk about Christian response, and tools to use with persons with dementia. Clearly, that was an effort to prepare the congregation because they had some individuals who were dealing with dementia and there were some questions being asked. So a personalized plan was being formed. But guess what? There is called a caregiver in that situation called a very tired wife. 

She came up to me after the service, too, right? So she was thankful that the information that was given was there to equip the congregation with eyes so that she could have some conversations. But quite honestly, that caregiver needed community. That person needed to have some support within that plan. And so the church was talking about that. Can we have once a week where we have two of the men hanging out with Hank, while the two women go out with Jenny for a much needed lunch, or a cup of coffee, or whatever that may be so we know that Hank is safe and enjoying community on his own, but also that Jenny has a chance to talk to some friends, to let them know what's going on? 

Does the church with the church benefit from seeing if there are a couple of people who could provide some rides, so that she's not also having to manage some of the comments and things that are going on with Hank in the car, but that there's a driver that could help facilitate some of the movement that they had to do? What are some of the needs that are part of her life as a caregiver? And are there some ways that the community can step in? 

So that plan for that particular situation, and we'll talk more about this process when we get to responsive design. Again, effectively, what's the plan for the individual? What's the plan for the others that are involved? And is there a need for a little more time and support for the family as a whole. It can come of parents of young children it can come in that caregiving situation that I described. But every time and anytime there's a caregiver involved, we not only need to look for the individual, but also that person that is the stabilizer and the help giver in that setting, and how can we strengthen that team as well. 

So again, possible three parts of a plan and I'm so excited as we end this week. Have a wonderful video for you; want you to be able to see it when the plan comes together, you know, then we know that so do the people. 

The video that you're about to see is one that has taken this beautiful gift of the Apostles Creed and then placed into it those features that might be needed to have those access points for people. Some of them are access points that could be built in through universal design. Clearly some of them are access points that will be built in because of a personalized plan for an individual. But please enjoy this video and would love for you to be able to, if it's appropriate, share that vision with others as well through this video. 

So enjoy your week enjoy this ending and may God speak to you clearly through what you're about to experience in this upcoming video.

I believe. I believe. I believe.  I believe in God. I believe in God Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ. Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius. He descended to hell. The third day he rose from the dead. He ascended into heaven, seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From there he will come to judge the living and the dead, I believe, I believe, I believe. I believe in the Holy Spirit. For the church. For the saint. For the forgiveness of sins? The resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

And now we invite you to stand in body are in spirit, and join your voice, whatever it looks or sounds like as we declare this together.

I believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, His only a Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He was sentenced to hell.  The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From there, he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.