Power Grid Blog
Our Interfaith Work: An Amazing Gift
February 17, 2012 | AAPD Power Grid Blog Team
Today the AAPD family celebrates the release of Amazing Gifts: Stories of Faith, Disability, and Inclusion. This release was a moment four years in the making. Ginny Thornburgh, director of AAPD’s Interfaith Initiative, envisioned, promoted, and nurtured this project from start to finish, and wrote the book’s foreword. The book, a collection of 64 stories of real individuals, is a moving, beautiful example of how we can change the world by changing perceptions. Noted religion writer Mark Pinsky wrote Amazing Gifts, interviewing people of all faiths from around the country about their experiences with faith and disability.
People with disabilities are in every state, city, and town. We are in every family. Disability spans race, age, and political party. Disability knows no religion; we are represented in every faith community, and experience the divine the same ways as our friends and families. That is why AAPD’s Interfaith Initiative is so important to us. Under Ginny’s leadership, this program has changed thousands of lives by promoting accessible, welcoming houses of worship and organizing faith communities to support the disability rights agenda.
Faith is an integral part of who we are, and houses of worship are the core of many people’s lives and communities. AAPD’s mission is to be everywhere our community is-- promoting access, opportunity, and equality. Our work in schools, workplaces, universities, communities, the media, and houses of worship is all in pursuit of one goal—fulfilling the promise of equality for every person with a disability.
One thing I’ve learned in my career as an advocate—there is nothing more powerful than real people telling our stories. This is how we educate people, open doors, and ultimately change the world. Ginny put it best in her forward, writing “By opening yourself to the stories in this book, you will be equipped to listen, learn, and act in new ways in your own congregation and community, and you will be blessed in amazing ways.”
--Mark
Mark Perriello is AAPD’s President and CEO
To read an excerpt from Amazing Gifts and for ordering information, click here.
