The Acts of Convention

Resolved, That The Episcopal Church reaffirm and renew the Church’s commitment to the spiritual and physical welcome of all people, including hospitality to and accommodation of people with disabilities, encouraging people with disabilities to become more active church members, to take leadership roles, and to increase awareness of people throughout the Church of the gifts that people with disabilities contribute; and be it further

Resolved, That The Episcopal Church reaffirm and renew the call to leadership of the Episcopal Disability Network and Episcopal Conference of the Deaf in helping to challenge and guide our Church’s work in this area; and be it further

Resolved, That The Episcopal Church, in solidarity with the civil and human rights of all persons with disabilities, renew its commitment to voluntary compliance with the disability rights protections that apply in different countries of The Episcopal Church, including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the Americans with Disabilities Act, among others; and be it further

Resolved, That the 78th Convention of The Episcopal Church reaffirm and renew its commitment to Resolution 2003-D051, which requires the Church to provide full independent accessibility to all official and ancillary events of the Church for people with disabilities; and be it further

Resolved, That The Episcopal Church develop and make readily available information on the process for requesting disability accommodations needed to fully participate in meetings, conventions, and other activities of the Church, including placing this information in event materials, on the Church website and relevant social media platforms; and be it further

Resolved, That The Episcopal Church recognize the need for reconciliation with persons with disabilities who have been denied accommodations needed to participate in Church events or who have been otherwise excluded from the activities of the Church; and be it further

Resolved, That the 78th General Convention request that the General Convention Office, along with leaders from the Episcopal Disability Network and the Episcopal Conference of the Deaf, compile a Best Practices Guide for providing disability accommodations at all official and ancillary Church events that will include resources and policies that would otherwise comply with the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act and UN CRPD, to be reviewed and updated at least once every triennium; and be it further

Resolved, That the General Convention request that the Joint Standing Committee on Program, Budget and Finance consider a budget allocation of $80,000 ($40,000 to fulfill accommodation requests at the 79th General Convention and $40,000 to fulfill accommodations requests at ancillary meetings and events) for the implementation of this resolution.