Collaborative on Faith and Disability

For many people with disabilities and their families, faith communities can be a powerful source of natural community support and connection, as well as a doorway to other important outcomes in the areas of relationships, work, community living, recreation, and service. The University of Maine Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies (CCIDS) is one of many University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDDs) that will serve as collaborating partners on a new initiative, the Collaborative on Faith and Disability.

Collaborative activities include developing and providing coordinated training, technical assistance, research, and product development in the area of inclusive spiritual supports to people with disabilities and their families, local seminaries and divinity schools, university programs, clergy, congregations, and service providers. Please visit the Collaborative’s Upcoming Events page for the latest information on upcoming webinars, conferences and the annual Summer Institute on Theology and Disability.

Selected Resources:

Putting Faith To Work: A Guide for Congregations and Communities (July 2016)

Putting Faith to Work: The Call and Opportunity for Faith Communities to Transform the Lives of People with Disabilities and their Communities (Gaventa, Allen, Kleinert & Carter, 2017).

Religion and Spirituality Division of the American Association of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD).

View videos from previous Summer Institutes on Theology and Disability (2010–2017).

Collaborative Director/Coordinator:

William Gaventa, M.Div.
bill.gaventa@gmail.com

Collaborative Associate Director/Coordinator:

Erik Carter, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Special Education
Vanderbilt Kennedy Center
416C Magnolia Circle
Nashville, TN 37203
erik.carter@vanderbilt.edu

Collaborative Dissemination Coordinator:

Courtney Evans Taylor, M.Div.
Associate Director of Communications and Dissemination
Vanderbilt Kennedy Center
237 One Magnolia Circle
Nashville, TN 37203
courtney.taylor@vanderbilt.edu

Collaborative Contact (at UMaine):

Sandra Horne, M.A., M.A.
Coordinator for Community Engagement
University of Maine
Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies
5717 Corbett Hall, Room 228
Orono, ME 04469-5717
207.581.1236
800.203.6957
TTY users call Maine Relay 711
sandra.horne@maine.edu

Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies