This week, Word on Fire is publishing a new book on welcoming those with intellectual & developmental disabilities in the Church. It’s titled Indispensable. Mark Bradford edited it with a different author for each chapter. I wrote the chapter on sensory-friendly Masses. It is the best explanation of such sensory-friendly Masses, and it could be a big help to many parishes. I will summarize my chapter first, then briefly mention some others.
My Chapter on Sensory-Friendly Masses
When the subtitle of Indispensable is “A Catholic Guide to Welcoming Persons with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities,” I was not surprised I was asked to participate. My chapter on sensory-friendly liturgies can be divided into two parts: principles and practical. The principles are not a theory but more attitudes. We need the right attitudes to welcome people in a sensory-friendly Mass if we want Autistics or those with other disabilities to feel accepted.
I speak about how those in the Church can often “other” disabled & autistic people. This is an attitude shown in judgmental glances, etc. Moving beyond othering, I also talk about levels of inclusion. Although we need much more inclusion of autistics, it is better to move one step at a time and build trust.
Moving into practical points, I note the wide variety of accommodations that disabled people might need and the importance of being ready for any of them. We need to meet this person with disabilities where they are.
The last quarter of my chapter focuses on the sensory issues autistics tend to have with Mass and ways to improve our experience. We need to turn down the lights and sound. We also need to accommodate autistic stimming & concrete language.
In mid-2024, I published 3 longer interviews of people who have run these for a long time. They were located in in Rochester, NY, Fort Wayne, IN, and near Atlanta. Part of doing these interviews was making this chapter, so I had experience from those with long-term sensory-friendly Masses. (Most prior articles were “here’s a new one” type articles in diocesan papers.)
Others in Indispensable
I just got my copy of Indispensible this week, and I want to post this before it is released on Monday. However, this means that I have only read the summaries of the other chapters. (I likely got a PDF version before, but reading PDFs is not too enjoyable. Plus, this semester I have more classes to prepare, so I don’t have as much time.)
I know many who wrote for this volume, and I have generally had positive interactions with them. It is a good selection of who I am proud to be in the same volume with.
I am particularly interested in a few chapters. Miguel Romeo starts off strong. His theme is vulnerability and dependence as human universals lived in a special way for us Autistics. I do not know Tracy Winsor and Bridget Mora, but their chapter on dealing with prenatal diagnosis is likely valuable. I have written about the issues likely coming soon with prenatal autism diagnosis, but I did not talk about how to help parents through this as they do. Anne Masters’ chapter on including non-speaking autistics seems interesting. Finally, I await Mary O’Callaghan’s chapter on Catholic sex ed for those who were autistic or intellectually delayed. Unfortunately, most autism-specific sex ed does not conform to Catholic values. I knew Mary was working on this.
Cnclusion
Hopefully, Indispensable: A Catholic Guide to Welcoming Persons with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities is a first step in better inclusion of us. I encourage you to go and buy a copy. Amazon has a Kindle version. But the Word on Fire store is $5 less on pre-order if you want a physical book
