By Jonathan Martinez - Florida Catholic
Photographer: JONATHAN MARTINEZ | FC
Lorena Gomez wears a blindfold and is led by Sister Rose Henry Eboh of the Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy during an activity where participants are taught how to properly aid a blind person.
Photographer: JONATHAN MARTINEZ | FC
Mildred Phelps, left, and Lorena Gomez wear simulator goggles during the sensitivity training program at St. Clement.
McDiarmid is a public awareness specialist with the Lighthouse of Broward, whose mission is to enhance the independence, productivity and quality of life of children and adults who are blind or visually impaired. She is also a Catholic with a degree in pastoral ministries from St. Thomas University.
Her professional and personal passions intersected a few years ago when she conducted research on the spiritual needs of blind and visually impaired adults and children in Broward County. Now the Lighthouse has received a grant that allows McDiarmid to fuse both her passions once again.
The grant is aimed at encouraging the Lighthouse�s clients to become more active in their faith communities � both Catholic and non-Catholic � and to make members of the faith communities feel more comfortable in reaching out to those who are blind and visually impaired.
�We�re the first agency in the country serving blind and visually impaired people who are networking with faith communities,� said McDiarmid during a training session she conducted Jan. 19 with archdiocesan directors of religious education.
Photographer: JONATHAN MARTINEZ | FC
Alma Myrick gives a testimonial of how she has lived with blindness and how to interact with a blind person and his or her dog.
�How many people with disabilities do you really see involved (in churches)?� asked McDiarmid. �Rather than thinking of them as charity, we need to think, what doors can we open so they can become the people God created them to become?�
In Florida, there are nearly 315,000 people who are blind and disabled; Broward has one of the nation�s highest incidences of visual impairment, with more than 50,000 blind and visually impaired people living in the county.
�We found that through research and asking those that are blind and visually impaired about their spiritual needs, especially Catholics, don�t feel as welcomed and as included as they would like to be and we feel that that�s due to education,� said McDiarmid.
Photographer: ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FC
Dolores Hanley McDiarmid of the Lighthouse of Broward, a Catholic with a degree in pastoral ministries from St. Thomas University, speaks to directors of religious education about making their programs more inclusive for people with disabilities, especially the blind and visually-impaired.
The first training session at a Catholic parish was held at St. Clement Church Jan. 15, with 33 members of the parish, including its associate pastor, Father Wilfredo Contreras, in attendance.
�We have people in our parish that are blind and so we thought that this would be a good idea to show our ministers how to outreach to those people,� said Father Contreras. �They learned not to be afraid and to be more attentive to the needs of those who are blind and make them feel more comfortable as Christians.�
Participants heard testimonials from people living with blindness and visual impairments and then got the chance to experience their world first-hand through the use of goggles which simulate various eye diseases. Participants also learned how to properly guide a blind person.
�It made me more aware of how sometimes, inadvertently, we discriminate how we treat the blind out of ignorance,� said Claudia Henriquez, a parishioner at St. Clement. �I learned how to reach out to them, how to welcome them and how to guide them the correct way if they need help.�
Other tips for making blind and visually impaired people feel at home included asking them when they arrive at the church if they would like to receive Communion from a priest or an extraordinary minister, and even asking them whether they would like to sit in the front or rear.
�One of the things I learned from this is that blind people don�t know the layout of the church, the altar, and so I think it would be nice to have a day for them to come out to the church and get the chance to walk around and feel around so that they can become more familiar and so that they can visualize it in their mind,� Father Contreras said.
�We have to find ways to respond to this pastoral need,� said Maria Jose Mitsoulis, archdiocesan director of religious education, as she hosted a training session that attracted nearly 40 religious education directors from throughout the archdiocese.
She called the training session �a taste of what we need to learn,� adding, �We need to be more informed so that we will not be afraid� when families and children with disabilities such as blindness enter the church or the classroom.
�We want people to learn and be aware of the importance of being inclusive,� Mitsoulis said.
�It�s always a good reminder. Are there some children in our parish (who are blind or visually impaired) and are we missing them?� said Sister Mary John Schik of the Carmelites of the Most Sacred Heart, religious education director at Little Flower Parish in Coral Gables. �It makes me wonder: Are they there? Are we missing them? Why haven�t they come forward? What can we do to help them come forward?�
FIND OUT MORE
� The Lighthouse of Broward�s sensitivity training program is open to any faith community in Broward County. The next training session in a Catholic church will take place on Thursday, Feb. 24, 6-8:30 p.m. in the School Clubroom at St. Anthony Church, 901 N.E. Second St., Fort Lauderdale. The training takes about two hours.
� Although similar training sessions are not available in Miami-Dade or Monroe counties, the Miami Lighthouse can serve as a resource for parishes and schools. The number is 305-856-2288 or www.miamilighthouse.org.
� For more information on attending or hosting a session, contact Dolores McDiarmid at 954-463- 4217, ext. 35, or by e-mail: [email protected].
Ana Rodriguez-Soto contributed to this report.
Correction made Feb. 15: Correct date, add time of St. Anthony workshop
