Opening Doors Archive

Anabaptist Disabilities Network hosted a sensory room at the national Mennonite Convention in July 2023.

Landon Kauffman reflects on his experience at MennoCon.

Cindy Warner Baker reviews the book, Amplifying Our Witness: Giving Voice to Adolescents with Developmental Disabilities by Ben Connor

Emily Krabill reflects on the 2023 We Are Able work trip.

Tom Szambecki shares about his experience working with neurodivergent youth and the wisdom all youth can offer on inclusion and belonging.

An excerpt from Life on the Spectrum: Faith. Hope. Love. Autism. by Deborah Abbs.

Ann Hamlin explains what it’s like to pray as a person who is nonverbal.

Karen Pfahler talks about the importance of meeting the needs of children with disabilities in church and the special relationships that can form.

Alison Flory Reploge shares about the need for churches to help ease the load of families with children with disabilities.

Erica Landram talks about the building of the Lititz Tree house playground, an accessible playground for people of all abilities.

In White Picket Fences, Amy Julia Becker examines how able-bodied privilege and white privilege have affected her life.

Jeanne Davies shares practices that build resilience in the midst of the pandemic.

Amy Julia Becker recounts how her experiences of exclusion with her daughter, who has Down syndrome, helped her understand racism in the US.

Chou Hallegra Gabikiny reflects on the privileges and disadvantages that have shaped her life and her career.

Jeanne Davies talks about “The Oasis” a sensory space created for the recent National Youth Conference of the Church of the Brethren.

Life on the Spectrum is a collection of reflections written by parents of autistic children. These are stories of love, struggle, grief, and joy.

In May 1996 a baby boy was born into our family. Jonah was pink, strawberry blonde, and he had Down syndrome. We were immediately transported into a new reality.

This fall we welcome Jeanne Davies as the new Program Resources Manager for Anabaptist Disabilities Network.

Many thanks to the many participants and volunteers who made ADN’s annual Circles of Love Banquet a success!

Rachel Joy, supported by Portland Mennonite Church, provides a few hours of editing services to ADN monthly. ADN is thrilled by this partnership!

At MC USA Convention in Orlando this summer, I led a workshop on autism in the church youth group.

Too often mental illness, self-harm, and suicidality goes unrecognized in youth.  How can adults in the church intervene to be a lifeline?

​​Mark Pickens volunteers with Anabaptist Disabilities Network as a Field Associate. Field Associates partner with ADN from their home location to offer their services in program areas that contribute to ADN’s mission.

Rebekah Flores was honored to serve as Disability Ombudsman for the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference. This was the first year someone has served in this role.

I want to publicly thank Christine Guth for the ten years of service that she has given to Anabaptist Disabilities Network. Now, after a Spirit-led search for the next program director for ADN, I am pleased and excited to announce that Denise Reesor is joining us.

Following a sense that God had called her to the work of healing the wounds of war, Grace Mishler arrived in Vietnam in the year 2000. Grace soon found that her experience as a blind person would become an important part of her work.​​

​Slate Hill Mennonite Church near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, has found that a significant part of their mission in their community is to be with people from the Cumberland Vista Group Home for adults with developmental disabilities.

We were sitting in the teacher’s lounge eating our lunch. I, and the two young adults with me, were taking a break from our on-the-job training. I was learning that Alex had a real love and knowledge of the online game, My Little Pony.

Growing up can be hard, but when you have a developmental disability it can be even harder. This summer, I got to make one small part of life easier for a few children with developmental disabilities.

After I moved to a retirement home, a friend asked where I attended church services. “Sometimes I go to local churches where my former grade school students lead in worship,” I replied. “Other times,” I added with a wink, “I go to the wheelchair walker united church.”

If you find yourself on the website of Beaver Creek Church of the Brethren, you will see the work of Doug Wood, photographer, a church member in his early thirties. When Doug, who is on the autism spectrum, took his camera to church in 2007, he was simply doing something that he had come to love—taking pictures.