TIM VERMANDE’S GOOD FIGHT

Protesting, Pew Cuts, and the Pandemic

BY DAROLYN “LYN” JONES

Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression. ~Isaiah 1:17

Tim Vermande’s life work with the United Methodist Church (UMC) may be the church’s best kept secret. Tim is a resistor and protestor—an activist. Born in South Bend, Indiana with cerebral palsy, he also had polio as a child. The doctor who diagnosed him after his mother’s difficult birth said he wouldn’t live to be 5 and would never be able to read. His parents were told to institutionalize him. They refused. Instead, they fought doctors and school boards and supported and loved him into the wonderful human being he is today. Tim is now in his late 60’s, has degrees from Indiana University, Southern Methodist University, and Dayton Seminary is the United Theological Seminary in Dayton OH—and is flourishing.

Tim works for the Committee on Disability Ministries and the Committee on Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Ministries in the UMC. He tackles not only ableism, but also racism and sexism. Because Tim is a wheelchair user and grew up prior to the Americans with Disabilities Act, lack of accessibility is something he has always had to endure. Even after the ADA, too many of the spaces and places in most communities remain inaccessible--and religious organizations are exempt from complying with the ADA.

After earning his degree in history, Tim dreamed of becoming a history professor. He applied for a position at a community college in Arizona, teaching religious history, but was denied because the job description required a professor to be able to carry fifty pounds of books up a set of stairs. After that and many other ableist incidents, where Tim sadly found that religious institutions were often the least inclusive, he contacted a journalist who did a deep dive into this kind of discrimination. The investigative article, “Disabled People Need Not Apply,” became one of many small steps in Tim’s life that set him on the path he is still on today.

After Tim realized that a future as a history professor was unlikely, he learned about a course in disability ministry. That started him on an educational path toward a ministry degree, with a new career goal of helping make the church more inclusive. Getting to his courses at any university he attended was always a challenge. He dealt with universities who had mission statements talking about acceptance, but when asked to act on being inclusive, those statements did not ring true. Tim faced parking arrangements that were way too far from his classrooms, elevators that barely accommodated his wheelchair, no power doors to enter buildings, and classrooms that were too small for his chair.

While earning his M.A. in religious studies at Southern Methodist University, he caught wind of a group of students and ministers organizing to talk about disability in the church. The internet was just emerging, and Tim realized he could harness connectivity and social media in his work –equalizing his power. He even learned there was an association of ministers who had disabilities. The leader happened to be retiring, and when no one else stepped up to take his place, Tim took on the role as secretary, he was in charge of day to day operations. At around the same time, Tim cooperates with them both of the United Methodist Task Force on Disabilities and joined the two groups together. It is because of Tim’s interest and activism in disability ministry and his early tech skills that he was able to not only bring these groups together, but to build a position and career for himself.

Disabled People Need Not Apply,..

Tim works with the disability committee representatives across every jurisdiction of the UMC, managing the committee’s many social media platforms and website, writing a weekly news summery, a newsletter for the Deaf Commitee, and he assist (especially proofing) the disability committee newsletter, keeping the databases in order, advocating on behalf of both individuals with disabilities in the churches and for ministers with disabilities, and meeting often with leaders and ministers in the church to encourage inclusion, diversity, and accessibility.

An interesting part of his work is to monitor the social media of individual churches and news stories that emerge about churches that are not inclusive and may even be openly advocating for actions that are racist, ableist, or discriminatory toward LGBTQ members.

Over the course of his work, Tim has developed a few perspectives on general attitudes toward disability inclusivity. “Until people are directly affected, they do not seem to care,” he said. “Yes, there is the Americans with Disabilities Act and yes, that’s a good idea but what many people don’t know is that religious organizations do not have to comply with the ADA. They are exempt. It’s only when someone becomes disabled themselves, or they have a family member with a disability that they start to wonder why things aren’t more accessible.” It’s an attitude that still affects Tim personally. Despite doing valuable and far-reaching work, he has never been offered full-time employment anywhere. Doing so would mean having to provide him with health insurance, and the assumption is that the disabled are more costly to insure. So he has always worked part time, and is fortunate to be covered by his wife’s insurance plan.

Tim has also found that churches often cite cost when pushing back against retrofits that would make their buildings ADA compliant. It’s a valid argument, but it doesn’t hold water when new churches are built. New buildings aren’t any more expensive if they’re planned with ADA compliance in mind.

There is some bad theology that is part of the pushback against inclusivity efforts, too. Tim knows that from his own experience with a grandmother who felt strongly that his parents should have taken him to a faith healer instead of trusting doctors when he was a child. “This ‘deficit-and-fix’ thinking still exists in churches today,” Tim said. “There are still stories about faith healers that are [influential in] some churches in this country. And there are even churches that use scripture to support a lack of inclusivity.”

Tim has also encountered congregations that operate with a “blind eye.” If no current church member has a disability or individuals and families don’t self advocate, the church often doesn’t want to take any action to make the church more accessible. But that means it’s not welcoming to potential new members with disabilities, either.

“We know that Universal Design teaches us that what is good for an individual with a disability is good for everyone,” he said. “For example, a wider walkway, a ramp, an elevator, or a power door is better for people with baby strollers or senior citizens who struggle to use stairs.”

Tim Vermande

Though Tim’s job is somewhat geared toward looking for problems, there have been so many positives to celebrate along the way, too. “In the UMC, we have a grant program to pay for small things to help churches become more accessible, and I’ve learned that sometimes, a little bit of money can do a lot,” he said. “We have installed lifts, elevators, power doors, and pew cuts (pews that are shortened, allowing the wheelchair or walker user to sit with the congregation and not stick out on the end or be forced to sit behind the pews). We can provide ASL interpreters and hearing loops (hearing aids that can tap into the church’s sound system.”

Another positive aspect of Tim’s work is proactively meeting with ministers and congregations about why inclusion is important. And it’s not just about wheelchair users; he is also actively educating the churches about accepting individuals with dementia, autism, visual or auditory impairment, and more.

an amateur radio license and am a member of hamilton county “RACES” (https://hamiltoncounty. in.gov/908/RACES) and “handihams” an organization for amateur operators with disabilities (https://handiham.org/)

Tim also is active in two United Spinal Association “working groups” that are formulating policy (the ones he is in are emergency prep and parking) USA is a great organization run by disabled adults, quite a rarity in this part of the world. https:// unitedspinal.org/working-groups/ Even the pandemic had positive impacts on Tim’s work. He saw it as a call to reform, and has, for instance, encouraged his churches to keep live streaming worship services. “The live streams have allowed countless individuals impacted by disability to still hear the word of God and participate in the church,” he said. He increasingly prefers this type of church attendance himself, because as he ages, his movements are slower and his joints are more painful.

Tim embodies the message of Timothy 6:12, Fight the good fight of faith. He is fighting to make sure that everyone is welcome to pray, worship, serve, and lead in the church. Tim is a “positive pessimist” who keeps this important work at the forefront of the UMC’s mission. When Tim isn’t fighting the good fight, he is loving his wife, his cats, his model trains CiNTRAk (cintrak.com), and his life.

Learn more about Tim by checking out his website and blog spot.

https://www.flyingkittymonster.net/ tim/000.html

http://

flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/