ECUMENICAL DISABILITY ADVOCATES NETWORK (EDAN)

(A Programme of the World Council of Churches on Disability)

1. INTRODUCTION

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has since 1971 treated the issue of disability as an important concern of the Christian Church. Meeting that year in Lou vain, Belgium, The Faith and Order Commission discussed the question of disability under the theme, The Unity of the Church and the Unity of Mankind. That meeting recognized that the unity of the church cannot be achieved without the participation of persons with disabilities.

The four subsequent WCC General assemblies have continued to reflect on the place of persons with disabilities in the church and society and to give direction to ensure that disability remains in the Council’s agenda. In 1975, the Fifth Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya with its theme, Jesus Christ Frees and Unites, issued a statement entitled: “The Handicapped and the Wholeness of the Family of God”. This statement was an affirmation that “the church’s unity includes both the ‘disabled’ and the ‘able’.”

At the WCC Six Assembly, in Vancouver, Canada, in 1983, on the theme, Jesus Christ – the Life of the World, twenty-one persons with disabilities participated as either delegates, advisers, observers or visitors. Their interaction with other Assembly participant had very far reaching effects. It was immediately after that assembly that Lynda Katsuno, a physically impaired woman from Canada was appointed as a full-time consultant from 1984-1991. This was a period of great growth in disability awareness within the WCC and the Ecumenical family in general. However, this position was discontinued as a result of lack of funds but the momentum created necessitated the establishment of a staff task force, which continued the work until 1994 when another full time consultant, Ye Ja Lee was appointed. Her life in the Council was very short lived as the position was again discontinued for lack of funds in 1996 as the Council was gearing itself for the preparation for the 8th General Assembly in 1998.

The next landmark in the WCC disability work was the establishment of EDAN which ushered in the current phase of the work and which has brought about more pronunciation of the shift in the emphasis from service provision to more inclusive theology. It all began in the 1998 WCC 8th Assembly in Harare Zimbabwe when 10 persons with disabilities from different parts of the world were invited to participate as advisors. Having observed the manner in which financial constraints had kept on interrupting this work, they wanted to come up with a solution on how it could be carried forward without total reliance on a WCC Desk in Geneva. In their role as advisors, they took the opportunity to deliberate in their own forum how best to influence the churches to recognize and incorporate persons with disabilities in their witness and service program. It was through this consultation that the advisors decided to form the Ecumenical Disability advocates Network (EDAN). The interest and commitment was to come up with a vehicle that would carry the WCC work on disability further to respective regions where each individual came from. EDAN as a network and initiative of persons with disabilities was considered by WCC a model idea for work with Persons with disabilities. It was adopted as a WCC programme within the Justice, Peace and Creation team and has since operated as such. The placement of EDAN in the Justice, Peace and Creation team is significant as an acknowledgement that WCC recognizes disability concerns as justice issues.

ÍNDICE DO ARTIGO

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