Skip to main content
NCPD Logo
  • Support NCPD
  • Sign up for E-news!
  • Home
    • Who We Are
      • Governance Board
      • Staff
      • Committees
    • Press Releases
  • Resources
    • Search Resources
    • Find a Diocesan Director
    • Catechesis
      • Inclusive Lenten Activities
      • Adapted Faith Formation Activities
      • Catechetical Publishers
    • LAMB: Inclusive Participation Assessment Tool
    • Catholic Schools
      • Professional Development
      • Funding Models
    • Clergy
    • Dioceses and Parishes
      • Accessible Design
      • Gluten and Alcohol Intolerance
      • Work with NCPD
      • Parish Welcome
      • We All Belong
      • Symposium 2019
      • Find a Diocesan Director
      • Mentorship
      • Sensory Friendly Liturgies
    • Ethics and Public Policy
    • Families
      • Prenatal and Postnatal Support
      • Physician-Assisted Suicide
    • Partners
    • Roman Missal
    • Purchase Resources
  • Disability
    • Autism Spectrum Disorder
    • Blindness/Vision Loss
    • Deafness/Hearing Loss
    • Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
      • Committee on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
    • Mental Illness
      • Mental Illness and Wellness
      • Mental Illness Theological Framework
      • Suicide
      • Homilies
    • Physical Disability
    • FAQ
  • Events
  • Conference
    • Conference Exhibiting
    • Conference Program Ads
  • Affiliates
    • About Affiliate Membership
    • Check Affiliate Status
    • USCCB REGIONS
  • Courses
    • Course Library
  • In the News
    • E-News Publications
  • En Español

How To Article(s)

Featured Resources

An adult male teaching working at a table with a teenage woman in a classroom

Strategic Components for Successfully Working with Individuals with ASD

Young girl working on a project at her desk at school

Teaching Tips for Students with Autism

Priest shaking the hand of a child who uses a wheelchair

Universal Design on a Diocesan Level

Lector who has Down Syndrome

Language: A powerful tool for parish hospitality

A teenage girl holding out a gift with candy cane wrapping paper

The Gift of Giving

People walking around on a busy street

How to Help a Person Experiencing a Mental Illness

An adult male teaching working at a table with a teenage woman in a classroom

Strategic Components for Successfully Working with Individuals with ASD

Here are some strategies that can be used with individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Not every child responds to every tactic. Choose the best strategies for the individual child. These ideas can also be used with children with other needs than autism, such as intellectual/developmental disabilities.
Young girl working on a project at her desk at school

Teaching Tips for Students with Autism

A few strategies for teaching students with Autism Spectrum Disorder!
People walking out of Mass

Access Surveys

The importance of thoughtful and careful planning for any ministry cannot be overemphasized. Planning should likewise be approached with creativity and openness. The following questions can initiate the planning process toward a universally designed ministry: What does it mean to create a church community open to all?  
Priest shaking the hand of a child who uses a wheelchair

Universal Design on a Diocesan Level

There is no question that organization and structure are essential to an effective ministry with people with disabilities. However, there is no oneway to structure this ministry, as evidenced by the variety of configurations currently operating in dioceses throughout the country. We are witnessing the downsizing or consolidation of many programs, and in some cases, directors have been required to assume responsibility for additional ministries. These trends have made clear the need for creativity and openness to change when considering how best to create a welcoming and inclusive community of faith for all, including Catholics with disabilities.
Lector who has Down Syndrome

Language: A powerful tool for parish hospitality

Words can sustain negative stigma and myths or they can communicate respect and sensitivity. When you meet a person with a disability, choose words that say what you mean--that you see them first as a person with many abilities. Talk to the person directly, instead of their companion or interpreter.
A teenage girl holding out a gift with candy cane wrapping paper

The Gift of Giving

Many people with disabilities are remembered especially during the season of Advent as needy recipients of charity. Families, parishioners, and coworkers look for opportunities to buy gifts for those less fortunate, less healthy, and less wealthy. The able-bodied become the designated "givers" and the disabled become the designated "receivers".
People walking around on a busy street

How to Help a Person Experiencing a Mental Illness

- Tips to help a person experiencing mental illness - Warning signs that may indicate mental illness
A person who is blind walking out of a Church with other parishioners

Interacting with People with Vision Loss

20.6 million American adults are blind or living with vision loss that is not corrected by wearing glasses or contact lenses (National Health Interview Survey 2012). The following are some tips to facilitation interaction among people with and without 20/20 vision.
Black and white linocut of people supporting each other

Handout: The Person with Mental Illness

Ways to create a pro-life culture with persons living with mental illness.
NCOD logo

National Catholic Office for the Deaf

“Spread God’s message through the support of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Catholics Pastoral Ministry so that we may all be one in Christ!”
male sign language interpreter

Policy for Working with Sign Language Interpreters in Catholic Religious Settings

"This policy statement was developed in consultation with deaf persons. It reflects the expertise and extensive experience of pastoral workers and of interpreters who work in religious settings." - National Catholic Office for the Deaf
Picture of Shawn Carey giving a lecture

Participation of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in the Mission of Evangelization

Picture of app on a cell phone

Religious Signs for Families ASL App

The Religious Signs for Families app is a delightful and engaging way to learn ASL using religious words that are not often found in other ASL apps. The goal of the app is to help families with young Deaf children and Deaf couples with young children to foster prayer in the home. - Archdiocese of Philadelphia Deaf Apostolate
Young girl decorating a Christmas tree

Happy Kids for Christmas

It’s typical for children to become over stimulated and stressed with all the activities surrounding the holiday season. Children with social and behavioral challenges may have the most difficulty adapting to schedule changes, visits to unfamiliar places, and introductions to new people and foods. The following tips give parents and caregivers some ways to maintain the joy of the season.
NCPD Logo

National Catholic
Partnership on Disability

Advancing the Meaningful Participation
of Persons with Disabilities in Church and Society

Contact us: 415 Michigan Avenue, N.E., Suite 95
Washington, D.C. 20017-4501; ncpd@ncpd.org; (771) 203-4477

NCPD is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt nonprofit corporation.
EIN: 52-1262317

Copyright © NCPD - National Catholic Partnership on Disability | Website: CEDC