A 360 accessibility audit is a process of deep reflection about your church and all that you do. It challenges you to reflect on how diversity is recognised and appreciated and all people are enabled to belong, participate and flourish, regardless of their embodiment or anything that our society chooses to label as ‘disability.’. It is not a 30 minute task, achieved with a quick walk around the building, but it is an ongoing process within which you will always have more to learn but will always get better.
There are 2 levels to the 360 pathway.
The 360 Basic Audit, and
The 360 In Depth Audit Tool.
The basic audit will help you think about your buildings and facilities and some of the basic access issues around worship and the social dimension of your church community.
The 360 In Depth Audit is a deep dive into the life and ministry of your church that will lead you on a pathway of exploration and reflection that will place the voices, stories and experiences of Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent people, and those that bring other aspects of ‘difference’ into your church, at the heart of the plans that you make.
How to start
You will need to decide whether to use the basic audit or the in depth audit.
Begin by taking 20 minutes to read the Introduction and notes to the in depth audit (download no.1 below). This will explain how the audit works, and will help you to decide how to begin. The actual in depth audit has 19 sections, but you can ask different people in your church to complete different sections. It is important to remember that this will be a process not a one off event.
The introduction document also suggests you form a Disability Working Group and appoint an access or disability champion who can work alongside your PCC.
For advice and support as to how you might make best use of the audit, contact John Beauchamp john.beauchamp@london.anglican.org.
John is happy to visit you and explore how this can be adapted to be most relevant to your situation.
But what if I don’t have time to do this yet?
If your church does not have the time or space for the commitment needed to do the in depth audit yet you can download the basic audit document and guidance and explore how this might help you.
You can also take a look at the ‘Quick Wins’ document (download no.7 below).
There are many simple and low cost things you can do to make immediate and significant changes to your welcome and inclusion of disabled people.