Exclusion and Embrace: Disability, Justice and Spirituality Conference

Convened by Andy Calder, the 2016 Exclusion and Embrace: Disability, Justice and Spirituality Conference has the support of a range of organisations includeing the Jewish Christian Muslim Association and the Faith Communities Council of Victoria. The Uniting Church Synod of Victoria and Tasmania is providing the Conference Secretariat.

A range of themes will be presented and explored including ethics, care, inclusion in faith communities, friendship, discrimination, love, justice, liberation.

Immediately prior to our conference the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual Disability World Congress is being held in Melbourne. Two esteemed speakers from the Congress will be keynoters at our conference:

• Prof Hans Reinders (pictured) is Chair of Ethics at VU University, Holland, and editor of the journal Religion and Disability, he is also author of Receiving the Gift of Friendship. Profound Disability, Theological Anthropology, and Ethics
• Rev Bill Gaventa is Director of the Summer Institute of Theology and Disability, previous Editor of Journal of Disability, Religion and Health, US, and President-elect of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
• David Tacey is Emeritus Professor of Humanities, La Trobe University, Melbourne. An interdisciplinary scholar and public intellectual who has written extensively on spirituality, religion, youth experience and mental health.

Other speakers include Dr Lorna Hallahan, with more speakers being added to the list in the lead-up to the conference.

In Australia, an increasing number of people are actively exploring the intersection of disability and spirituality. The conference program will present a range of perspectives across the faith spectrum, with opportunities for dialogue and formation of new networks. It will have appeal to people who live with disability, families and carers, as well as academics and practitioners (both volunteers and staff).

Visit the Conference website for details, speaker bioographies and to register.