Joy Renewed

I mentioned last time about being in Birmingham for Together 25, well, the moment that finished I drove to Northampton for the Enabled Extravaganza.

Foe those who don’t know, Enabled is the Salvation Army’s disabled community. Actually it’s more than a community, it’s a force that challenges the Army where inclusion isn’t accessible, it offers training in disability awareness, it does evaluations on Army centres and advises on making churches more accessible.

And it’s a community. The facebook page has around 1.7 thousand members, with more people not using facebook. It’s has a keeping in touch service to make sure no one is left without contact, it fights with you when your disability rights are ignored. They provide online support groups, online church meetings, prayer letters, pastoral support, online weekend events at Easter and Christmas and much much more.

And once a year it runs the extravaganza, a week long, holiday for disabled people.

The extravaganza is my most favourite week of the year and also my most busiest (hence the shop being shut at the moment). I’m so privileged to run a craft group for the week called Godly craft, where delegates can make things and learn new skills.

This year was the 50th Anniversary of Enabled, so a bonus week with a rather posh dinner on top of a fantastic week.

One of the blessings I get is watching someone do a craft they thought they couldn’t and I got the privilege this year to help someone use a sewing machine, when they thought their disability stopped them.

Thankfully I have a sewing machine which can be adaptable and I must admit, I had to use every trick in the book, but to hear the laughter from someone who saw no boundaries was the highlight of my week (and the highlight of many people’s week).

My sewing machine isn’t sold as adaptable, it’s a Janome, but a low end one.

Sam has mobility difficulties so couldn’t use the foot pedal, a lot of machines these days have the option to unplug the pedal and use a stop/start button instead, and with the speed control button you can set the speed to not go faster than you can manage.

Sam is also registered blind. Thankfully the stop/start button is textured and in an easy to find position.

We were making squares for a banner, so straight stitching wasn’t needed. I chose to put the free embroidery foot on the machine and allow Sam to move the fabric with her hands. Janome also have guards to avoid the chance of catching fingers around the needle.

Anyway, here’s a highlight video someone put together of the Godly Craft workshops. There’s a poem read out by one talented person and a video of Sam, which I’m sure will show you just how “worth it” making crafts accessible can be.