Disability Workshop: Kanyakumari & Tirunelveli Region

The President of the IELC Nagercoil Synod Rev. Davidson, along with the Principal of Concordia Theological Seminary inaugurated the disability inclusion workshop and shared opening comments and greetings at the workshop that took place on 25 August 2025 at the Naether Hall, Concordia Theological Seminary, Nagercoil, in Kanyakumari District of Tamil Nadu.

Rt. Rev. Royce Manoj Victor, CSI Bishop of Malabar, and Moderator’s Commissary for Diocese of Kanyakumari, also joined the workshop in the afternoon session and brought greetings to the participants, highlighting the importance of disability inclusion practices within faith communities.

Having faith leaders in the workshop to affirm their support went a long way in encouraging participants to take forward the disability inclusion vision that they received at the workshop.

The session on ‘Nothing about us without us’ included sharing from three persons: Mr Joel a person with disability who is a sports trainer, Rev Azhakesan, an Ordained pastor of IELC with disability, Mrs Sindhu, mother of a child with severe disabilities, and Mr Alburt, a person with visual impairment who couldn’t join us due to last minute emergencies, but sent us an audio recording that was played. This sharing by the panel, set the tone of the workshop sessions to follow.

Participants actively participated in all the sessions. Our new training Facilitator Ms. Elizabeth Giri handled the session on the RPWD Act, Dr Sara Varghese, one of our Advisory members who joined this workshop as an observer also brought greetings at the start and was present throughout the workshop.

The simulation exercise, sessions on Barriers, Disability etiquette, Participatory Study of Scripture from a disability perspective, and plan of action were well received by the participants.

We had 18 participants from CSI Diocese of Kanyakumari including students of Concordia Theological Seminary  belonging to that diocese, 15 from CSI Diocese of Tirunelveli including students, 25 participants from IELC including the students from that diocese, and 5 from Salvation Army divisions of Marthandam, Kanyakumari, and Nagercoil – all of whom participated with enthusiasm in this disability workshop that was hosted at Concordia Theological Seminary, Nagercoil.

We are thankful to the host Principal of Concordia Theological Seminary Nagercoil, Rev Dr T Samuel who hosted us a and the team of student volunteers at Concordia who assisted us in all preparations for their gracious support.

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