The Autism Faith Network has been carefully monitoring the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Current guidelines from the United States government suggest that we use a variety of social distancing methods, such as avoiding groups larger than 10 people. Social distancing also includes maintaining a distance of at least 6ft from other people. These methods are strongly encouraged to help slow the spread of this virus.
Many religious organizations are starting to have online services in order to protect members of their congregation and the most vulnerable from the coronavirus. There is no way to determine how long we will be impacted by this virus, but many are predicting that it can range from 2 – 5 months. With these concerns in mind, we are choosing to cancel some aspects of our Accessible Faith Initiative for this year.
Effective immediately, we are no longer recruiting places of worship to the initiative or asking places of worship to do activities in April. We will also be canceling our Awards Ceremony that was scheduled for May.
The Autism Faith Network will host a prayer gathering via teleconference on Sunday, March 29th at 4pm EST. This time of prayer will be open to the public. The dial in number is 605-313-6360 and the access code is 639786#. We will be praying about autism-related issues and the coronavirus. If you have a special prayer request, please let us know and we will include it.
We will still continue to have online events in April for places of worship that have already joined the Accessible Faith Initiative. Additional online events for the public will be revealed in the coming days.
If your religious leader is looking for federal guidance on how to deal with the coronavirus, please share this link with them from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/organizations/index.html.
Thank you for your understanding as we navigate through this unprecedented situation. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We are praying for your safety and health.