“We have a firm commitment that in Shambhala Society access needs to be provided for seniors and people with disabilities to all activities, programs, practices, any teachings they would otherwise be able to receive, community events, etc. and this access needs to be as safe, workable, uplifted, and dignified as access is for anyone else.”

Members of the Mandala Council try to use wheelchairs as part of an accessibility and diversity exercise designed to raise consciousness of these issues in our community…

Accessibility & Disability in the Shambhala Mandala

We are the Shambhala International working group for accessibility and disability, a working group of fellow sangha members who work to make our community, it’s centers and electronic media accessible to all our members. The Accessibility and Disability Working group is a part of the collection of working groups aimed at well-being: Social Health and Well-being. We are charged with providing information for making Shambhala International accessible, physically, in print, and electronically.

Learning about Accessibility and Disabilities

• Introduction to Mobility disabilities
• Introduction to Visual disabilities
• Introduction to Hearing disabilities

Checklists to guide you in making your centre more accessible

• Mobility Checklist
• Vision impaired centre checklist
• Deaf and hearing checklist

Spanish accessibility resources

Large Font Chants and Chant books

Large fonts page

References

See our complete references here

Useful Websites

Accessibility and Disability Forum

Contact Information

[email protected]
(use for obtaining  information about special material accommodations for advanced programs)

Shambhala As Accessibility When we think about issues of diversity and accessibility in the context of Shambhala Buddhism, we should ask, “What are the barriers that limit access to Shambhala for people of different backgrounds and personal situations?” These differences can include race, gender, sexual orientation, age, income,physical/perceptual ability, language, geographic allocation, culture and social strata and so forth. Warriors of Shambhala are not trying to create a dharmic nest for themselves and people just like them. Doing so would result in the corruption of the tradition. Rather we as warriors must invite as much diversity, confusion andwisdom as we can handle into the Shambhala Buddhist world. In this way we can make it accessible to the vast diversity of the world and ensure it will be a genuine world for us as well. ~ Acharya Dan Hessey