Read a Beliefnet column that describes Christian, Jewish and Muslim perspectives on gratitude and links to Buddhist and Hindu views.

The Rev. Kathy Black, a United Methodist minister, is author of A Healing Homiletic: Preaching and Disability and Signs of Solidarity: Ministry With Persons Who Are Deaf, Deafened and Hard of Hearing. She is Kennedy Professor of Homiletics & Liturgics at Claremont School of Theology in California.

The Rev. Susan Gregg-Schroeder is a United Methodist minister in San Diego and coordinator of Mental Health Ministries, an effort that grew from her own experience of depression. She is the author of a paper, “Mental Illness and Families of Faith: How Churches Can Respond.”

Special Touch Ministry is an interdenominational Christian organization in Waupaca, Wis., providing services to the disabled and consulting to congregations. The ministry, which hosts retreats, a summer camp and conferences, announced in 2012 that it was expanding internationally.

Bridge Builders is a ministry of the Vineyard Church of Columbus, Ohio, to help incorporate disabled children and their families into the full range of church activities.

The Rev. Jennifer Pader is a disability rights advocate and affiliated minister for pastoral care at Fourth Universalist Society in New York.

The United Church of Christ Disabilities Ministries is an inclusion ministry for people with disabilities.

Presbyterians for Disability Concerns advocates for the religious lives of people with disabilities.

The Episcopal Disability Network works for the inclusion of people with disabilities into religious and congregational life.