Freemasonry and inclusivity
05 February 25
What does it take? By RW Bro Terry McCallum
At a recent Editorial Committee meeting the subject of the UN’s World Braille Day came up. I confess I hadn’t known about it, but I had on several occasions wondered what could we do if (say) a candidate for Freemasonry had any sort of impairment that required us to adapt things.
When the subject of World Braille Day arose, I asked myself ‘How does vision impairment – or any other limitation come to that – affect the initiation and/or masonic progress of a brother?’ Should such an impairment stop someone from becoming a mason? Surely we are more concerned about what is in their heart and soul, and whether they are the right kind of person to be made a mason – whatever their capabilities.
In deference to World Braille Day, I’ll be focusing on vision impairment for this article, but we should perhaps all ask ourselves what we can do about anything that might require us to adapt the application of our ritual. Mobility, limb loss, hearing, etc. In a world of increasing inclusivity, how is Freemasonry being affected?
And if you think for one moment that it’s YOU who has to come up with a different way to do something, then think again. Ask the candidate! If you talk to anyone with a disability you will learn that over time they have learned to adapt to so many different situations – and you would not believe how readily they can come up with a solution.
Haven’t the Paralympics shown us that?
Before my retirement I taught aquatic rescue techniques for pool lifeguards. There’s a process by which a rescuer can roll over a suspected spinal injury victim in the water. It’s done by using the rescuer’s arms and hands as splints to stabilise the head and neck before performing the rollover. So one day when a student arrived with the lower half of one arm missing I instantly thought ‘The spinal rollover is going to be a challenge for this guy!’ But even as I was explaining what was required I realised had to change my thinking: the objective was to prevent the casualty’s head from lolling around during the manoeuvre. Whether the rescuer did it using my method or not wasn’t the issue. As long as he did it.
And he did! Solid as a rock! He was also amongst the fastest in the timed swim. It turns out he missed qualifying for the Beijing Paralympics by less than 1/10th of a second. The faces on the other people in the class were a sight to see.
Open your mind and work with the candidate. Between the pair of you amazing things can happen.
How can we help a brother who needs it?
While researching this piece my heart was lifted by the wonderful things that happen when we need them to. With the kind permission of the authors and publishers, I’ve taken some extracts from a couple of masonic publications around the world. I’ve also included some stories from close friends of mine who – despite impairments of their own – have opened the door to enable other people with similar issues to enjoy the most incredible experiences.
From East Kent Province in the UK
Delivery of a Braille Ritual Book to Germany by W Bro Kevin Kemp, reproduced with kind permission of East Kent Province in UK.
On Sunday 27 October 2024, two travellers set off from their homes near Dover on a mission to make a very important delivery. The story began in March 2024, with a visit of the Friederich Sur Vaterlandsliebe Lodge No 278 based in Koblenz Germany, to the Septem Lodge No 7788 in Dover.
During that visit, Bro Alex Walter (who is totally blind) was able for the first time ever, to read ritual from a Braille Ritual Book held in the Library and Museum in Canterbury
📸Above - W Bro Colin North and W Bro Kevin Kemp presenting the Braille Ritual Book to Bro Alex Walter
Thanks to W Bro Ron Carter who searched the archives and W Bro Richard Wingett of the Kent Museum of Freemasonry, another copy of a Braille Ritual book was found and kindly donated for the benefit of Bro Alex.
A trip was organised by W Bro Colin North and W Bro Kevin Kemp to visit Koblenz and present this wonderful gift to Bro Alex in his mother lodge at a regular meeting.
Bro Alex was very emotional when receiving this gift. He remarked that this was something that he had not expected and that he was most grateful to the Kent Library and Museum of Freemasonry, to Ron Carter for his work and Richard Wingett for making the gift possible. He had known that Bros Colin and Kevin were making the visit, but not what the purpose of the visit was, making it that much more special for him.
From Avon Shirley Lodge No 185, Christchurch New Zealand
Blind Freemason becomes Master of his Lodge, reproduced with the kind permission of Freemasons New Zealand.
The Grand Master MW Bro Mark Winger attended the Installation of Brother Mark Luxon as the Master of The Avon Shirley Lodge No 185 in Christchurch on Thursday 14 September 2017.
Mark was initiated into The Millennium 2000 Lodge No 465 in 2004, so with 13 years in the Craft, he was installed as Master by RW Bro Graham Wrigley, Deputy Grand Master. Mark has been blind from birth, so the installation ceremony had to be adapted to communicate aspects of the workings in a tactile fashion as well as verbally. The Deputy Grand Master conducted the ceremony with dignity and decorum – explaining the signs and the ceremony as it proceeded – and the new Master ended the night on an absolute high – and we all made an advancement in masonic knowledge!
A strong attendance of some 90 brethren from the top of the South Island (Havelock Lodge) and the Midland District made this a memorable night. Some 17 Masters attended, as well as the District Grand Master, South Island, New Zealand English Constitution accompanied by their District Grand Lodge members. With a new initiation in November plus two Fellow Crafts awaiting Raising, W Bro Luxon is going to have a busy year.
How about when the WM, SW and JW are ALL BLIND?
📸Above - W Bro Mark Luxon (left) with Grand Master MW Bro Mark Winger
From the website of the Grand Lodge of England and reproduced with their kind permission..
When two sight-impaired Freemasons were respectively Initiated in Wiltshire and Installed in Herefordshire, their fellow members were there to support them.
Basil Clement has been blind since birth, but that has never impeded his enjoyment of Freemasonry. When he was Installed as Worshipful Master of Herefordshire’s Coningsby Lodge in December 2023, it was the second time he had been in the Chair. But this ceremony was even more unusual, as the Junior and Senior Wardens were also blind. It meant that Coningsby Lodge had three visually impaired members in major offices at the same time – a testament to Freemasonry’s openness, adaptability, and spirit of diversity. Given the Lodge’s experience in supporting visually impaired Freemasons, the ceremony went smoothly following minor alterations.
‘The biggest challenge was the Festive Board when I had to take wine with my Wardens and we had to make sure we were at least approximately looking at each other as we did so,’ says Basil.
Basil became a Freemason in 2012 having been fascinated by the Craft since his teens when his grandmother warned him to never become a Freemason. ‘She really didn’t think it through because if you tell a 14-year-old boy that he shouldn’t do something, it’s all he will think about,’ he says. ‘I started to learn about Freemasonry and there were so many things that impressed me.’
When it came to his own Initiation ceremony, Basil was aided by the discovery in the Lodge of a braille copy of the ritual that dated back to World War II. He uses this in combination with text-reading software on his computer.
📸 Above - A level one (basic) Braille alphabet. Level two includes numbers and mathematical symbols. Level three includes cells for commonly used words and phrases
Basil has introduced two visually impaired friends to Freemasonry – Andy Bailey and Jason Payne, who are now Senior and Junior Wardens of Coningsby Lodge. He believes Freemasonry is particularly well equipped to support the needs of visually impaired Freemasons and says it compares favourably with other experiences he’s had as a blind person, where there can be a tendency towards being ‘patronised or ignored’.
He feels that this could be because Freemasonry tends to ‘attract like-minded people who are different enough to make things interesting’, but also because a fundamental tenet of Freemasonry is to treat everybody on their own merits.
Having spent more than a decade as a Freemason, Basil’s only wish is for a wider acknowledgment of the challenges facing Freemasons with disabilities. ‘The automatic things that people think of when an organisation discusses diversity are ethnicity, age and sexual orientation,’ he says. ‘People should obviously consider those things, but they should also regard the needs of disabilities alongside them.’
Over in Wiltshire, Richard Lamb just began his journey in Freemasonry as an initiate in Sarum Lodge. Richard, 63, was born with retinitis pigmentosa, a chronic hereditary eye disease. He had lost his sight almost completely by the time he was 40. Richard was persuaded to become a Freemason by a close friend, who was able to advise the lodge on how to make Richard feel comfortable. This meant someone providing an arm to help him get around, as well as some minor changes to the ceremony. The hoodwinking still took place because of the symbolic importance.
‘The Initiation was very interesting and the people who guided me were really helpful,’ he says. ‘My proposers both know me quite well and I was aware that a lot of effort had gone into the ceremony. They had a rehearsal the night before to make sure it would work and I was handed various objects as opposed to having them pointed out.’
Like many new Freemasons, Richard found the experience fascinating and was able to make even more of the ceremony when he attended an Initiation at another lodge soon after his own.
That welcome extended to Richard during his Initiation at Sarum Lodge was very much appreciated. He says the effort they had gone to was ‘humbling’. ‘They wanted to make sure everything was right for me and that I felt welcome,’ says Richard. ‘If something had gone wrong, it really wouldn’t have mattered to me, but it clearly would have done to them. Now I have joined, I will go as often as possible. I’m also planning to go to other lodges with a friend, as I’m interested in understanding more about Freemasonry.’
And finally, how remarkable is this?
Lux in Tenebris Lodge, on Shaftsbury Avenue, London is a lodge for blind Masons. The Craft in England has always acted on the principle that when the Craft transformed from Operative to Speculative the Physical Qualifications were transformed with it.
Author’s Note: Generally I have learned to dismiss my first opinion on the capabilities of anyone with a disability because I know I will soon be shown how many different ways there are to solve things.