ATLANTA — Among the most humbling moments being confined to an electric wheelchair came when Shawana Bulloch realized it could prevent her from attending services at her Savannah church.

"The one place you should be able to go is in the church without assistance, you should be able to walk in — or roll in," said Bulloch, who recently convinced her Full Gospel congregation to get a portable ramp.

The disabled faithful say such experiences remain common in houses of worship, stoked by ignorance of their needs and doctrines that paint disability as proof of sin.

Years after federal law required accommodations for the disabled, separation of church and state means houses of worship remain largely beyond the law's reach. State laws and denominational measures are tricky to enforce and face resistance from churches who call them both costly and impractical.

The issue is gaining new attention as the disabled community expands, fed by aging baby boomers and a growing number of people with intellectual disabilities who are demanding a more prominent place in the pews.

A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released in April found that an estimated 1 in 5 U.S. adults — 47.5 million people — reported a disability. The National Organization on Disability estimates less than half of disabled Americans attend services at least once a month compared to 57 percent without disabilities.

States have taken their own steps to ensure equal religious accommodations for the disabled. In Kansas, for example, officials have effectively applied the state's own ADA-like law to houses of worship, according to state ADA coordinator Anthony Fadale.

"It's not a matter of necessarily enforcing it — it's that people want to know what the law is," said Fadale, who credits an eager religious community interested in creating churches with accessible bathrooms, benches and common areas.

"Even congregations that have a decent level of awareness, many of them have stopped at basic accommodations," said Mark Crenshaw, of the consulting group Interfaith Disability Connection.

They include St. John Neumann, a Roman Catholic Church in the Atlanta suburb of Lilburn. The church's new $6.2 million worship space will include a movable lectern to accommodate liturgy for those with trouble walking and textured flooring to help blind worshippers navigate the sanctuary, Monsignor David Talley said.

"Those of us who have worked in the ministry know the disabled are out there, (but) they become invisible to most folks," Talley said. "We want to invite them to make themselves present."

Advocates say catering to the disabled can help boost congregations with dwindling memberships.

"(Churches) can't imagine how many people are sitting at home wanting to come but can't," said Bulloch, a lupus patient who said she often can't get inside a church.

Kathy McReynolds, director of public policy at the Christian Institute on Disability in southern California, points to the Book of Luke, with its references to the blind and lame.

"What Christ is saying there is they're not an afterthought, they are central to my mission," she said " ... If they were crucial to Christ in his mission, why aren't they in the church?"