How to Include People with Disabilities at Church

I just finished reading a book called Disability and the Way of Jesus: Holistic Healing in the Gospels and the Church by Bethany McKinney Fox. It combined interviews with leaders of various Christian churches, analysis of healing stories in the scriptures, and accounts from people with disabilities. I didn’t agree with everything in the book, but there were some very beautiful gems of insight in there I’m going to carry with me as a Christian, Primary teacher, and someone who hopes to be an ally to disabled people.

Note: in this post, I use the terms “people with disabilities” and “disabled people” interchangeably because I personally know people in the disability community who prefer one or the other.

Here are some of the most important things I learned through my read of this book and the study of the specific healing narratives in the scriptures it referenced:

• We cannot quarantine and isolate disabled people. If people with disabilities are not fitting into our classes and religious services, then there is a problem with our spaces and practices and not with the people we are excluding. One example the book provided was of a neurodiverse child who kept running out of the classroom and the church building into the street during Sunday School. They eventually discovered the child was running away whenever they played music, not because he hated music but because he didn’t like surprises and the sudden start of music was distressing to him. To better accommodate his sensory needs, they started announcing in advance when they would play music in the classes so it was no longer a surprise, and he was able to participate fully in the class as a result.
• If the whole point of healing narratives in the scriptures was a physical cure for a disability or ailment, the story would end after that physical healing. Instead, we see time and again the narrative usually continues far beyond the physical healing to describe the transformation of the individual in other ways, the transformation of the community, and the affirmation of the identities of the person being healed and of Jesus. A few experts in the book also argue that the story of Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10) is a healing narrative even without physical change because a transformation (and therefore healing) occurs.
• The way many Christians have applied healing narratives to people with disabilities historically and up to the present day is horrendous and patronizing. Healing in the way of Jesus should never leave a person feeling violated, unseen, unworthy, alone, humiliated or hopeless. That so many modern Christian practices of “healing” make disabled people feel this way is a sign something is very wrong. The book includes many accounts of people with disabilities encountering Christians who attempt to “heal” them without their consent and without any concern for what the person they are trying to heal actually wants.
• Simplistic views of disabled people as needing service and the rest of us as helping them as part of a ministry are selling everyone short. Two-way friendship and two-way ministering among people with and without disabilities is meaningful. We must acknowledge that disabled people have gifts and talents and therefore should have opportunities to serve and participate instead of just being served.
• We can’t forget about adults with disabilities. Sometimes accessibility and inclusion efforts are so focused on children with disabilities that those same children are forgotten or excluded once they become adolescents and adults.
• There should be no accessibility solutions for disabled people without their input. People with disabilities can lead, advise, implement, consolidate feedback, and innovate. They have perspectives that people in non-disabled bodies will miss due to a lack of lived experience with a disability. When we ask disabled people what they actually want and need, we are more likely to succeed in our accessibility improvements. Crucially, accessibility improvements for disabled people improve things for everyone.

My favorite wards that I’ve ever attended include people with disabilities, broadly defined. The physical spaces are accessible, the practices are inclusive, and leaders and members are open-minded and willing to learn how to make church and all the accompanying events and organizations more welcoming. Disabled folks are extremely marginalized in the world today, as they were in Biblical times, but Jesus shows us another way. We should follow His example.