Hard Words To Hear
In my last post, I practically preached nondisabled Christians who mistreat disabled persons into Hell. Since that night, I have struggled to write the piece that must follow that post. I was bold when I preached judgement onto nondisabled Christians because I could separate myself from them but in tonight's writing I must discuss the fact that disabled Christians who do something about the inaccessible worship centers, inaccessible church programs/activities, prejudice and mistreatment of other people with disabilities, etc. . . will be judged if they do nothing--and I cannot separate myself from those who I am saying will be judged.
Tonight's post will be in three sections. In the first part I will discuss what I mean by those who can but do not do something. In the second part I will discuss why it is so important for Christians with disabilities to be involved in changing the church. In the third section I will offer examples of things that you might be able to do. Note that I will leave out the biblical basis for the judgement of people who do not help others who are in need because you can get that by reading my last post.
First, who am I talking about? What do I mean by disabled Christians who can do something about the problem but do nothing? I mean exactly that. Every person with a disability has different abilities and different disabilities. Some are like me and cannot participate in fund raiser walks or manual labor like building accessible buildings but I have a very loud mouth and I'm not afraid to use it to let people know what needs to be done. Others cannot talk at all but know how to build ramps that are even better than the building codes require or they know how to raise money to make a church building accessible to people who are disabled. Obviously these are just two examples but the fact is that all but the most severely disabled individuals can do something about the problem of churches not meeting the needs of people with disabilities.
Second, why is it so important for Christians with Disabilities to be involved in making the church more disability friendly? Because if it doesn't matter to us enough to be involved, why should the non-disabled folk be involved? One of the slogans I've seen batted around the internet is "Nothing About Us Without Us." Why should this be any different? Plus, we are the ones who know first hand where and what the needs are. We can't expect non-disabled people, who have no prior experience working with people who have disabilities, to know what needs to be changed.
Let me give you an example. After completing my studies at a 2 year Baptist college, I was considering several other 4 year Baptist schools. I visited the one that my sister had graduated from. I was informed that they had just recently made the cafeteria wheelchair accessible by building a sidewalk around the back of the building and down the hill to the back door. Sure enough they had built this sidewalk, but they left a several inch step-up between the top of the sidewalk and the floor of the cafeteria. I quickly informed them that it was not wheelchair accessible and advised them of several other accessibility problems I had discovered on campus. Then I chose to transfer to a state school.
So what should you do or what are some examples of things you can do? Let's answer the first question first. As I stated in my last post, every Christian is called to meet people's needs (See Matthew 25:30-46). So that is what you are suppossed to do. How you do it is a different story. If you are involved in other ministries, please do not sacrafice the time you have committed to those ministries so you can learn to be a disability advocate. However, as you are in church or in your community, when you see something, don't just ignore it, do something about it. Since my Junior year of college when I became involved in disability advocacy, I've been involved in everything from getting elevators and electric doors installed in buildings to mediating misunderstandings between a person with a disability and a non-disabled authority figure.
No problem is too small to do something about, neither is a problem too big to tackle. The difference is the amount of manpower and money that it takes to take care of the issue. Once a building had double doors and they kept one door locked making it impossible to get a wheelchair through the one open door. That was easily corrected by alerting the appropriate person who then opened other door. Another time my college administration wanted to fill in the pool (which was the only wheelchair accessible recreational facility on campus) in order to build a new weight room for the atheletes. With the help of several friends, I got a lot of signatures on a petition, I got coverage in the school newspaper, I found documents that suppossedly didn't exist, and we kept the pool and won several other concessions from the administration.
I suppose I should end with a basic instruction set on how to do disability advocacy for readers who have never done it before. The biggie that isn't even in my numbered steps because it overshadows them all, PRAY. Anytime you are involved in trying to resolve issues, especially within the church, you need to make sure your efforts are prayer covered. Now for the steps. First, you must notice there is a problem. Second, evaluate the problem to decide how big it is and how much help, if any, you need to resolve the problem. Third, if you don't need help, fix it. If you need help, try to find a couple of people you can trust and go to them with your concerns. They may be able to guide you to the right person to talk to so that the issue can be resolved quickly. Fourth, until the problem is corrected, keep talking to people about your concerns so that the issue doesn't fall off the table without being resolved.
Here are a couple tips to help you.
1. Do your research so you know what your rights and are and are not. Also you need to know what the responsibilities of the organization you are trying to make a change in are or are not under the law. Remember that churches and church related organizations are often subject to different regulations than non-religious organizations.
2. Don't be afraid to use pressue from outside sources to force a resolution to the problem (this could be media, petitions, government, etc. . .) but do so with caution and only after all other means are exhausted. Remember, you represent Christ and Christ did not force people to do his bidding. Be nice until you simply can't be nice anymore then bite them in the hind end.
Just to sum up, as disabled Christians, we will be judged by God if we sit back and do not work to rectify problems we see within our own churches and communities. We are all called to do our part to meet the needs of others whether they have disabilities or not.
Tonight's post will be in three sections. In the first part I will discuss what I mean by those who can but do not do something. In the second part I will discuss why it is so important for Christians with disabilities to be involved in changing the church. In the third section I will offer examples of things that you might be able to do. Note that I will leave out the biblical basis for the judgement of people who do not help others who are in need because you can get that by reading my last post.
First, who am I talking about? What do I mean by disabled Christians who can do something about the problem but do nothing? I mean exactly that. Every person with a disability has different abilities and different disabilities. Some are like me and cannot participate in fund raiser walks or manual labor like building accessible buildings but I have a very loud mouth and I'm not afraid to use it to let people know what needs to be done. Others cannot talk at all but know how to build ramps that are even better than the building codes require or they know how to raise money to make a church building accessible to people who are disabled. Obviously these are just two examples but the fact is that all but the most severely disabled individuals can do something about the problem of churches not meeting the needs of people with disabilities.
Second, why is it so important for Christians with Disabilities to be involved in making the church more disability friendly? Because if it doesn't matter to us enough to be involved, why should the non-disabled folk be involved? One of the slogans I've seen batted around the internet is "Nothing About Us Without Us." Why should this be any different? Plus, we are the ones who know first hand where and what the needs are. We can't expect non-disabled people, who have no prior experience working with people who have disabilities, to know what needs to be changed.
Let me give you an example. After completing my studies at a 2 year Baptist college, I was considering several other 4 year Baptist schools. I visited the one that my sister had graduated from. I was informed that they had just recently made the cafeteria wheelchair accessible by building a sidewalk around the back of the building and down the hill to the back door. Sure enough they had built this sidewalk, but they left a several inch step-up between the top of the sidewalk and the floor of the cafeteria. I quickly informed them that it was not wheelchair accessible and advised them of several other accessibility problems I had discovered on campus. Then I chose to transfer to a state school.
So what should you do or what are some examples of things you can do? Let's answer the first question first. As I stated in my last post, every Christian is called to meet people's needs (See Matthew 25:30-46). So that is what you are suppossed to do. How you do it is a different story. If you are involved in other ministries, please do not sacrafice the time you have committed to those ministries so you can learn to be a disability advocate. However, as you are in church or in your community, when you see something, don't just ignore it, do something about it. Since my Junior year of college when I became involved in disability advocacy, I've been involved in everything from getting elevators and electric doors installed in buildings to mediating misunderstandings between a person with a disability and a non-disabled authority figure.
No problem is too small to do something about, neither is a problem too big to tackle. The difference is the amount of manpower and money that it takes to take care of the issue. Once a building had double doors and they kept one door locked making it impossible to get a wheelchair through the one open door. That was easily corrected by alerting the appropriate person who then opened other door. Another time my college administration wanted to fill in the pool (which was the only wheelchair accessible recreational facility on campus) in order to build a new weight room for the atheletes. With the help of several friends, I got a lot of signatures on a petition, I got coverage in the school newspaper, I found documents that suppossedly didn't exist, and we kept the pool and won several other concessions from the administration.
I suppose I should end with a basic instruction set on how to do disability advocacy for readers who have never done it before. The biggie that isn't even in my numbered steps because it overshadows them all, PRAY. Anytime you are involved in trying to resolve issues, especially within the church, you need to make sure your efforts are prayer covered. Now for the steps. First, you must notice there is a problem. Second, evaluate the problem to decide how big it is and how much help, if any, you need to resolve the problem. Third, if you don't need help, fix it. If you need help, try to find a couple of people you can trust and go to them with your concerns. They may be able to guide you to the right person to talk to so that the issue can be resolved quickly. Fourth, until the problem is corrected, keep talking to people about your concerns so that the issue doesn't fall off the table without being resolved.
Here are a couple tips to help you.
1. Do your research so you know what your rights and are and are not. Also you need to know what the responsibilities of the organization you are trying to make a change in are or are not under the law. Remember that churches and church related organizations are often subject to different regulations than non-religious organizations.
2. Don't be afraid to use pressue from outside sources to force a resolution to the problem (this could be media, petitions, government, etc. . .) but do so with caution and only after all other means are exhausted. Remember, you represent Christ and Christ did not force people to do his bidding. Be nice until you simply can't be nice anymore then bite them in the hind end.
Just to sum up, as disabled Christians, we will be judged by God if we sit back and do not work to rectify problems we see within our own churches and communities. We are all called to do our part to meet the needs of others whether they have disabilities or not.
posted by Amanda Brady | 3:41 AM
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