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The Current Situation

Mother and child - PF | The Current Situation

Currently, in the United States, people with disabilities are virtually invisible. Unless an immediate family member is disabled, most of us choose to be blind to this large population of people.  Some alarming statistics are:

  1. People with disabilities constitute statistically 15% - 20% of our U.S. population.
  2. 1 in 5 children in U.S. are disabled (in places in the South, 2 in 5)
  3. Families with disabled immediate family member: 25% - 30% of our population directly affected.
  4. Divorce rate in marriages with disabled child exceeds 4 out 5 marriages
  5. Stroke is the leading cause of serious, long-term disability in the United States (28% of strokes affect people under age 65)
  6. People with disabilities and their families are by far the largest unreached people group in the U.S.

This invisibility is due primarily to two reasons. First, for many people with disabilities, it is inherently very difficult for them to travel outside the home to do even the most basic things. Therefore, we don't actually see many people with disabilities in public. Second, and most disturbing, when disabled people do venture into public places, we subconsciously, though willfully, look away and choose not to see them. When we do encounter disabled people in public places, we come face to face not only with the disabled person, but also with our own uncomfortable, awkward emotions and misgivings. We are not sure what to say or do, therefore we say or do nothing and pretend they don't exist. Thus, the disabled are, for all intents and purposes, invisible.

Unfortunately, these attitudes have permeated our churches. The one place in our culture where people with disabilities and their families should find love, acceptance, and comfort is the church. But, the Body of Christ has, by in large, failed to include these people. All too often, when the words "special needs" or disabled are mentioned, most people, even Christians, will pay it some limited attention and then let it slide away from their consciousness. In reality, because of a myriad of reasons (lack of awareness, lack of knowledge, lack of exposure, apathy, pity, and, most of all, fear), most people don't want to talk about it, think about it, or have anything to do with it beyond the mere superficial. We make excuses why we don't minister (we can't afford another ministry, we don't have any in our church, we don't have the training, but if we did ., etc,). We feel self-righteous and justified in our inaction. We even have willingly abdicated our God-given role to care for the disabled to governmental and secular agencies.

  A cursory examination of our common excuses exposes our unfortunately shallow, traditional position on the disabled. Disability ministry is exceptionally inexpensive, especially when compared to other ministries in our churches. We don't have any disabled in our church is a statement of the obvious. More importantly, it is an admission of our lack of evangelization to disabled families, the largest unreached people group in the U.S. (> 25% of our population directly affected). Furthermore, excusing our lack of ministry due to not being trained resonates quite superficially to the parents of the disabled. They receive virtually NO training. They must raise their child with all of the accompanying issues, while dealing continuously with their own grief, broken dreams, etc. Our complaining about lack of training must be especially disheartening for the parents of a disabled child to comprehend. Finally, as believers, we must confess to God that corporately and individually we have made excuses why we can't or won't reach out to those around us. Yes, we have failed to include those who don't meet our unstated, but very real acceptance standards: somebody, that is, like us.

Boy in tube - PF | The Current Situation

So, where do we, as the church, go from here? With some exceptions, to date our efforts to minister to disabled people around us have been REACTIVE as opposed to PROACTIVE. Concerned Christians have asked what they can do to help in calling the church back to true ministry as it relates to disabled families in our midst. As Christians we must ask ourselves, do we really believe that Jesus has created people with disabilities with a very specific purpose just as He created us "average" people with a purpose?  Do we really believe that these people are created in the image of God as we are created? Is reaching these people with the Gospel and helping these families a priority in our lives and churches? Or, do we feel justified in directing all of our evangelistic efforts at people who only fit desired, proven church-growth demographics?  Now aware of this situation in our communities, we are called to act. We must become PROACTIVE.