KYPT - Communication

Spirituality

The Importance of Spirituality for People with Disabilities

Having faith is a staple in many of our lives. Whatever religion that faith is rooted in, is not important for our purposes here. We apply our faith everyday as we deal with life’s curveballs. Whether it be something as minor as trying to pull ourselves out of a bad mood, or as significant as coping with a death, our faith is that underlying strength that we pull from to get through. Take a moment and think about the church or synagogue or mosque that you attend, if any, and/or any youth groups in which you are involved. Do you see a lot of people with disabilities in these areas of your life? If you answered yes—good! But if the answer was no, think about why that is. It’s not that people your age who have disabilities don’t have faith or don’t desire to be involved in church and youth group activities. It may be that their participation is being denied. This could be the result of several factors.

First of all, how accessible are churches? Because of the separation of church and state, churches are exempt from the laws and codes requiring accessibility that public buildings must adhere to. Unfortunately, what this means is that an un-accessible church is perfectly okay—legally speaking anyway. So it may be the case that many persons with disabilities are not able to attend the church of their choice due to the architectural barriers that the church imposes. If youth groups tend to meet in the church, then those organizations would also be a problem for a person with disabilities in terms of simply getting there.

Of course, architectural barriers only affect persons with certain physical disabilities. But what about people who have mental retardation, or Down syndrome? What kinds of barriers might these individuals face? Like in other areas of society, the answer is attitudinal barriers. Due to a lack of knowledge and understanding about disability issues, some people may not feel comfortable having people with disabilities involved in their church. They may fear that such a person will be a disruption, or cause a scene. Sadly, one person’s fear can result in another person’s exclusion.

As a peer tutor, you are in a unique position to understand how becoming educated and getting to know individuals with disabilities can change your beliefs and attitudes. Before becoming a peer tutor, you may or may not have had certain fears, or believed in certain stereotypes. After becoming a peer tutor, however, your perspective may have changed in these areas. This puts you in a prime position to advocate for your friends with disabilities.

So the next time you are attending a spiritual service, or a youth group function, try to note how a person with disabilities would be received in this domain. If you feel that it would be a negative reception, think about ways in which you can advocate for the participation of individuals with disabilities in this area of your life. Simply letting people get to know your friends with disabilities may be all it takes for them to realize they are just like everybody else and that their fears are unfounded.
In an effort to remove attitudinal barriers, here is a list of questions that may help you reflect on the attitudes of your congregation or youth group towards people with disabilities:

Are persons with disabilities welcome to worship with us?

Are there people with visible or invisible disabilities who are
currently members?

Are we encouraging more persons with disabilities in our community to
consider joining our church?

Do we recognize the gifts of people with disabilities and are they involved in the full life of the church?

Are people with disabilities given opportunities to serve others within the
congregation and in outreach programs?

Are positions of leadership offered to individuals who happen to have a
disability?

Understanding the attitudes of the people with whom you worship is the first step to providing support and adaptations to people with disabilities.

*ACTIVITY*
Look at the 6 questions listed above. In thinking about your own faith congregation (or youth group), answer those questions. If you do not attend a faith congregation or youth group, find a friend or family member who does and ask them these questions in relation to their faith congregation. Once you have written down your answers, think about ways in which you could help people with disabilities become more involved in the faith organization on which you focused. Would this involve removing architectural barriers? Would it mean eradicating attitudinal barriers that are imposed by members of the congregation? What needs to be done and what are some ways in which you could achieve this goal?