Are people with disabilities excluded from ministry?

Did you know there are different models of disability?

The two main ones are the ‘medical’ and ‘social’ models. I asked AI (artificial intelligence) to sum them up for me and it did a reasonable job of describing what they are:

'The medical model focuses on finding a cure or making a person more "normal". The disabled person is seen as the reason for the problem, may be seen as ‘defective’ or unable to make decisions.

'The social model views disability as a result of environmental, social, and attitudinal barriers that prevent participation in society. In this model, the disabled person's "impairments" or body are not the problem, but rather, society is.'

In short, the medical model is bad, the social model is good.

There’s a medical and a social version of this in our churches. But sadly, the medical version is the most common. You can’t see words on the screen? Well, it’s ok for everyone else! Why should we change it just for you? It’s not our fault you can’t see it.

Actually, change it for one person and it will be better for everyone - including those who hadn’t realised they were struggling.

Can’t find accessible books? It’s not our fault you have dyslexia/ADHD/anxiety/visual impairment (or anything else that makes reading a physical book hard). You’ll just have to wait!

There’s a book I currently want to read and it’s only available as an ebook in one place - and I have to read it on that Christian shop’s very inaccessible app (when I already have a great app designed for visual impairment). I was told by one publisher that I should get my husband to read my books to me!

There are also other unofficial models of disability:

1. The Tragedy model
   This sees disability as a fate worse than death. I’m often told by strangers that they would rather be dead than like me! It’s the model that makes the birth of a child with Down's syndrome seem a terrible thing. Some will say 'I’m sorry' instead of 'congratulations' when they first meet them.
2. The Charity model
   This says: we do things for disabled people, not the other way around. You can see this model clearly in a comment I received from a conference delegate; he heard about my leadership role there, patted my arm and said: 'It’s so lovely they could give you a little job to do.'
3. The Inspiration model
   This is where doing everyday things as a disabled person makes other people feel better about their own lives. I don’t mind being an inspiration to disabled young people, to show them that they too can be in the ministry that God calls them to. However, being told I’m inspiring because I went to the toilet on my own is not my idea of inspiration!

But there’s another model we should take seriously: the Spiritual model.

The biggest worry I have about how we approach the Spiritual model is that we often assume disabled people won’t do any form of ministry, won’t need any mentoring and won’t need access to discipleship or theological training.

This is not true.

Like any other people in our churches, disabled people and those with additional needs should have access to all these things - no matter what it looks like for them. We shouldn’t have to search for it in other places where we won’t have the pastoral and spiritual support of our own church.

I once asked at a conference about mentoring young people into leadership: 'Do you mentor any disabled young people or any with additional needs?'

The answer was 'no'.

The answer should never, ever, be no.