Which 'diversity' do we forget to talk about?

We often joke about women being the better multitaskers. It’s a sweeping statement, but not without a nugget of truth. So how is the church at multitasking?

When it comes to patterns of looking at who is missing from our churches, in our leadership and in the mission and ministry we do, we often look at one thing at a time. And then, having looked at some other things, we have to revisit what we’ve done before. Again, this is a sweeping statement, but not without a nugget of truth.

Since the pandemic, we have rightly looked in depth at issues around race and have regularly returned to it. We’ve also, in realising who is missing, looked at poverty, the issue of ‘class’, immigration and probably much more. One at a time, to different levels.

But who is still missing?

When we talk about diversity in our churches, which diversity do we regularly miss?

There’s one group of people still largely missing from our churches, especially from leadership and not often considered in the ministry and mission of the church. Another sweeping statement, but not without a large nugget of truth!

Some churches do look at this issue, but not many. It has a similar history to issues around race. In fact, this group intersects with many other diversities. People in this group are more likely to be victims of abuse and live in deep poverty. It’s also a hidden issue within immigration with many being left without any support. You’ve probably guessed what I’m talking about, but if not, I’m referring to disability.

The largest, least talked about

It’s the largest diversity group and the least talked about. More than one in five people are in this group and we rarely talk about why that ratio is missing in many churches. Again, another sweeping statement!

But, there are some inner city churches where the ratio is much higher across all disabilities, and lots of youth and children’s work where the ratio is higher in the area of neurodivergence. Bearing in mind that many disabilities and additional needs are hidden, does your church have a one in five ratio?

What about in the leadership teams? Another reason we don’t talk about this could be that we think we’ve ‘done all that’ when we haven’t.

Back in 1995, we did discuss it - a lot. This is when the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) came into being. Much had to be done to make our churches accessible because of the law, and the discussions around disability were far from positive. Many discussions started with 'what’s the minimum we can do to be compliant?'

That discussion wasn’t about welcoming and making disciples - regardless of disability or additional need, it was about ramps and loos. Disabled people were still missing because of one thing the DDA didn’t cover: attitudes.

Sadly, what was at the top of the ramp remained inaccessible - in many ways. The DDA was replaced with the Equality Act 2010 in England, Scotland and Wales, (only remaining in Northern Ireland) but many churches in England, Scotland and Wales still refer to being DDA compliant.

We need a positive discussion and disabled people need to be in the room and leading that discussion.