Creative Justice Conference

Disability And The Church

Truth be told, I actually started this post yesterday. I was tired after a night of only 3 hours sleep and while trying to work off of my notes, I knew by the end of the afternoon it was just way to much. Scrapping it today, I am starting fresh.

It has been several years since being a part of the conversation in community conferences and I really felt rejuvenated and alive again joining the table at the Creative Justice Conference this year! While having been to many conferences in past that were focused on the disabled community, I was leery to attending with the possibility of it being solely focused on more of an "outreach" event and culturally propagating more of an ablest Christianity that wants to "help the poor and lame disabled people" rather then empowering a community of solidarity and equity to all abilities and disabilities. Creative Justice did not disappoint and brought a voice of empowerment to all who were there.

Like I began however, there were just way too many notes and highlights to fit here. So what I would like to do is focus on two conversations that came out of the conference event for me.

The first comes from the thoughts that formed while listening to Dr. Amy Kenny speak. I posed the question on Facebook afterwards asking, "Is my disability a blessing or a curse?" It launched a very rich dialogue with my friends and I would like to write more on this next week.

The second conversation comes from the stories I heard in the Lived Experience Breakout Session. In past, I was always drawn into the academic or pastoral streams of conversation. But after the last few years I have felt a real need for practical living skills. It has been like a bit of a wake up call in that I have realized a great deal of head knowledge means very little in daily living needs with a disability. Perhaps that same reflection applies to the church today, too.

Jim & Beth Gould's presentation around the living skills of kindness & hospitality particularly captured my imagination. Practiced not as parallel entities, kindness & justice were meant to intertwine much like the double helix on DNA. Kindness alone cannot survive without justice nuancing the "muscle" growth of the community in practice. And justice cannot be truly found without the tempered "skeletal" graces of kindness & love being a foundation.

"Kindness alone cannot survive without justice nuancing the "muscle" growth of the community in practice. And justice cannot be truly found without the tempered "skeletal" graces of kindness & love being a foundation."

Exercised in practical form, kindness can be found in the hospitality of friendship, offering respite to extended family, financial and resource support, and becoming a networking community to others who face similar challenges in life. Of course, kindness & biblical hospitality is a spirit shared and exercised while not dependant on belief, membership, nationality, or identity either. But that is a conversation for another time. If you wish to go deeper into the understanding of biblical hospitality & kindness, a great place to begin is to listen to the episode 'We Belong To Each Other' on 'The Whole Person Revolution Podcast'.

While justice finds practical expression through community's/church's partnering with local service agencies, giving public advocacy to the justice needs of the disabled, and becoming political activists for disabled causes. Some of these are easy to exercise -- contact your local political leader and hold them accountable for structural accessible needs in the community, question their stance on issues like euthanasia and social assistance for the disabled, and join local agencies that are working with people who have disabilities.

But some social justice activism is not always easy for community's and the church to engage due to policies and political red tape -- like partnering with local service agencies. I love the idea that Jim shared about adopting local care centres/homes. I might take the idea a bit further and say adopt a whole neighbourhood while finding out the needs of those with disabilities in our rooted community. One particular need is a severe shortage to personal care staff for those with disabilities -- things most take for granted like showers, hygiene needs (washroom needs -- messy! ;) ), help getting dressed and in and out of bed, house cleaning... the list keeps growing. These can be problematic as even volunteers need special training, security checks, and recognition by the supporting agencies -- all of which is protected by government policies and red tape.

Should we not take on such attempts at social justice involvements? My fear is that the church has done just this! Choosing to split the helix with the names of NGO's and "para-church" agencies
(all of which rely on government & private funding while needing to comply to their regulations & policies... often not church funding), the church seems to wash itself of social justice responsibility and simply commits to acts of kindness. As I shared earlier, apart from one another kindness & justice cannot truly thrive or survive and the disabled bare the scares of that reality today as reports of individuals with disabilities are looking to such "choices" as euthanasia in order to escape social shame and poverty today. (See HERE and below)

Following Jim & Beth's presentation, Chelsey Zylla shared some very vulnerable and personal stories about her experiences in hospital during the pandemic. The expressions of separation & isolation she shared brought back deep emotions and memories of my own time in hospital during 2021 & 2022. Together we witnessed the breakdown and decay of the healthcare system first hand and the debilitating impact it had on healthcare staff and us as patients. I personally could see how training for nurses with regards to disability care was significantly at a loss. How can the church step into these places and bring restoration to the segregated physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of these people who find themselves disabled both in visible and invisible ways?!

Dr. Hithakshi Shinde was actually the reason I signed up for this breakout session. She told the story of how marrying her disabled husband made her more aware of the disabilities in her own life. I particularly loved her recognition of how she for so long took for granted the ability to simply walk with no regards to what laid ahead until she saw her husband meticulously planning each step he took while planning 10 steps ahead. I likewise realized just how meticulous I plan my actions ahead to make sure I'm not going to be missing something once transferring to bed, or what lies on the path ahead so I don't loose control of my chair, fall, or get a flat tire. It became a mindfulness exercise for Shinde as to be ready in her own disability of mental awareness.

I actually wonder if that is perhaps the "first steps" for the church in engaging social justice needs of the disabled. Plan ten steps ahead... and be willing to take the first! Ask the hard questions by contacting local agencies and asking, "How can we begin to partner with you in the needs of our locally disabled?" Gather a group of those with disabilities in your church and ask what needs they are facing and how could the church help -- anything goes! Then, take the next step of finding out how to address these needs and make new realities for the community... including cutting the red tape and addressing the policies, starting health care training for volunteers, and making ways of contact to fulfill peoples needs.

I must admit to being disappointed and saddened by the lack of Lead or Senior Leadership present at the Creative Justice Conference. And there did seem to be a weighted imbalance between those who drew to the Academic & Pastoral sessions over that of the Lived Experience; a division of just teaching kindness principles over that of seeking justice. I particularly noticed that the western host city had no one in the Lived Experience session.

Admittedly, as I shared earlier, I too at one time placed far more weight in theology & academia. But, we need a new vision of Lead & Senior Leadership that is willing not to cross the road while trying to avoid becoming "unclean" (Luke 10:25-37) in the eyes of authority. We need Lead & Senior Leadership willing to embody both listening & teaching kindness to others while being active & involved in seeking justice in the practical living of those marginalized & outcast. We need Lead & Senior Leadership that is willing to take up the cross of recognizing and making visible their own disabilities & limitations while wrestling with an identity that does not defer their human role or involvement with the "widowed & orphaned", the depreciated & devalued, the physically & cognitively "labeled" disabled!

If the heartland of Christianity is the cross beyond the walls, then the disenfranchised who gather there may seem marginal to society, including the religious establishment and the ideological influencers. But, in truth, it’s the downtrodden who’ve located the unvarnished gospel amid their own trials.

Jersak, Bradley. Out of the Embers (p. 329). Whitaker House. Kindle Edition.

This past weekend was completely uplifting for me and I truly loved getting back to the table of ministry conversation. Thank you Creative Justice for allowing me to be with you and a part of the gathering. And especially, I am so thankful Lord, to feel needed by the Spirit again!

“Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief.

Do justly now. Love mercy now. Walk humbly now.

You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”

— Rabbi Tarfon