ACCESSIBILITY WITHIN OUR CHURCHES: TEACHING, WORSHIP AND FELLOWSHIP

A BIT ABOUT ME

So I’m disabled… I look completely ‘healthy’ and ‘normal’ (let’s be honest, what even is normal?) but let me tell you, I have issues with my tissues. You heard me right! I have a connective tissue disorder which means that I have daily subluxations (partial dislocations), chronic pain and associated issues with multisystem comorbidities. This includes dysautonomia (basically the system which should control my heart rate, temperature, blood pressure and anything that my body should do without having to think about it, doesn’t work). This leads to palpitations, blackouts and gastroparesis (my stomach doesn’t digest my food properly which causes nausea, vomiting and for me, substantial weight loss and has subsequently meant that I am now on month 3 of a liquid diet using nutritionally complete formula). The only real way that you would have any inkling of these issues, is when I’m wearing a brace, looking drunk or failing to join others eating food. Most of my teenage years have been spent trying to get on top of one issue for another to rear its head, in and out of hospital appointments.

SOME FACTS AND FIGURES

Now that I’ve explained a bit about where I’m coming from, let’s press pause on this for a second and define disability – The Equality Act of 2010 regards a person as disabled if they have a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial (more than minor or trivial) or long term (12 months or more) negative effect on your ability to do normal daily tasks (https://www.gov.uk/definition-of-disability-under-equality-act-2010). For me this looks like not being able to eat, struggling with showering, pain and more. However, there is a whole community of people with disabilities who struggle with different issues. According to the World Health Organisation, approximately 15% of the world’s population are disabled https://www.unicef.org/protection/World_report_on_disability_eng.pdf) with 2-3% of this number having considerable difficulties in functioning on a daily basis. Within their report, they also highlighted how people with disabilities are disadvantaged particularly in education, health and socio-economic areas of our society. These disadvantages are due to obstacles in accessing different services that able-bodied people generally take for granted, and include health, education, leisure employment and transport.

For me, I have had experiences within each of these services that have been due to my conditions/disability. For example, struggling with public transport due to my weak joints and autonomic issues which have led to dislocations on buses, questioning whether to disclose information about my conditions in employment (also having to leave a job because it was too dangerous for me to continue as well as my employers not fully understanding these issues), having to stop playing hockey due to poor nutrition, and having AWFUL attendance in secondary school due to being constantly in and out of appointments or being sent home from school with subluxations. In addition, poor sleep and the need for strong pain killers made my A levels particularly difficult.

These disadvantages don’t just cause physical barriers in the lives of people with disabilities but also create issues with social interactions and emotional wellbeing. Some of the psychological aspects of disability can include anxiety, depression, withdrawal from others, denial and anger. For me perhaps the tough social/emotional part is having to either share really personal stuff which can lead to feeling pitied or not explaining it and consequently feeling judged; for example, when people are wondering why I don’t eat or need to take some time out to prioritise those activities which are most important for me.

BREAKING BARRIERS

However, are there things that we, as a society, can do to break these barriers? Yes! Some suggestions that have been put forward include inclusive classrooms, designing more accessible areas (e.g. wheelchair access, braille panels, loop systems), making workplaces more inclusive, increasing disability representation in media including leadership and politics, making public transport/other means of travel (e.g. aeroplanes) more accessible, and challenging issues that we may see in our everyday environments which promote these barriers (for example, stores using their disabled toilet for storage!). This is great for society but how can we as Christians ensure that we are making spaces for worship and community more accessible for those with disabilities? First, let’s see what God has to say about people with disabilities.

There are numerous verses and stories within the Bible that discuss disabilities and illness. Some of my favourites are John 9: 2-4 where the disciples ask Jesus whether a blind man’s disability is due to his or his parents sins but Jesus replies ‘This happened so that the power of God could be seen in him’ and Psalm 139: 13-14 ‘For it was you who created my inward parts; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will praise You because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, and I know this very well’. The first highlights how Jesus saw the man and his intended purpose making it clear that disability is not a punishment for sin and that God has a purpose for each of us, disabled or not. The second is my absolute fave – it emphasises that we are all created in Gods image and that this is no mistake. I love this verse so much and cling onto it, remembering that I (and you!) have been wonderfully made, knitted together by our Father. The Bible also calls us to include people from all sorts of walks of life including the ‘crippled, lame and blind’ (Luke 14: 12-14) which I take to mean that as Christians, we should do all we can to ensure that barriers to access and failures to understand disability are torn down to allow for community and fellowship within our Church settings.

How does this look though, and how could this be implemented?

1- Evaluating the physical space of the church setting to make sure that all entrances to the building are wheelchair accessible

Ø Implement this by asking wheelchair users to evaluate all areas including outside areas

2- Have more disability representation!

Ø Include those who use mobility devices, medical equipment or those with no visible disability in worship, preaching, serving communion and welcoming teams

3- Evaluate the language you use in church and especially by leadership teams

Ø For example, ‘crippled’, ‘confined to a wheelchair’ or even ‘please stand’ (for the last one, language such as ‘please stand if you can’ or ‘please stand if comfortable’ may be better to use. I’ve experienced times when I have struggled to stand for extended periods of time/up and down often due to my heart rate and dizziness but have felt awkward when I stay sitting as everyone else is standing)

Ø Another aspect of this, is understanding that the ‘amount of faith’ a person has, does not equal their likelihood of healing. I’ve been told before that I haven’t been healed because I don’t have enough faith which is hurtful and it’s important to understand that God will heal or not depending upon his will, not ours, and not dependent upon the strength of our faith. He will however equip us with the patience and strength to endure through the tough times, and perhaps it is this which is more dependent upon our faith, as it says in James 1: 2-4, these times build our faith, perseverance and maturity and completeness.

4- Understand how prayer can be received

Ø This is a tricky one as we know that God can do INCREDIBLE miracles, and this often involves prayer, BUT not every disabled person wants prayer or healing at that particular time. Maybe they want prayer for something else completely or are happy with where they are at. Whilst I absolutely love prayer when I have a particular issue/flare with my conditions and find spending time in prayer helpful, I personally don’t always appreciate when someone straight away says something along the lines of ‘oh I’ll pray for healing for you’ when I’m just explaining something and haven’t asked. This can sometimes come across as ‘you are not whole if you aren’t healed’ which, as we know from the Bible, is not true. Instead of saying this, it may be better to say, ‘Would you like prayer for that?’ or ‘How can I be praying for you?’

HOW HAS COVID-19 AFFECTED DISABILITY RIGHTS?

Before I touch on how the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted disability rights and access issues within the church, I think it’s important to quickly discuss how the pandemic has greatly affected those with disabilities or chronic illness. Scope (https://www.scope.org.uk/campaigns/disabled-people-and-coronavirus/the-disability-report/) conducted a survey surrounding the issues that people with disabilities are currently facing and found that the top issues were: feeling forgotten; food and essentials; welfare; temporary erosion of rights (as many local authorities have relaxed the duty of care that they previously offered) and employment. Whilst the church cannot ‘fix’ some of these issues, we can be offering support to those in our communities who may be feeling like this, especially if they have access issues. For example, care packages for those who are struggling with food and essentials will also show that they haven’t been forgotten by the outside world – this would also be great as a future endeavour within our fellowship to ensure that we are welcoming all and showing that they are loved. Another issue that is currently prevalent, is the loss of or delay to important medical follow-up appointments that may have been deemed as not as important in the present pandemic but have been a lifeline and source of hope for some people – again, we can’t change this but we can offer support and understanding at the disappointment and worry faced by these losses.

Lastly, I want to touch on how the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted disability rights and access issues specifically within the church especially for those that cannot attend regularly or at all. We have all loved having the online services available each Sunday, but I know that many people are missing the social interaction that they usually receive alongside the teaching from church. However, within the disability and chronic illness community, I have seen lots of people highlighting how the social isolation and lockdown is their normal (this comes from CISFA UK’s campaign using #lockdownismynormal). The blossoming of online activities is a welcome improvement, but it’s noticeable that it has only come about because the rest of the population has had a taste of the feeling of lockdown which affects some people regularly or permanently. Many are now worrying about being left behind again, as more able people start to resume their more normal activities - let’s continue to do some of the good work that the pandemic has forced, even when most people no longer need them, through the continuation of streaming services online, and engaging with those most isolated. Whilst I am grateful to be able to engage in most low-key social interactions including church, some people do not have this luxury. We need to make sure that the church continues to work towards accessibility for anyone who may want to engage with them – and make sure that this is not a reactive response but a proactive one.

Beki <3