While we rejoice in the promise of God’s presence and comfort through life’s changes, many people face the fear, confusion, of transition. For people with transitioning to new limitations or disabilities, it can be hard to discern what God’s plans are.
12.6 percent of the US population lives with a disability but few churches reflect this proportion. Tragically, it’s no secret that people with disabilities are under-represented in religious circles.
October 12, 1982 marks the day when I thought my heart would stop and the world would come to an end.
Pain is such a pain. You can seethe, groan, swear at it, pray over it, even scream, and it is still there. You just want it to go away, but it doesn’t. Finally, you wonder if there is anything you can do to put balance back in your life.
The theme of a conference I attended a conference this past April was April showers bring May flowers: How do we prepare, plant, and cultivate inner (and outer) change in our lives whether quickly or deliberately?
During Tiara Coleman’s most significant experience with depression, suicide, and self-harm her youth pastor Ross reached out to her and entered into her struggles head on.
I grew up in Harrisonburg, Virginia and come from a well-known Mennonite family. In sophomore year I moved from the local public high school to Eastern Mennonite High School (EMHS). This is when I remember life started getting really hard for me.
Peter and Mary Graber share about their daughter Emily’s membership ceremony at Sunnyside Mennonite Church in 2008.
nspired by the life of and love for her brother born with Down syndrome, author Rhoda G. Penny weaves together a fictionalized, but genuine, account of the challenges and triumphs of a family touched by this disability.
Camp Safari began its mission with the focus of providing a Christian camping experience for campers with special needs.
Ministry Models for Expanding the Kingdom of God.
Grace Mishler’s ministry in Vietnam with people who are blind increases access to care, raises awareness, and supports education and empowerment.
In this article, Lynn Swedberg introduces captioning as an important tool to assure that people with hearing difficulties are able to fully participate in community life.
A few weeks before Easter, the pastor made an announcement that we were going to have a baptismal service. Chrissie looked at me and gestured as if to say “What about me?” I said, “Chrissie, do you want to be baptized?” She said, “Yes!”
My journey with autism has been like the weather in Michigan: days of rain, ice, and snowstorm, but also sunny beautiful days.
Pastor Don Longmore reflects on his own visual impairment and blindness, offering tips for assisting people who are blind.
Partnership expanded for increased disability resources.
When I was 22, I felt God calling me to live and work alongside adults with developmental disabilities. With the gentle nudging of the Holy Spirit and after much discernment I began my life in L’Arche Daybreak in Ontario.
Working five days a week, alternating between a packaging company and a local woodworking shop, Darryl has shown me first-hand the positive effects of working a steady job.
Mental illness is “the only illness in the world where you never get a covered dish!” remarks mental health advocate Joyce Burland.
Edwin Cardona Guzman and Jazmin Guzman Carrillo married young, and they were happy to start a family. When their daughter, Jeimy (now 18) was born with Down syndrome, they worried about the hurdles she would face.
Supportive communities can make an enormous difference for families struggling to cope with autism, a sometimes-baffling condition that runs roughshod over parents’ expectations and dreams, and shapes family life in unimagined ways.
Death can be a terrifyingly mysterious thing, especially when it happens in unexpected ways or to the most vulnerable people like children.
Every day, then, I am giving the choice: whether to enter into my disability and share my life with them or whether to stay on the fringes as an ableistic person who sees myself as somehow better.
In 2003, Seattle Mennonite Church initiated a hospitality program for homeless residents in their Lake City neighborhood. Since then the program has blossomed into a comprehensive ministry combining practical assistance with empowering companionship.
We at Anabaptist Disabilities Network express our deep appreciation to College Mennonite Church (CMC) for the rent-free space they provided us over the past decade.
“I feel like I have become a bionic woman,” Christine says with a smile. “I get up in the morning and I put on my eyes; I put on my ears; and I put on my teeth.”
I met Bridget at breakfast on Wednesday, on my third trip to the annual Summer Institute on Theology and Disability, this time held in Chicago.
In communities that struggle ecumenically around who can and cannot receive communion, the tradition of washing one another’s feet has become a sign of true Christian unity. I
My life has been filled with experiences of reaching out those who are affected by disability. All of them are important. My stories below do not even come close to describing all of my life-shaping experiences for this type of ministry.
Christine Guth’s understanding of the word “human” shifted as her understanding of her autistic family members grew.
Our family needed help in responding to paranoid schizophrenia, an unwelcome intruder into our son’s life. We needed others who could come alongside us, who were willing to share our burdens, help us overcome obstacles, and encourage us.
