Definitions
Justice is...
Ramps. Glasses. Sensory rooms. Live captioning. Ear muffs. Movement breaks. Sign language. ACC devices. Affordable healthcare. Healthcare providers who are knowledgeable. Parking Spaces. Large Print. Workplace accommodations. Fair wages. Therapy options.
When I think of Justice in my context, its access. Many of the struggles the disability community faces are not because of their disability, but our failure to give them the tools they need to participate in the whole community. In The Disabled God, Eiesland remarks “Many religious bodies have continued to think of and act if access for people with disabilities is a matter of benevolence and goodwill, rather than a prerequisite for equality and the foundation on which the church as model of justice must rest.[1]”
When we look at God’s work in the bible and disability, we are looking at a God who provides access. We often jump to healing without taking in the culture, time, and technology available in the Middle East thousands of years ago. One of my favorite examples involves Moses. In Exodus 4, we are told of a conversation between God and Moses, where Moses remarks “O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” Knowing that Moses grew up in the courts of Egypt, it is unlikely that a lack of education causes his inarticulate speech, but more likely a disability like a stutter or apraxia. God affirms in their response that as the creator, God gives disability; think about it, disability is a gift from God! Rather than taking away the gift, God creates an adaptation for Moses. He gives him access to a tool - Aaron. Moses doesn’t have access to speech therapy, an ACC device, sign language, or picture cards. Instead, he has the gift of Aaron. Aaron can speak fluently, and can take the message of God to the people for Moses. God could have chosen Aaron to lead, but God knew Moses was the right person, and that Moses just needed access to the right tools. God knew for justice to happen for Hebrews, the first act of justice was to create accessibility for Moses.
Justice is about creating equity in our communities. It's about giving people what they need to be a part of our community. In Judy Heumann’s recollection[2] of the 1977 504 sit-in, she speaks about the time they spent at Luther Memorial Place. A church that welcomed the sit-in delegates to Washington DC and gave them a place to stay. The church did not just act as a hostel or hotel, they made accommodations to welcome the delegates as they were, which included making their church accessible for the delegates. The church installed ramps and tore down bathroom walls so that the delegates had what they needed to be comfortable during their stay.
Justice in the disability community is about people with disabilities getting what they need when they need it. It's not that someday we will have an elevator. It’s not letting someone deal with a loud noise and hoping they get over it. It's not having someone bring a magnifying glass to read the small print in the bulletin. Justice is awareness. It's actively searching for funding to cover an elevator and having it installed as soon as you can. It's letting everyone know there is a loud sound in advance, so they can bring ear muffs. It's making large print materials available and easy to find. Justice in the disability context is about anticipating accessibility.
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1 From Pg. 67 of The Disabled God: Toward a Liberatory Theology of Disability by Nancy L. Eiesland. 2 From Pg. 133. Of Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist by Judith Heumann and Kristen Joiner.Reconciliation is....
awareness and acceptance. An autistic kid in ear muffs joyfully dances with his family at a wedding. A wheelchair user not having to check if a space is accessible. Affordable medication. Not having to "look disabled" to use an accessible parking space. Societal structures that allow disabled people to get married without losing their supports. Getting the right tools and advice, not just the bare minimum in an IEP.
If we accept that access is Justice for the Disability community, what does Reconciliation look like? Although there are many thoughts on what reconciliation could be, I think in this context Reconciliation is awareness and acceptance. What do these actually look like?
First we will look at awareness, there are many days and months dedicated to disability awareness. This is an opportunity for us to learn from advocates about their disability, how we can better support them, and change barriers in their life. Awareness can be wonderful, but it can also be a stopping point. We can be aware but inactive, acknowledging the different struggles, but complacent.
Now to look at acceptance. How is acceptance different from awareness? Awareness is an acknowledgment of disability’s existence. Acceptance is affirmation that not only are we aware, but we’re ready to make accommodations and be truly inclusive. One example where we see the difference often articulated is the discussion over whether April 2nd should be Autism Awareness or Acceptance day-
“The deficit model is dominant and pathologizes neurodivergent identities so that they are understood by the general public as an illness to be cured rather than a different but entirely valid way of being. Many of the difficulties that Autistic children and adults deal with would be drastically reduced if people around them simply understood their different neurobiology and accommodated it. The knowledge is readily available and yet we continue to try and “convert” them to bring their behavior in line with what most perceive as the norm despite the trauma this approach causes.” [1]
As the voices of the disabled get louder, I think we will see more shifts calling for acceptance over awareness. Everyone wants to be more than acknowledged, they want to be accepted and included in their communities.
When we have both acceptance and awareness in place, the entire community will have love and liberation, both disabled and non-disabled. Using a lens of liberation theology, we see the opportunity to experience an abundant life now as promised by God. Our faith shows us how fully we can live into the kin-dom when we accept one another. As De La Torre states “If the goal of justice is to bring about change then it is crucial to go beyond the rules created by the dominant culture and beyond what is expected according to their universalized experience” [2] The beyond is acceptance. Lastly, we also have to keep in mind that this is different from the common idea of using disabled people for inspiration- people with disabilities are not here to warm our hearts. Their place is the same as the abled, to do the work God has called them to do, to build community, and be a part of the complete picture of the body of Christ.
In the beginning I listed some examples of what I thought reconciliation is, and in all of them, I found the central thread to be people who are liberated. When society can do the work to be aware of and accept the disability community, then God’s people can experience true reconciliation.
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[2] pg. 93 From Liberation Theology and Social Justice: A Defense by Miguel A. De La Torre, essay in Five Views: Christian Faith and Social Justice, edited by Vic McCracken