- For those with an interest in method, this monograph follows the shape of a standard practical theological reflective circle. It begins with experience, followed by social and theological reflection on that experience, before returning to the original situation with a revised form of ecclesial praxis.
- Pippa Murray, personal communication.
- F. Young, Face to Face: A Narrative Essay in the Theology of Suffering. T. & T. Clark, 1990, p. 192.
- B. Webb-Mitchell, Dancing with Disabilities: Opening the Church to all God's Children. United Church Press 1996, p. 5.
- E. Scarry, The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World. Oxford University Press 1985, p. 4.
- S. Hauerwas, Naming the Silences. T. & T. Clark 1993, p. 146.
- Much of the current NIMBY (not in my back yard) reaction to people in Stephen's position is based on similar principles: all disabled people function and behave in this way and therefore this must be an inappropriate place for them to live. ‘We don't behave like that around here.’
- For example, people with Down's syndrome are always: ‘happy’, ‘loving’, ‘trusting’, ‘joyful’, ‘innocent’, ‘dependent’, ‘musical’ and so forth.
- This type of exclusion is not uncommon within churches. Webb-Mitchell observes that: Too often, worship is a place and a process where the segregation of people with disabilities such as mental retardation is practised. Liturgy, the prescribed use of certain rituals of communal worship in religious communities such as churches and synagogues, has often pulled family members apart rather than brought them together. Not only are children excluded from worship, but so are people with mental retardation, because they are perceived as being unable to understand and enjoy the intellectual breadth of the liturgy, especially the singing of hymns, the reading of scripture, the preaching, and the recitation of creeds and prayers in unison.
- The Mental Health Foundation, Learning Disabilities: The Fundamental Facts. Mental Health Foundation 1993, p. 5.
- Adapted from Gerald Hales (ed.) Beyond Disability: Towards an Enabling Society. Sage 1996.
- About 45,000 children and 63,000 adults diagnosed as having severe learning disabilities in the UK are cared for at home. Whilst at one time it could be assumed that ‘the majority of people diagnosed as having severe to profound learning disabilities would be treated within a hospital context, with the current movement towards community care, the great majority of people who fall within this category live with their families or are cared for in community-based residential accommodation. The lives of people with severe learning disabilities now form a significant part of the fabric of our local communities.’
- Personal correspondence.
- See, for example, S. J. Gould, The Mismeasure of Man. W. W. Norton 1996.
- S. J. Gould, The Mismeasure of Man, p. 56.
- S. J. Gould, The Mismeasure of Man, p. 56.
- A. Giddens, ‘Time-space distanciation’, in P. Cassell (ed.) The Giddens Reader. Stanford University Press 1981/1993, pp. 185–190.
- D. DeVries ‘Creation, handicappism, and the community of differing abilities’, in R. Chopp and M. L. Taylor (eds) Restructuring Christian Theology. Fortress-Pres, 1994.
- D. DeVries ‘Creation, handicappism, and the community of differing abilities’, p. 129 (Italics added).
- Whilst acknowledging the significance and potential therapeutic benefits of categories, it is vital that we approach them critically and do not allow their limitations to shape our preconceptions of what people are as people rather than as categories. Whilst obviously having certain significant impairments, Stephen is affected but not defined by them. He is a person made in the image of God and loved by God above all other creatures, so it is vital that we place his humanity before any form of identifying label. I am certain that Jesus would call him Stephen, before he thought about anything else. As a follower of that same Jesus, I think that his example is worthy of emulation.
- S. Hauerwas, Dispatches from the Front. Duke University Press 1995.
- M. Oliver, Understanding Disability: From Theory to Practice. Macmillan 1996, p. 31.
- This section is adapted from a paper originally presented to the John Macmurray conference held at the University of Aberdeen in 1998. The title of the paper was ‘Constructing Persons: The Philosophy of John Macmurray and the Social Construction of Disability’.
- J. Swinton, ‘Learning disabilities: who's problem?’, in Scottish Journal of Healthcare Chaplaincy. (1) 1, 13. See, also, S. Hauerwas, Suffering Presence: Theological Reflections on Medicine, the Mentally Handicapped and the Church. T. & T. Clark 1988, pp. 159ff.
- S. Hauerwas, Resident Aliens. Abingdon Press 1989, p. 93.
- There is of course a fourth and equally significant aspect that must be dealt with, and that has to do with the social and political issues and of disability. Limitations of space prevent me from developing a social response here, but the basic question that needs to be addressed is how the church as a force for social and political change should react to Stephen's situation.
- See, for example, Matthew 21:31; 25: 34–45; Luke 7:34.
- Matthew 25: 34–45.
- S. Hauerwas quoting A. McGill, Suffering: A Test Case of Theological Method in Suffering Presence, p. 178.
- Romans 8: 26.
- Romans 12: 4–5.
- Galatians 6: 2.
- John 15: 13.
- Corinthians 12: 26.
- F. Young, Face to Face. p. 22.
- In addition, it is a fallacy to think we could do away with such ‘abnormality’. If we managed to weed out of the population all people, say, with an IQ below a certain level, all that would happen would be that ‘normal’ would move, and we would have a new set of people designated as being ‘below normal’. The idea of trying to make everyone ‘normal’ through whatever means (faith, prayer, genetic manipulation, etc.), as well as not making spiritual, ethical or aesthetic sense, doesn't make practical sense. At base, it is sheer arrogance on the part of those of us with ‘normal’ intelligence (or physical capacity, or any other capacity) to think that we are of more value to God or wo/man than someone with less of that particular capacity. (I am grateful to Dr Alice Keiger of the Centre for Advanced Studies in Nursing in the University of Aberdeen for this invaluable insight.)
- This of course does not explain why people in Stephen's situation exist. However, it does suggest that theologically, in answering this question it might be more fruitful not to begin by exploring the origins of evil, original sin, fall and so forth. Such an approach inevitably juxtaposes sinfulness with disability, with all of the negative implications that such a connection has for disabled people. It is also highly reflective of an Enlightenment mindset that seeks to explain everything according to the laws of cause and effect. Perhaps, it might be more appropriate to begin by asking what we can learn from people with learning disabilities about the nature and purposes of God. If we shift our starting point to God's love and grace, rather than human fallenness and God's judgement, perhaps we can develop a different theological understanding of people with disabilities and their place within our communities.
- D. Pailin, A Gentle Touch: From a Theology of Handicap to a Theology of Human Being. SPCK 1992, p. 118.
- The process of bestowing value through relationship is something that is fundamental to what we are as human beings created in God's image, as we are called to reflect something of this divine love in our personal encounters. Thus even the ‘socially unloved’ remain of ultimate worth and are held and sustained by the all-embracing love of God.
- J. Vanier, Community and Growth. DLT 1979, p. 3.
- J. Vanier, Community and Growth, p. 3.
- F. Young, Face to Face. p. 144.
- J. Vanier, Community and Growth, p. 106.
- J. Swinton, From Bedlam to Shalom: Towards a Practical Theology of Human Nature, Interpersonal Relationships and Mental Health Care. Peter Lang 1999, (in press).
- N. Hayes, Principles of Social Psychology. Lawrence Erlbaum 1993, p. 78.
- J. Moltmann, ‘Liberate yourselves by accepting one another’, in N. L. Eisland and Don E. Saliers (eds), Human Disability and the Service of God: Reassessing Religious Practice. Abingdon 1998, p. 113.
- Matthew 18: 3.
- B. Easter, ‘Worship with people who have mental handicap: personal and pastoral implications’, in S. Pattison (ed.), Mental Handicap, Theology and Pastoral Care. Pastoral studies spring conference proceedings, University of Birmingham, Department of Theology 1986, pp. 44ff.
- S. Kierkegaard, Søren Kierkegaard's Journals and Papers, trans. H. V. Hong and E. H. Hong, Princeton University Press 1967–78 (7 vols), 4/3956, X3 A777 (1851).
- Many [people with learning disabilities] intuitively grasp the ingredients of friendship such as reliability, trust, intimacy, and a bond of true affection. The core of their life together and with others is not status or achievement, but ‘Are you my friend?’ B. J. Easter, ‘A theology for people with mental handicap’, All People 34, March 1986, p. 14.
- D. Pailin, A Gentle Touch, p. 137.
- D. Pailin, A Gentle Touch, p. 137.
- D. Pailin, A Gentle Touch, p. 137.
- D. Pailin, A Gentle Touch, p. 133.
- John 10: 10 ‘I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.’
- S. Pattison, Pastoral Care and Liberation Theology. Cambridge University Press 1994, p. 32.
- B. Easter, ‘Sacraments and MH people’ Liturgy 9 (5), June-July 1985, 196.
- I Corinthians 1: 25.
- J. Peirce, ‘Learning from disability’, British Journal of Theological Education. 8(1), Summer 1996, 46.
- 2 Corinthians 4: 4.
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Volume 130, 1999 - Issue sup9