students with disabilities, old wounds, and liberation

I once proposed to a staff person the idea of launching a support group on campus for students with disabilities, to provide a place for them to talk about experiences, share coping strategies, etc. The idea never went anywhere; and she suggested that students didn't often feel comfortable talking about their disabilities and even seemed to prefer to avoid them.

Since that discussion, I have spent several semesters serving as a teaching assistant in university classes--mostly Greek classes. I have encountered several students with "hidden" disabilities: disabilities that would not be known about unless the students disclosed them. Many of these students confided in me about their difficulties in class. Some had not registered with the learning center on campus and had no idea they could be receiving assistance. Some did not realize the learning center was the provider of services for students with disabilities--they had been looking for the word "disability" in the office name. This lack of knowledge had, in some cases, cost them a year of accommodations.

My discussions with these students often become matters of pastoral care. Teaching takes a back seat when I discover that a student's learning is more deeply affected by fear or memories of wounds created by the stigma associated with disability than it is affected by disability-related barriers. When a student perceives herself to be stupid because she takes more time to understand something or because her learning style is different, she is prevented from recognizing the image of God that resides in her and accepting the truth that God loves her deeply just the way she is. She confines herself to traditional means of learning instead of freeing herself to learn in the way that God has created her to learn; and all of the accommodations that we can make in the classroom cannot reach her as long as she is imprisoned in this wounded state. Sadly, this occurs because of years of experiences in which she has learned that this is what society expects of her. It is a process with which I am personally familiar, a process from which I have struggled to break free. That process was not easy.

If I could communicate one thing, it would be this. Those of us with the power to liberate others from those old wounded places must do so, knowing that liberation is not an easy task to engage in. Those of us who want to be free must step out of those wounded places, knowing that it is painful to trust and to ask for what we need. Together we make new things happen.

disability studies in the seminary curriculum

During my seminary years, I read a lot (on my own time) about various topics in disability and theology. Some of my reading concerned the need to address disability issues in the seminary curriculum. I am completely in agreement with this. For a time, I considered pursuing a second Master's degree in disability studies in order to give myself some expertise so that I might be able to contribute to this end. Over time, I realized that I have numerous things in my background that already give me that expertise. What I need is to step out and contribute.

Disability studies is, like other fields introduced in the seminary curriculum, a very broad field. I chose the word "introduced" quite deliberately; for nothing is covered completely. I took three courses in pastoral care, two courses in Christian education, a few other general ministry courses, two courses each in Old and New Testament, four semesters each of Greek and Hebrew... Courses were offered in various specialized topics (marriage counseling, grief, women in ministry...) It is possible to pursue numerous hours of advanced study in any of these fields.

Disability studies is no different. The challenge is to determine the best way to incorporate it into the seminary curriculum so that students come away with adequate understanding of issues facing people with disabilities and ability to address them in the particular setting of their ministry. Is the solution a specialized course on disability issues? Such a course would likely be an elective; and I suspect that an elective course on disability issues would be poorly attended. If using this format, what is the best way to increase awareness about the importance of taking the course?

Or is the answer the inclusion of disability-related content within the curricula of other disciplines? This would be an ideal way to ensure exposure for all students, assuming the chapters were not ignored or left for study at the last minute.

about the call to ministry

Recently a seminary student asked me how I hear God and how I know what I am called to do. I wasn't surprised by these questions. Many seminary classes open at the beginning of the semester with times of introduction when students share their sense of their call to ministry. In other words, they share their understanding of where God is leading them to serve in ministry. In some classes, students write papers about their experience of being called to ministry in response to particular biblical passages (e.g. prophetic call passages such as Jer. 2 or Isa. 6). I have very mixed feelings about this practice. Certainly I believe that some people experience a very specific call to a particular place of ministry. However, I also believe that other people--and perhaps most--experience a general call and are led by God in faith to places where ministry happend. For these people, there is not one place of ministry that is best. The environment of sharing among the other students can feel very competitive, especially for the student who does not have a particular ministry direction.

The only commission that Jesus gave to his disciples was to "go and make disciples." There is no higher calling. Many people who faithfully served the Lord had what we might view as undefined calls. Still they answered faithfully, led by the Holy Spirit in everything they did. There is no shame in being uncertain about one's ministry direction. The real call is to serve the Lord, to love Him and to go and make disciples... Everything else is a matter of the leading of the Holy Spirit; and the Holy Spirit can certainly take care of that in tine.