200 words on… are we all disabled?

I heard this week that 20% of all Australians have some kind of disability. That really surprises me! I suppose because 20% of the people I interact with aren’t disabled…

The government is proposing a National Disability Insurance Scheme (www.ndis.org.au). This would mean that people with disabilities have a better chance of being financially assisted – which would be great. But I was wondering whether that is really enough? What can we do to change the attitudes of people in our community?

Surely we have to start with examining ourselves. How do we treat and think about people with disabilities? And should we be even thinking of them as so different to ourselves? We are all broken - at least on the inside. And one day it is likely that our bodies or minds will deteriorate and we will be on the ‘other side’. Shouldn’t the Christian community be a safehaven for those in our society who are ‘disabled’? Why is it that so few ‘disabled’ people make their way into our churches? Is this something we need to think about and address? Perhaps it’s time for us to think really practically about how to love those we don’t always know how to love.