I was ordained as a member of the clergy two years after graduating with my Master of Divinity degree. Neither ordination nor the M.Div. guarantees placement as a pastor. One thing that has caused me some difficulty, sometimes practical and sometimes otherwise, is the fact that I am blind. I cannot say that churches discriminate on purpose. It is true that formidable transportation barriers exist in small rural communities, where churches most urgently need pastors.
I have chosen to make the best of this situation, using my gifts and talents as I am able. Yet there remains an important truth: I am an ordained member of the clergy.
I have been asked numerous times whether I have plans to start a “church for the blind” or something similar. The people who ask the question most often intend to assist me in finding a place to serve. There are several problems with this solution. First, most churches do not intend to devote resources to this kind of ministry. Second, an entire church devoted to people with disabilities would never be self-supporting. People with disabilities have a severe unemployment/underemployment rate. This is a topic that deserves its own post.
The final reason why I don’t do this has to do with theology of community and my own sense of what ministry means. The discipleship needs of people with disabilities are very close to my heart, and there are things I do (e.g. braille transcription) that are specifically designed to address these needs. However, it is very important that I communicate several things to the Church at large regarding my role as a member of the clergy who has a disability.
People with disabilities have a collective history of the experience of segregation that not only includes being educated in separate schools but in fact includes being housed in special homes and prohibited from marrying so that their disabilities would not be passed on to the rest of society. The sting of this history is still felt often because so many people have never been around a person with a disability and are amazed that we have relationships, care for our own personal needs, wish to be employed, etc. If I started a special church for people with disabilities, or even a special ministry within a church, I would re-introudce that experience of segregation, however well-meaning I was.
There are some reasons why some groups of people feel the need for specialized ministries. When a group of people uses a common learning or communication modality, a service or class may use this modality to meet their needs. But it is absolutely vital to consider the impact of the experience of segregation upon the group, and to separate only if the group wishes it.
It is also important to say here that some groups of people consider their difference a cultural difference rather than a disability. Deaf people and autistic people often do not consider themselves to have disabilities. The preference of Deaf people for Deaf churches is not unlike the preference of native Spanish speakers for Spanish-speaking churches. American sign language has its own grammatical structure; and services constructed using ASL take advantage of the cultural experience of those who are Deaf.
A person who is blind does not necessarily have extremely different cultural experience, contrary to the ideas of the sighted person. I interpret the Bible in some ways that are different; but I can preach to a sighted group and bridge these barriers of difference because I have grown up and lived and worked in a sighted world and I am aware of my interpretive differences. When I have the TV on, I am able to follow the plot and I say that I am “watching TV just as you do when you have your head turned away to pay attention to what your child is doing. When someone leaves my presence, I say, “See you later,” because that is the expected social greeting. When you say this, you don’t only mean “See you later.” You mean this and all the other things that go with it.
So when I refuse to start a “blind church,” it is because I strongly feel that worship is incomplete without the whole people of God. I was not designed to exist in a bubble that only includes people who are just like myself. I hope that if you are reading and thinking, you see that neither were you! We are all members of the same body of Christ, with gifts to share.
I am available to speak at your church. To hear sample sermons, please visit my ministries page. To schedule, please send me an email.
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