Indispensable People
Making the Gospel Accessible to people of ALL abilities so that they may know Christ, grow in Him, and serve Him with the gifts He has given them.
Indispensable People
The Evolution of Disability Ministry
Disability ministry has dramatically evolved over decades, shifting from institutionalization and separation to comprehensive inclusion recognizing every person's value as part of the body of Christ.
• Statistics show the US population with disabilities has increased from 10-12% in the 1960s-80s to 26% today
• Historical treatment often included institutionalization, hiding people with disabilities, and devaluing their lives
• True inclusion requires addressing physical, social, and spiritual needs—not just installing ramps
• Biblical perspective teaches that those who seem weakest are actually "indispensable" to the body of Christ
• Modern approaches include sensory accommodations, education, advocacy, and community engagement
• Our value comes from our Creator, not from our abilities or limitations
• Despite progress, over 80% of Americans with disabilities remain outside church walls
For deeper dives into these topics and more, check out indispensable-people.com and visit Amazon to purchase the books "The Indispensable Kid" and "Gospel Accessibility and the Indispensable People."
Hi, my name is Tracy Correll and welcome to Indispensable People. I'm a wife, mom, teacher, pastor and missionary, and I believe that every person should have the opportunity to know Christ, grow in Him and serve Him with the gifts that he has given, no matter their ability. Over 65 million Americans have a disability. That's 25% of the population. However, over 80% of them are not inside the walls of our church. Let's dive into those hard topics biblical foundations, perceptions, and welcome to this episode of Indispensable People.
Speaker 1:I have been thinking about just how much the world of disability has changed. How much the world of disability has changed even from the time that I started in ministry, which has been about 10 years now, and the consistent thought in my mind has been oh my word, so much has changed and I worry that I'll get behind, I'll worry that I won't keep up with what? The new thoughts, the new verbiage, all of that kind of stuff which really made me consider. Let's look back even further, like where, where? Oh my goodness, I have just scary thoughts of what life was like for people with disabilities years and years ago, and so I was looking up some statistics, and the CDC in 1960 said that it was about 10% of the world's population had a disability, which was about 18 million people. And then fast forward to the 80s, which I was born in 1982. And at that point they said 12% of the US population had a disability. And I would say from the 60s to the 80s there probably was some growth, but nowhere near the exponential growth that we have had in the 90s and the 2000s. And you know, you go back to the 60s and you think of people being institutionalized. I believe that I've shared on a previous podcast about one of the episodes and it is a show from the BBC and it is, oh goodness, call the Midwife. Yes, and on that show at one point in time they were giving medicine to moms I believe it was for nausea and the babies were being born with deformities. And one baby was born and the nurse took the baby, who was still viable, still living, and placed it next to a cold window because they just assumed that it would be better off dead than to live with the deformities that it was born with.
Speaker 1:To you know again, the institutionals, institutions and onto those types of things, the hidden places. I mean I, so I'm in in school the majority of the 90s, right, actually the whole decade. I was in school at that point and there was still a complete separation of those who were being educated in the building and those with IEPs or, you know, in the special ed program or the behavior concerns, all of those kinds of things like those were completely separated. And we fast forward and I have seen, you know where we have gone to. You know you have students in the classroom with IEPs, you have students that have more significant needs, that are in separated classrooms. Now we have really moved to, you know, total inclusion and all of that kind of stuff, and we go from the 60s and the 60s and the 80s with 10 to 12% is the statistics. Oh goodness, my words are really getting chopped up. Today I can't say institutionalized and now I can't say statistics, but we'll get there. So I guess what I'm thinking is well, actually even what.
Speaker 1:I looked up the statistics for the CDC to see the numbers. What was very distinct, that said, under the numbers of 1960s it said to remember that at this point that was based on what the definition and collection procedures were at that point in time. So taking into consideration, you know, disabilities that weren't even considered at that point, named at that point you know, understood, you know all of that kind of stuff. And then you know we go to now. So you look at the 10 to 12 percent that was 1960s to 1980s. And then we go now and it's 26 percent of the world's population has a disability. That's a humongous jump and I'm so sorry I keep saying world's population. It is not the world's population, it is the US population. It is the US population that went from 10 to 12 to now 26% and it's been such a big jump.
Speaker 1:And so let's look at some common practices that really, let's be honest, if they existed common practices in serving people with disabilities, especially in a ministry context, if they even existed, they were really revolving around physical accommodations, accommodations, maybe installing a ramp, accessible seating, but often those efforts really fell short and they didn't foster genuine inclusion because they didn't address the broader spiritual and social needs of people with disabilities. Again, it was just, you know, okay, well, we can say that you can get in the building, we can say that you can sit here and you take today, where you have the shift of, it's not just we're looking at the physical. What I say and what I teach when I train churches is that it's not just physical, it is social and it is spiritual. And when we have full inclusion of all of those things, then we really feel like we're operating as the body of Christ, because we're not discounting one another for one piece or part. And that's why this podcast is called the Indispensable People, because scripture says that those that seem the weakest are actually indispensable. That means we cannot be without, and that's really how our ministry look, has to really be done.
Speaker 1:And again we look to the past and first of all, we're hiding people, we're allowing really the belief that their life didn't or doesn't didn't have the value to it. Enough that, you know, I tell you that story about call the Midwife. But I've heard stories from actual parents tell me that when there was, you know, suspicion that their child had a disability to abort or to, you know, not engage, not to grow, not to attempt to do things, because they would never amount to anything. But that's not where we are today. We see the value and the incredible peace and part of the body of Christ that each person is, and so we go the extra mile in making the accommodations, not because of the disability, but because every person has a purpose and every person should be afforded the choice and the option to hear the gospel and to make a choice to change their eternity.
Speaker 1:And we do that within including the inclusive worship services, considering those sensory needs, making sign language available, having hearing loops or large print materials all of those sensory bags available at your welcome desks creating education and advocacy within the church, not just taking on what the world is saying about people with disabilities because that's its own understanding and not rooted in biblical pieces but what we as the church and what scripture says about them. We're taking that into and not only that. We're going to educate and we're going to train those within the church to understand those parts and those pieces so that they can then be disciples to those who are entering the church. We're going to engage the community because we want the community to understand where, within our communities, so that we can promote the theology of inclusion that is represented by the Bible, not the theology of the world that says well, you're 21, so you can go to a bar. It doesn't matter if you understand that or not. You can go to this, you can do this, you can be a participant of that, because you know what Other people are your age, you're afforded those things. It is saying you get your value and your worth not from what you can do and not who you are, but in who created you. It says that you are a part of this body of Christ. It says that, no matter your ability, god has a plan and a purpose for your life and it is in his strength that we are strong, not in our own strength. So all of those messages are incredibly important.
Speaker 1:The evolution of disability ministry from the 60s and on that we've been talking about today have gone from minimal to none to hidden, to the importance of being inclusive and being a part of the body of Christ, from basic accessibility to comprehensive engagement through social, spiritual and physical inclusion, because we each should be able to be included in the body of Christ. And as we continue to move forward, we want to champion inclusion and celebrate diverse gifts, but we never want to do it outside of the realm of scripture. We don't celebrate disability for disability's sake, but we never want to do it outside of the realm of scripture. We don't celebrate disability for disability's sake. We celebrate Jesus and the one who created each and every person, because that is where our value and worth comes from.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining me today on Indispensable People, knowing that this is a continuing evolving space where we will continue not to evolve with what the world says, but diving deeper into scripture and seeing how that impacts the lives of the people that we serve, especially those with disabilities, in our churches. Do I know everything about disability ministry? Do I have all the answers? Have I done everything perfectly? I've absolutely not, but we are going to continue this conversation so that people of all abilities can have the opportunity to know Christ, grow in Him and serve Him with the gifts that he has given them. Know Christ, grow in Him and serve Him with the gifts that he has given them. For deeper dives into these topics and more, check out indispensablepeoplecom and visit Amazon to purchase the books the Indispensable Kid and Gospel Accessibility and the Indispensable People you.
