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
FQA: Start With Hello
We share how a simple hello can open doors for people with disabilities and how respect, kindness, and assuming competence reshape church culture. We outline training, practical first steps, and a Gospel-centered vision for true belonging.
• the top question: how to interact with people with disabilities
• start with hello as a practical, human first step
• reading cues and adjusting communication with care
• Alyssa’s guidance: respect, kindness, and asking preferences
• moving from stereotypes to person-to-person treatment
• assuming competence and creating pathways to serve
• image of God, fellowship, and Gospel accessibility
• concrete ideas for greeters, spaces, and service design
For deeper dives into these topics and more, check out indispensable-people.com and visit Amazon to purchase the books, The Indispensable Kids and Gospel Accessibility and Indispensable People
Hi, my name is Tracy Coral 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 is 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 world-changing ideas. Hey, hey, and welcome to this episode of Indispensable People. These next few episodes, we're going to be tackling some questions. Hard questions, easy questions, everyday questions, somewhat seemingly confusing questions, reasonable questions. And for some, it's going to seem like, well, that's a little common sense, I think, but it's a whole mixed bag. And here's the deal: there truly is no wrong question. Because if you're asking questions, that means that you are trying to improve, you're trying to grow, you're trying to figure things out, you're trying to put answers to problems or finding solutions to making your church accessible, more open, more welcoming to individuals with disabilities. And so there truly is not a bad question. And likely, if one person asked it, more and more have the same question. So we, when I say we is the team where I live that works in the disability ministry, and when I say works, they volunteer as a part of serving at my local church. And I have shared before that I serve with a national ministry. And one of the biggest things that I get to do is trainings. And so every year we put on a free training in Youngstown, Ohio at my home church. And we make sure that churches from anywhere and a part of anything, and volunteers are that are interested in any way in serving individuals with disabilities that they can attend this. That's why we do it for free. That's why there is minimal requirements for anyone to attend. And when I say requirements to attend, you sign up, you come, and we get to talk to you about some of the most incredible people in the world. And so one of the things that we do when we do this training is a part of the registration, we ask people to indicate a question that they have about people with disabilities or about disability ministry in general or how churches can interact, all kinds of different things. And so we have compiled a facts, questions, and answers sheet and we share it every year as a part of the training. And we have a team of people, a panel that answers these questions. And one of our most fun things to do is to sit around a table and ask these questions of ourselves and then discuss them as a team so that we can gauge, you know, where people are, what they're thinking, what are their biggest concerns, all of those different kinds of things. And so that's what we're gonna do on the next couple of weeks of the podcast. We are going to jump into these questions and really look into what does scripture say? What is the world telling us? How do we approach these things? What are some just permissions that you need as you engage this population of people? And so the number one question, the number one question across the board has been, so this is the most frequently asked question, how do you interact with people with special needs? And there is another disability ministry out there, and I absolutely love their slogan because it's as simple as start with hello. That is that is that disability ministry. That is their encouragement. Because here's what here's what you need to know. They're the vast diagnoses that exist, okay? You will never be able to know someone immediately without speaking to them or understand their disability, their communication needs, those kinds of things without a start, right? And we don't know what that start's gonna look like because we don't know them. But here's the thing start the conversation. If you start with hello, you're going to be able to gauge that person's interaction and then be able to respond accordingly. It may not be right, it may be wrong. Maybe when you say hello to someone and they can't say hello back. So your initial might be Do they did they hear me? Do they understand? Do they know? Maybe they use a communication device. Maybe they use ASL, American Sign Language. Maybe they like to use pictures to communicate, or maybe they use gestures. So there are all different kinds of waves, but it has to start somewhere. Okay. And when you meet any person, doesn't matter who they are, disability or not, when you first meet them and you begin to talk to them, you start to adjust your interaction based on their response, right? If you walked up to someone and they then you said hello and then they backed off, you're gonna make a few assumptions. Maybe they need more personal space. Maybe you forgot to take a shower this morning. Maybe you took them by surprise, right? So you might give them a little bit more space, readjust how you're talking. Maybe you realize, oh, my level, my voice level was too high. All different kinds of things. We make adjustments based on what we notice from that person. You do that in your everyday interactions, and it's no different when speaking to someone with a disability. You're going to engage that start with hello, and you're going to see how that person reacts or interacts with you. And then you can continue based on that. And again, you might not get it right. You might have to take some time to get to know that person. And one of my friends, her name is Alyssa. Alyssa is diagnosed with autism. She has epilepsy, a multitude of her mom says they should write a book about her because a lot of the things that she's dealt with health-wise have been medical mysteries. And I asked her and her mom to sit down with me one day. And I said to them, you know, when you first meet someone, how do you want them to interact with you? How do you want them to talk to you? And Alyssa said, number one, like obviously she wants people to reach out to her. She doesn't want to be ignored, but also she said that respect and kindness was the number one things that were important to her. And she also suggested that as you get to know that person, that you ask them how they want to be treated. There are lots of disability etiquette things that exist. There are all kinds of different things that we can tell you, but each person is absolutely different. And what is offensive to one is not offensive to another and actually might be endearing or enjoyed. And so we have to be really cautious in kind of giving that stereotypical treatment. We want to give person-to-person treatment. We want to respect them, like Alyssa said, treat them with kindness. Obviously, we want to interact. And so just go for it, right? Don't be afraid of it. Be a part of someone else's life. Take a chance, step out of your comfort zone and step into their world and get to know them because that's really going to be your number one thing. And remembering what Alyssa said, respect, kindness, and ask them how they want to be treated. All of those things are key. And you can all almost always guarantee that when you have respect for someone else and you maintain their dignity and the way you speak to them and the way that you interact with them and your expectations. Another way of saying that is assuming competence. Oftentimes we just assume that certain people with disabilities can't or won't or don't know how, but we always want to assume competence and um approach from that area. Also considering each person is made in the image of God. They are created, designed, purposed by God. And we were made for fellowship. So when we approach and engage, we create a welcoming, inclusive, accessible environment, not only to our church buildings, but to a God who created them, loves them. And they need to know that just as much as you and I. Not because it's a frou fru nice thing to do, but because their salvation may be something that hasn't been secured. And we want to be able to present the gospel to every person, making the gospel accessible through starting with hello. 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. For deeper dives into these topics and more, check out indispensablepeople.com and visit Amazon to purchase the books, The Indispensable Kids and Gospel Accessibility and the Indispensable People.
