Rethink Access: From Managing Behavior To Making Disciples

We break down how learning disabilities, ADHD, and autism affect Scripture access, service structure, and social connection, then map practical shifts that turn church from behavior management into full participation. We ground the call to redesign ministry in the image of God, 1 Corinthians 12, and Luke 14.

• why one-size-fits-all ministry fails 
• core challenges: processing, executive function, social communication 
• distinct ministry impacts for LD, ADHD, and autism 
• multisensory Scripture access and wait time 
• structure, movement, and visual schedules for ADHD 
• low-sensory zones and literal language for autism 
• participation over performance as the goal 
• imago Dei and belonging as first identity 
• shifting from fixing people to redesigning services

If you want to dive deeper on your own, you can check out the Indispensable -People blog or my books on Amazon called The Indispensable Kid or Gospel Accessibility and the Indispensable People.

Transcript

One-Size-Fits-All Ministry Falls Short

Defining LD, ADHD, And Autism

Core Challenges And Ministry Impact

From Managing Behavior To Participation

Supporting Learning Disabilities

Supporting ADHD With Structure

Supporting Autism With Predictability

Image Of God And Inclusive Design

Invitation, Purpose, And Next Steps

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hey, hey, my name is Tracy Coral, and welcome to Indispensable People. I'm a pastor, a teacher, a missionary, a mom, a wife, and I believe that every person should have access to the gospel so that they can know Christ, grow in him, and serve him with the gifts that he has given. Over 65 million Americans have a disability. That's 15 to 20% of every community. And over 85% of those individuals do not attend church. 90% of pastors believe that they are a disability-friendly church, but only 20% of parents and families agree. Let's dive deep into hard topics, big questions, perceptions, stereotypes, and so much more. Hey, hey, and welcome to this episode of Indispensable People. Today we're gonna chit-chat a bit about the differences of a few disabilities. Now, we want to make sure that we understand different disabilities so that we do not try to create a one size fits all ministry within our church. I don't know if you've ever picked up something that said one size fits all, and it certainly did not. Either it was way, way too big or way, way too small, or didn't fit just right. And that is because it was meant to kind of hit the middle, but not the people on the fringes. And a lot of times people with disabilities tend to be on the fringes. So let's take a look into some differences. Specifically, we're gonna talk learning disabilities, autism, and ADHD. And although sometimes they often have overlapping things, they do affect the brain in very distinct ways. And so let's talk about the differences and how we can shift our how-to of disability ministry. First of all, a learning disability, the core challenge with it is information processing. So difficulty with specific skills like reading, writing, or math, which would be named dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalcula. And so how to impacts our biblical understanding and learning is it's really gonna impact how they engage with scripture, whether it's through reading, hearing, or experiencing it. So it is gonna have a core impact on the understanding of scripture. So moving on to ADHD, its core challenge is executive function, which executive function has a lot to do with prioritizing impulse planning, scheduling, and a lot of just kind of organizing of information events and all of that kind of thing. And that means that that individual is going to struggle with sustained attention, impulse control, and a need for mental breaks. So, how does this impact the ministry context? It really involves not necessarily the understanding of information, it's going to be the organization or the structure of the service, is going to be the impacted piece. Now, moving on to autism, the core struggle is going to be social communication. And there is going to be differences in social interaction, sensory processing, and literal thinking, all of which impact how I engage with others. And so the biggest impact in the church or ministry context is impacting how someone engages with the church body, the the people. And so these they're so very different. And this is probably the simplest way that I've ever put these in this piece of understanding. And I love this organization of thinking because again, some of these disabilities overlap, but the core challenge and the core impact on how it impacts our ministry context really determines how we accommodate for it, how we set up for it, how we plan for it, how we make sure that our the information is accessible, the service structure is accessible, and how the social becomes accessible, which is the pieces of accessibility that we've talked about: physical, social, and spiritual, right? So when the church recognizes these distinct differences, the support shifts from managing behavior to facilitating worship, participation in the word, experience, discipleship, all of those kinds of things. So at the onset of a learning disability, a person may feel unintelligent or disconnected from word-heavy faith. So we maybe shift, moving away from read this verse aloud in small groups and allowing time for processing and experiencing the information. So providing wait time, giving a sensory experience so that they can use the five senses and experiencing the word so that their brain has opportunities to learn it in a multitude of different ways. Those kinds of things, providing audio versions of the Bible, visual storytelling, uh videos, music, all of those kinds of things, right? We want to ensure that knowing the Bible isn't equated solely to reading the Bible, right? We can read information, but if we don't understand it, we haven't received it. But also putting in there always that if we engage with a person who is struggling to understand the Bible, one of the first things that we want to encourage them to do when they open up the Bible is to ask God to open up their mind, right? Because God can get through any barrier and he can speak to them specifically. Now, when we come to supporting someone with ADHD, it can lead to deep shame if a person feels that they're just too much or too loud for the space that they're in. And so we kind of shift in moving away from demanding the stillness as a sign of reverence, and we want to support them and understand, first of all, that Psalm 100 commands us to make a joyful noise, right? Which welcomes energy and exuberant praise. But also, and I'm not saying that in the like, let's give them permissions and license for all behavior, right? But understanding that a quiet church often equals a dead church. So noise, participation, movement, that equals a live church, and that's what we want to have. And so we want to normalize sensory bags with with fidget tools and breaks or providing uh visual schedules and clear, bulleted next steps rather than long, abstract pieces of information that's going to help benefit those with ADHD. And next, supporting those with autism in the church, which is, you know, going back to how is that social connect happening? That, you know, individuals with autism may find church sensory overwhelming over stimulation or small talk exhausting. And so we want to move away from forced fellowship. I know some people, especially the introverts out there, would like this one where maybe it's not necessarily greet your neighbor time or something like that. Don't get me wrong, I think it there is value to that as well. But in forced or prolonged situations where others might feel uncomfortable, we can kind of gauge that and switch that up a bit. And 1 Corinthians 12 emphasizes that the I cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you, right? So we understand that different different people and different personalities and different experiences of life and different struggles that people walk with doesn't negate you from being a part of the family of God, but it makes you a part of the family of God. So, what do we do to engage people with autism in our churches? We create low sensory zones, we use clear and literal language, we provide potentially social scripts or visual schedules that have clear roles for volunteering and participating in things so that social expectations become predictable. Now, is this a full clear deal on every part of every type of disability that we mentioned here and how exactly it will flow? No. Also, do many of these attributes focus or are indicated by more than one of these disabilities? Absolutely. But it gives you a clear representation of the disability, the core challenge that might come along with it and how it impacts the church, and then how can we plan? So learning someone who has a learning disability, we're gonna make sure that they can engage with scripture. Someone with ADHD, we're gonna make sure that they can engage with the service and the structure. With some for someone with autism, we're gonna make sure that they have preparations and predictable social interactions that they can depend on so they can participate in the total life of the church. All of those things bring us to a remembrance of the unified biblical perspective that says every person is made in the image of God. So it does not matter what your disability diagnosis is, your first identity is God. You are made in the image of the creator of the world, the God of the universe, the person who, the one who picked you, the one who made you, the one who purposed you, right? And instead of asking, how can we fix this person so that they fit our service, we as the church need to start asking, how can we change our service so that this person can participate? Because without them, the body of Christ is incomplete. We need to make sure that we are hearing the commands and the challenges that are brought to us from Luke 14 that challenges the church to invite those who cannot repay the invitation with standard social norms, right? We're not we're not providing accessibility in physical, social, and spiritual form so that they can do something for us, but so that they have access to the God who created them, the one who has plans and purposes for them. Because every person should have the opportunity to know God, to grow in him, and to serve him with the gifts that he has given. I can't claim to have all the answers. I can't claim to know all the things, but here's what we are gonna do we're gonna keep this conversation going. We're gonna make the accessible gospel available to individuals with disabilities in our churches and in our communities so that every person has the opportunity to know Christ, to grow in him, and to serve him with the gifts that he is giving. If you want to dive deeper on your own, you can check out the Indispensable People blog or my books on Amazon called The Indispensable Kid or Gospel Accessibility and the Indispensable People.