Empowering Faith Communities to Embrace Invisible Disabilities with Empathy and Inclusivity

Join us for a profound exploration of a topic that often goes unnoticed yet affects many within our church communities—invisible disabilities. I'm Tracie  Corll, your guide through a world where understanding and compassion become tools of empowerment. We'll uncover the Invisible Disabilities Association's definition of these unseen challenges, confront misconceptions, and shift the narrative from pity to empathy. Prepare to discover how the unseen struggles of our brothers and sisters in faith require us to extend dignity and respect to all, highlighting that most Americans with severe disabilities do not rely on visible assistive devices. Our conversation promises to leave you equipped with a fresh perspective on the intersection of faith and hidden disabilities.

The journey continues as we address the subtle impacts of sensory distractions on those with attention challenges such as ADHD. Drawing from my personal experiences as a first-grade teacher, we'll discuss inventive strategies that support my students and can be translated into nurturing more inclusive church environments. The chapter offers a glimpse into the power of empathy—how it can transform our relationships and enrich our ministry. By the end of our time together, you'll feel inspired to serve with a heart of understanding, recognizing that our willingness to embrace inclusivity can truly bring about the love of the gospel in every life we touch.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:03

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.

Speaker 2: 0:16

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 world-changing ideas.

Speaker 1: 0:47

Hey, hey, welcome to episode 28 of Indispensable People. I am so glad that you have joined me today and I am ready to share with you about invisible disabilities. So what is an invisible disability? Well, the Invisible Disabilities Association defines invisible disability as a physical, mental or neurological condition that is not visible from the outside yet can limit or challenge a person's movement, senses or activities. They also say that, unfortunately, the very fact that these symptoms are invisible can lead to understandings, false perceptions and judgment. Have you ever pulled up to Walmart trying to find a parking spot and you notice someone pulling into the handicapped spot but there is no obvious disability that is seen? And you're thinking are they using someone else's tag? Do they really need that? Save it for someone else who could benefit from it better? But really, it's so much more. Invisible disabilities encompass so much more that we could never see or understand by just a passing meet. So why are we talking about this? Why does it matter? Well, first of all, let me share a statement from the Invisible Disabilities Association. They say defining invisible disability can open the doors of communication and understanding. Obviously, the more we know, the better we understand, and I've talked to you about it before. But that's the difference between compassion and pity, right. The more we know, the better compassion we can have. Because I would beg to say that with an invisible disability we have a whole lot less compassion and we may side on the complete opposite of pity, because sometimes, because we can't see it means we don't understand it, which means sometimes we just outright don't believe it's even there. So let me run some statistics by you. So one of the surveys came back saying that about 26 million Americans have a severe disability, but only 1.8 million actually use a wheelchair, 5.2 use a cane, crutches or a walker. So 74% of Americans who live with a severe disability do not use those devices. Therefore, a disability cannot be determined solely by whether a person uses some type of assistive equipment.

Speaker 1: 3:43

So here we go back to A podcast I did a little while back that answered the question what do you do or how do you approach someone with a disability? How do you strike up that conversation? And here's where we go back to. You treat them just like anyone else. Why? Because we don't know every person's situation that we encounter and we certainly do not want to base our conversation on our assumptions. I'm not sure if you've ever done that before, but a lot of times it does not turn out good.

Speaker 1: 4:22

You may be a great person that reads others well, and so maybe that has worked out for you, but also, the treatment that we give someone else is not dependent on their ability. It is not dependent upon their disability, right? Every person is a person. God has a plan and a purpose for each life. They were created in his image and therefore their value and worth is in who their creator is. It's not in what they can do, what their abilities are or anything like that. So I think that's just an easy step to go. Let's treat everyone with dignity and respect and with value and worth, and that doesn't come from their ability or their disability.

Speaker 1: 5:13

Now, I could be here all day, all week, explaining to you the names of different types of invisible disabilities, because there are thousands. However, I'm going to give you a little bit of their symptoms, which include depilitating, fatigue, pain, cognitive dysfunctions, mental disorders, hearing and eyesight impairments. Those are just some basic explanations. We literally could be here explaining thousands upon thousands. Now, when we come into considering disability ministry more so, what you're going to see is impacted maybe intellectual disabilities such as autism, adhd, different things like that, are going to be more apt to use your disability ministry if that's what you have with your church, or even if your church doesn't have a disability ministry, if there are accommodations needed. Typically there are individuals who might have maybe MS or arthritis or things like that, but they're trying to be less likely to want to use your disability ministry simply because they can really make do in regular services, because it is not affecting their cognitive ability. They just may need accessibility within the church and things like that.

Speaker 1: 6:47

So I wanted to highlight a video that my friend sent to me about invisible disabilities. It's kind of where this podcast, the inspiration for this podcast, came from. It was a young lady who shared the video who was diagnosed with autism and she is speaking about invisible disabilities and how most people, unless they are trained individuals, will not recognize her autism and how it is considered an invisible disability. However, she made the point to remind us that just because it is an invisible disability does not mean it's not there. It is just invisible. And in a conversation with my friend when she sent that, she was like I feel like there's a sermon in this video and I couldn't agree more because, listen, just because we can't see Jesus doesn't mean he's not there.

Speaker 1: 7:50

So people are walking through things on a daily basis. They are making accommodations, they are living out their life, attempting to create normality, while we are on the other side, not even realizing what they're walking through, what they're dealing with, the strategies that they have had to create or use so that they can walk through life day to day and try to fit within the confines of what we provide within, whether it's our churches, our schools, places of activity and fun, sports, whatever. And highlighting the fact that the world is not set up to a comedy, the world is not set up to understand, the world is not set up to always make way for people with disabilities that we can see, that we can know easily that they're there, let alone for invisible disabilities that we don't know exist and that someone is walking with. And the example I want to give to you is actually another conversation I had with a counselor yesterday. We were talking about, you know, families and what they walk through and how understanding, especially when kiddos are young and their first getting diagnoses. And I had what was explaining to her about a family that I absolutely love had the opportunity to serve and when their little one was about to the diagnosis, the possibility of autism was talked about with their doctor, and the family was just distraught. They were just at a loss for what to do, how to go forward. What does this mean for life? And the strange or funny thing was their little guy was happy as could be. He didn't care what those doctors were saying. He enjoyed watching his videos on the iPad, he enjoyed listening to music, he loved walking around and exploring. The problem wasn't coming from him. He was happy where he was and being allowed to operate in an environment that worked best for him. It was everybody else. It was the environment, it was the parents that were walking through, and the way that I explained it to the counselor that a conversation I had with one of the family members was that that child was happy. It's the parents and the family that are mourning a life that they thought they were going to experience.

Speaker 1: 11:03

However, as they get older, those invisible disabilities come out a lot more, and it comes more so on the side of how others react, handle and treat them and then how we set up our environments to include them. So we've talked about this before. If you walk into a kids ministry space in a church, the likelihood that you are going to come across a lot of color, a lot of things going on and all kinds of excitement is huge. Why? Because we assume that the majority of children like fun. They like chaos. That's what's going to draw them in, that's what's going to give them fun. However, we've set up environments that a lot of our just our invisible disabilities don't provide. For those with autism or sensory processing disorder or ADHD, those colorful things, lots of things going on, are going to be the things that distract them or overwhelm them. So we just might need to consider taming some of those things down, maybe providing some headphones that would block out some noise that might be going on, because we also want to create loudness and lots of fun, music, things that can draw kids in and just help them to have fun. But, again, those particular things are the things that are going to drive some individuals with invisible disabilities away.

Speaker 1: 12:48

So how do we fix this? What do we do? Honestly, it's just understanding, it's knowing that there's a story behind every face that you serve. It doesn't matter if you're in kids' ministry. You are working with adults. You really want to consider that. Everyone has a story. Listen, I could sit with you and I could tell you that I'm an introvert. I love doing and being in quiet, calm spaces. I enjoy having some close friends. I can do the big events. I do them regularly. I can sit in big trainings and speak to lots of people all at one time. When I'm done, I need to go back and I need to calm.

Speaker 1: 13:42

When I was teaching first grade a few years ago, the longer I taught I don't know if it means the older I got the more extraneous noises really bugged me, and I'd be sitting in a room with my students and somebody's tapping their pencil, another one's moving their chair back and forth on the floor, so it's making a scratchy noise. There's this, that and the others that are going on, and I could feel the anxiety build within me, and that wasn't something I had dealt with before. So that was new, but also helped me to highlight some understanding for some of my students in the room that became so distracted by other things, and so I could try to create a space within my classroom that those students could thrive in. So, for instance, I put tennis balls on the bottom of all of the chairs in my classroom so it didn't make that scratchy noise. I also played instrumental music at a very low level so that other noises that some kiddos, who maybe had ADHD, needed to be able to make, the tapping of the pencil, the moving a little bit with their body, those kinds of things those would be drowned out. So I came up with strategies that help both sides, and that is what we're talking about Understanding that there are feelings and stories behind what we can't see, opening the door to conversations of how we can best help others, but also understanding that we don't always know what's going on inside someone else's brain.

Speaker 1: 15:32

They don't always have the words to articulate what that feels like to them. A lot of times, when we see that something is bothering them, it's coming out through frustration or some type of behavior that is trying to communicate hey, I'm feeling this kind of way. So before we jump to a conclusion, before we make an assumption, let's understand and know that there's a story behind the person. Let's have compassion, let's get to know them, let's build understanding for each person that we come in contact with. I know it's a busy world, but getting to know someone is the key to being able to serve them well. So let's get to know them, let's serve them well, let's make the gospel accessible through the compassion that we can provide for people with and without invisible disabilities.

Speaker 2: 16:40

Do I know everything about disability ministry? Do I have all the answers? Have I done everything perfectly? I have 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.