In the history of how society handles its disabled members the Western world came a long way from Taigetos (aka. Taygetos or Taygetus), the mountain where ancient Spartans left their disabled or weak infants to die.

Taigetos, in a way, sped up natural selection among Spartans. The weak and crippled were to die early, so those who would not be able to contribute to society were just eliminated. In a military state like Sparta this was viewed as something benefiting the greater community. More than two milenia later another military heavy state would adopt the same approach.

Once realising that disability was not caused by the devil, it was religious people who first started to care for the disabled. It is recorded that Scholastica took a deaf girl and taught her to speak (or more likely, to sign) and it was Abbé Charles-Michel de l’Épée, a French priest, who established the world’s first deaf school.

Even today in many countries the care and education of people with disabilities is primarily run by church groups, and many disabled people are aided by churches in their independent lives, both financially and otherwise.

It seems to me that many of the people around me expect disabled folks to be religious. I have often wondered why that is when my own disabilities have driven me farther from real faith than anything before. Doubting God’s very existence or goodness was my reaction. At the same time I see others turning to God and using their new found faith as a source of peace and strength. Yet again others view their disability as God’s will and use that as an excuse not to do anything about their abilities or quality of life.

I have to admit that because of this last attitude I am always worried when I hear about churches actively seeking out and proselytizing freshly disabled people. It is just too easy to fall back on the “If God wants me to get better He will make me better” reasoning. Definitely a lot easier than enduring gruelling PT and OT, undergoing possibly painful and exhausting treatment.

However there is a very simple concept that can help religion be the driving force for people with disabilities. It can be summarized as follows: Work hard, pray hard. Help yourself and God will help you, too.

Following this simple rule religion and faith especially can become not a weight or a crutch, but rather the very fuel that is needed for striving to better ourselves, whether we live with or without disabilities. Waiting for God to perfrm a miracle is as if we were waiting for a doughnut to fly into our mouths while drinking our morning coffee.

Religion can also provide a feeling of acceptance and brotherhood, a place for integration and inclusion, which is vital for the feeling of normality in life. Churches can provide certain resources, mebers can extend the much needed fellowship. Still, one will have to deal with pity and sorrow and even embarrassment, just like anywhere else, because we are not equally open minded. It is normal: the same can be faced anywhere else. However, the relative intimacy of a spiritual family can help with tolerance that will then leave the church building and exist outside as well.

Hopefully this tolerance and acceptance will become a reality in the lives of many people, and we can turn away from the path leading to Huxley’s Brave New World.