Here at Disability and Jesus we are trying to develop a model of disability that goes beyond the social model, we are trying to develop the Jesus model.
The Jesus ( Relational Model) is an attempt to develop a model of disability based on the gospel, we see it as taking the social model a further step. It is still very much a work in progress and we look forward to working with other interested parties to develop and refine it further as time goes on and our understanding grows but for now here is what is very much a first draft.
In the same way as the social model we see that disabled people are disabled by society and the way it operates, yes disabled people have limitations but this model sees all disabilities as on a spectrum and sees everyone as being on that spectrum somewhere.
An individuals limitations, whatever they be are no ones fault, not theirs, not as a result of sin and nor is it God’s fault, it simply is.
Disabled people are being disabled by the physical, organisational, intellectual barriers, present within our society. It goes further and says disabled people are also being further disabled in church settings by factors such as, the need of a church to feel an obligation to cure, a warped theology that believes disability is a punishment, a view that God has a hierarchy of value and that disabled people are further down the scale, a view that says disabled people are a burden, that they need looking after and that pays no regard to the contribution they bring, the ministry they deliver.
There is a rule to relationship, to any relationship that allows it to remain sustainable. The rule involves compromise. Take the man who before he is married can not contemplate doing the school run, cleaning the toilet, doing the dishes etc. A few years in to his marriage and he doesn’t even give it a second thought, he is doing what is necessary for the smooth running of that relationship. So it is in Jesus, things we once held as none negotiable are now negotiable, so it is no longer necessary for the disabled person to be cured. Jesus simply relates to us where we are and we to him.
Before we can begin to implement this model in our churches it requires us to first own up to and repent of the ways church has historically discriminated against disabled people.
This new model will enable Christianity to flourish once it can embrace disabled people as playing a full part in church life and that we are all responsible for the removal of barriers that prevent disabled people from doing so.
This model aims to give disabled people the same feeling of community that we all crave, the same sense of belonging.
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