I'm becoming increasingly aware of a problem arising on social media, thee are some disabled Christians, many of whom are in ministry, in churches where they have never encountered discrimination or abuse and where their needs are well catered for.
Please don't misunderstand me here, I wish them well, my problem is they then go on to say that because life is good for them within the church that their simply isn't a problem and furthermore those of us who raise issues are exaggerating or that we have some sort of axe to grind rooted in some kind of bitterness.
Why do such situations occur? Well it seems to me the reasons are complex and need exploring. There is the church that has one prominent disabled member who has been there many years and he or she is held up as the example that that particular church must be doing it right. However figures show that 38% of the UK population has either a disability or significant long term illness. Does it not follow that similar numbers should therefore be represented within our congregations and simply being able to identify one disabled person in our congregation does not mean our church is issue free.
Disabled people who are accepted in to a church yet still feel vulnerable and still have issues are unlikely to complain too vigorously because of a fear of somehow seemingly disloyal. For example if your church is somehow failing it's duty under the Equality Act it is unlikely that your regular disabled members will make too much fuss for the reasons I have just explained. We must remember however, that our churches are public spaces used for weddings and funerals etc. Many of the people attending such events are not Christians and no particular loyalty to our churches, none the less by allowing these people in to our buildings we assume a duty of care towards them, such people are living in a society that has become more and more litigious in recent times, these are the very people who will, quite rightly make a fuss which could very well end up in legal action, just because there has not as yet been a high profile case does not mean there won't be one before long. Which church could stand that type of negative publicity, indeed as there is as yet no case law, said church would go down in legal text books as the "case of the Queen against St What's His Name's".
For me these issues are far bigger than most churches are aware and it is a ticking bomb that most churches are ignoring at their peril.
The only ethical option is to invest in this issue in the same way that Church has invested so many resources in other safeguarding issues.
If you are one of those disabled people in ministry that is telling people they don't see the problem, let me say that you are behaving in a way that is disloyal to other disabled people who are not sharing your good experience and you are putting the church at risk of potential action under the Equalities Act.
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