Most cultures view disability primarily as a deficit to be overcome, something to be healed or rehabilitated. But disability should be understood as an unsurprising aspect of being human. It can provide a critical, generative perspective for helping Christians and the Church reimagine more faithful theology and practices of witness.
Benjamin T. Conner, Ph.D., is Professor of Practical Theology, and Director of the Center for Disability and Ministry at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan. He worked in youth ministry for 20 years, several of those ministering to and with young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and served on the Mission-Wide Board of Young Life Capernaum for three years. His Amplifying Our Witness: Giving Voice to Adolescents with Developmental Disabilities remains the only monograph on youth ministry and disability. His most recent book is Disabling Mission, Enabling Witness: Exploring Missiology through the Lens of Disability Studies.
Deborah Meyer Abbs has served with InterVarsity for 29 years. For the last few years, she’s focused on disability inclusion and pioneering Access InterVarsity. Deborah is the author of Belonging: Accessibility, Inclusion and Christian Community, a LifeGuide Bible study. She’s also a coauthor of Life on the Spectrum, a faith-based book written by and for parents who have children with autism. In her free time, you might find Deb playing strategy games with her husband, Mike, spending time with her sons, Brandon and Luke, hanging out with other family and friends, reading, or petting her goofy but loveable English bulldog.