{"id":298,"date":"2010-07-15T08:56:33","date_gmt":"2010-07-15T08:56:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/2010\/07\/is-disability-normal.html"},"modified":"2010-07-15T08:56:33","modified_gmt":"2010-07-15T08:56:33","slug":"is-disability-normal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/07\/is-disability-normal.html","title":{"rendered":"Is Disability Normal?"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\"wheelchair.jpg\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Last Sunday, Penny got in the car after church and said,
\n“Mom, why does that lady walk with a cane?”<\/p>\n

“Well, Pen, you know how you wear glasses?”<\/p>\n

“Yes.”<\/p>\n

“Why do you wear glasses?”<\/p>\n

“To help me see.”<\/p>\n

“Well, that lady uses a cane to help her walk.”<\/p>\n

“Oh. But why does that lady walk with a cane?”<\/p>\n

She had a hard time letting it go. She wanted me to make up
\na story to make sense of it for her. And I struggled to help her understand
\nthat canes are a normal part of human existence, that all of us have bodies
\nthat are vulnerable, limited, and dependent upon one another. I can’t say she
\nwas convinced.<\/p>\n

On Monday, I attended a conference on Theology and
\nDisability<\/a> at the Lutheran Seminary in Gettysburg, PA. One of the themes that
\nsurfaced was the “cult of normalcy” and the idea that disability is a “social
\nconstruct.” <\/p>\n

Let me give an example. At one point during the conference,
\nI found myself noticing the three individuals in wheelchairs and wondering what
\nhad “happened” to their bodies. My eyes were also drawn to the two individuals
\nwith hearing aids. It took me a few hours to realize that I never noticed all
\nthe people in the room who were wearing glasses. Glasses, devices that aid
\nvision, have become so normal to me that I don’t even see them. Poor eyesight is
\nnot considered a disability in our culture. <\/p>\n

But, I countered, it is certainly more unusual to use a
\nwheelchair. My perception can’t just be about normalcy. It must be about
\nreality. Right? And yet, in our culture, a person in a wheelchair can drive, have access to
\nstores, schools, churches, restaurants, and the like. Sure, they can’t go for a
\njog in the afternoon. Their bodies are limited in particular ways. But my
\nhusband can’t go for a drive without his glasses. I can’t play basketball (I’m
\n5′ 1″ on a tall day). Is there really as much of a difference as I think I
\ndiscern? <\/p>\n

And how does the idea of “normalcy” intersect with Christian
\ntheology? On the surface, it seems the Bible would support our reigning
\ncultural paradigm of normal. People go to Jesus for bodily physical healing. The
\nblind see. The lame walk. The deaf hear. And yet, taking a closer look at these
\nstories leads to a different conclusion. Jesus does the same thing whenever he
\ninteracts with someone in need–whether that be the Apostle Peter after he has
\ndenied Jesus or the bleeding woman or the rich young ruler. Jesus speaks or
\nacts in such a way to restore that person to community. Sometimes that restoration involves a curative action. Lepers couldn’t enter the temple or live with their
\nfamilies, for instance, without physical healing. And yet Jesus also points out
\nthat some of the Pharisees were as “unclean” as the lepers, even more
\n“unclean,” in fact. Narratives of healing in the gospels usurp the concept of
\nnormal too.<\/p>\n

I don’t think I convinced Penny that walking with a cane was
\nnormal. But I hope I’m figuring out a way to explain to her, and to myself,
\nthat the person who walks with a cane is just like me.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last Sunday, Penny got in the car after church and said, “Mom, why does that lady walk with a cane?” “Well, Pen, you know how you wear glasses?” “Yes.” “Why do you wear glasses?” “To help me see.” “Well, that lady uses a cane to help her walk.” “Oh. 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Two major life experiences have shaped her writing and her faith\u00e2\u20ac\u201dcaring for her mother-in-law as she battled cancer and welcoming her daughter Penny into the world after she was diagnosed at birth with Down syndrome. Both experiences expanded and enriched her understanding of what it means to be human and to receive each and every person as a gift.\u00c2\u00a0 A graduate of Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary, she is the author of Penelope Ayers: A Memoir, and the forthcoming A Good and Perfect Gift (Bethany House). Her essays have appeared in First Things, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Christian Century, ChristianityToday.com, and Bloom, among other online venues.","sameAs":["http:\/\/amyjuliabecker.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/author\/amyjuliabecker"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}