ABLEISM

My friend and colleague the Rev. Amy Shaw wrote a blog post about the ways those who are temporarily able-bodied can better understand and respond to the needs of people like her – people with disabilities. While some people with disabilities depend on wheelchairs for mobility, there are many other kinds of disability. Even among people who want to be accepting and egalitarian, there are lots of ways barriers rise up to make full access and participation difficult for persons with disabilities. And then there is the way mainstream culture uses disabilities as a metaphor for refusing or not wanting to do something, when that reinforces misunderstanding of the disability and the person living with a disability. Rev. Amy is the settled minister  at Lake Country Unitarian Universalist Church in Hartland, Wisconsin. Her blog post is titled “Playing Life on the Hard Setting” (September 16, 2017).