How do we label ourselves? A man, a mother, a teacher? We may use adjectives instead of nouns, words such as fat, tall, poor, successful. Labels can define us. We may use our gender, our job, our position in the family, our ethnicity or our hobbies to present ourselves to others and even to ourselves. We in the church can also use our position or role in the church to distinguish ourselves. Many times we attribute value to people according to what they do. We see people through our perceived definition of the label. They cease to become an individual person and become confined by the label.
Labels can also be used to define those with a disability: the blind man, the girl in the wheelchair or the boy with Down syndrome. We like putting people into categories. It is a way for us to make sense of them, to understand them, but it comes with a price. We focus on the disability rather than them as a person. We make assumptions, and often assumptions that are limiting. We have preconceived ideas of what they will be like and what they can or cannot do.
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Yolande’s Story*
In the 1980s, I was teaching an 8-year-old girl with Down’s syndrome who attended the local mainstream primary school. She was from Finland but was living in England for two years with her parents due to the father’s job. Her mother said that when the daughter was born, doctors said she would be a vegetable and to put her into a hospital and forget about her. The mother, who was a Seventh Day Adventist, did not want to do that. She said, ‘I was singing Jesus songs to her and saw her smile and I thought, “She is not a vegetable.”’ She then became determined to teach her skills. At the age of 8, the girl was able to talk to me in English and her parents in Finnish. She loved cooking and was able to make pastry, roll it out and make mince pies, once she was given the correct quantity of ingredients. She was able to clear up after herself, something that her 7-year-old peers seemed to find exceedingly difficult!
What would have happened if the mother had listened to the label of ‘vegetable’?
Labels can even lead the person with a disability to make assumptions about themselves. If we assume that something is the case, we often live our lives in such a way as to confirm that belief. If those assumptions are negative, we can become confined to living a less than fulfilled life, a life that does not attain to the purposes that God has for us.
Mark’s Story*
I worked with a student once who I will call Mark. He was detained in a medium-secure unit where I was a teacher. On his first day he stated: ‘I have Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). They used to think I had Personality Disorder and I was in a personality disorder unit. I’m here now because they say I’ve got Autism Spectrum Disorder. I heard you were good with people with Autism Spectrum Disorder.’ He had read about ASD after he had been diagnosed. He explained some of what he had read, then stated, ‘As I have autism, I don’t have empathy.’
Several weeks later, another student spat at me. I can still tell you where the large globule landed next to my mouth! It was a forceful, angry attack. Mark was really concerned for me. ‘That was awful,’ he said. ‘He should never have done that! Are you alright?’ He looked really worried and I could see he was imagining what it felt like. I reassured him that I was okay and then said, ‘That was empathy you were feeling. You do have empathy.’ He was taken aback, and it bothered him that he now didn’t fit the description of someone with ASD!
I have also met several people and family members who have been so relieved to have been given a label, a diagnosis. They now know what they are dealing with and there is a reason for the behaviors, needs and difficulties. There is also help and support. There are groups to join and other people in a similar situation. There is guidance and ideas to try. There is relief that it is ‘not my fault.’
Wendy Lawson, who has written several books, stated the relief she felt when she discovered that she had autism. It became her mission to find out as much as she could about Autism Spectrum Disorder, not just for her own benefit but to inform others about ASD, both those who were on the spectrum but also those who were neurotypical (not autistic).She has since become a successful author and trainer, giving others better insight into ASD.
Churches need to be careful about labelling people. We as Christians need to view all people through God’s eyes. We are all made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). We are all fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139: 14). We all are children of God, loved by God and given gifts and abilities. We all have value, all belong to the body of Christ, and all have worth.
We may find labels helpful in order to understand and make adjustments or to support families or individuals. There may be information that can help or ideas that may be practicable. They may help us to develop and celebrate gifts and abilities. We need to spend time researching and educating ourselves so that we can be as informed as possible. There may be strengths that we can encourage and incorporate into the ministry of the church. There may be information that can make integrating into the church family easier for those with a disability.
We need to ensure, though, that we don’t just see the person with a disability through the eyes of the label, or confine them to our assumptions about what that label means. We also must not confine God. He can do immeasurably more than all that we ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). He can use all of us in ways that we never dreamed. Let us encourage one another and build one another up (1 Thessalonians 5:11). Let us make a way for all people to live the fulfilled lives that God has planned for each one of us.
*Stories taken from Sue Sutton’s book Living Fulfilled Lives: Empowering People with Learning Disabilities.
Sue Sutton has nearly 50 years of experience working with people with learning disabilities. She has developed training programs for people working with a variety of learning disabilities and mental health issues. Sue is the author of “Living Fulfilled Lives: Empowering People With Learning Disabilities.” Connect with her on Facebook.
