Dr Kelly Fleming

One large outreach ministry that is severely lacking in inclusion of disabled people is missionary work. When disabled people apply to be overseas missionaries, they are, for the most part, turned down. Missionary organizations have developed a criterion that matches the stereotypes of mainstream society. Missionaries are expected to be physically fit, physically strong, and physically independent which means missionary organizations only choose non-disabled people as missionaries.
This attitudinal barrier does not help in reaching marginalized disabled people in the mission field. Within developed countries, organizations play an active role in supporting disabled people by providing PSWs (Personal Support Workers) for people with physical disabilities who require assistance with daily personal needs, as well as programs developed for intellectually disabled people to integrate them into mainstream society. There are organizations for the Deaf who provide interpreters and adaptive devices and organizations for the Blind that provide training, assistance, and foster independence. All these organizations aim to empower disabled people, to give them back their dignity and allow them to have an independent life. This structure, although still lacking in many ways needs to be expanded as prototypes for the Church missionary field.

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