There has been great progress within the Christian Church when it comes to minorities. There are hundreds of articles covering the history of the modern-day treatment of women and persons of color in Christian congregations. But I will focus on a slightly less studied topic; the status of persons with disabilities within the Church. To understand how persons with disabilities are treated within Christian communities, we must first understand the model of disability that the Christian Church uses and how that compares to others.
4 Models of Disability
The Christian Blind Mission, “an international Christian development organization committed to improving the quality of life of persons with disabilities in the poorest communities of the world,” describes 4 models of disability. The medical and charity models see the person with a disability as having a problem. They assume outsiders know better than the person with the disability what help they need. Both models assume disability is not ‘normal’ and therefore must be changed. In contrast, the social and human rights models “see society as having a problem, being unable to accommodate all people.”
The United Nations (UN) hosted a meeting in 1998 on international norms and standards on disability, where it was agreed “that it was critical to start from a framework of general human rights guarantees when developing law and policy in relation to the denial of rights suffered by persons with disabilities.” Including persons with disabilities would give real meaning to “the claim of universality of human rights.” The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, (UDHR), declared in 1948, declared all humans deserve the same rights regardless of “race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, or other status.” Because persons with disabilities were not explicitly included in the creation of the UDHR, their rights were further defined in the late 1970s and stated in 1981 during the UN’s International Year of Disabled Persons, which called for “full participation and equality,” and recognized that social attitudes constituted a major barrier to the disabled.
Expanding upon the social model which sees societal structures, practices and attitudes as the primary cause of barriers for the disabled, the human rights model, as defined by the CBM, acknowledges “that human rights for all human beings is an inalienable right and that all rights are applicable and indivisible.” Here, the CBM takes note of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, (CRPD), a human rights treaty adopted in 2006, which created and enforced this model. Per the UN, the human rights model “treats the barriers in society as discriminatory and provides avenues for persons with disabilities to complain when they are faced with” barriers.
These are the two most accepted models of disability in modern day scholarly work, widely accepted by persons with disabilities. For example, the social model would find the stairs preventing a person in a wheelchair from entering a restaurant to be the problem, not the person’s disability. The human rights model is shown by a case study of a man named Aaron, who is 23 years old and forced to live in an aged care facility because he lost the use of his legs as a child. This model asserts that Aaron, with innate rights as a human being, has the right to decide on where he lives, no matter the social, communicative, or physical barriers he may face. If the charity model was followed, Aaron would be excluded from society and required to stay at the aged care facility due to the belief that his disability is a tragedy or causes him immense suffering.
So the question remains: Why do many Christian churches continue to use the charity model of disability?
Prevalent Christian View of Disability
Multiple verses in the Bible discuss the benevolent acts of Jesus and others in healing or helping persons with disabilities. Others discuss the treatment of persons with disabilities, such as “but when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” (Luke 14:13-14) This verse insinuates that members of the Church must accept persons with disabilities, who are viewed as needing care and incapable of contributing to others.
The charity model is still prevalent in many mainstream Christian denominations. Obviously, this does not mean every single Christian Church, as there are over 330,000 Christian churches (and their denominations) within the United States, but a study done by McMahon-Panther and Bornmans in 2025 found an encompassing problem of “ableist pervasion” in church attendees and leaders. Common to all ten of the studies analyzed is the “ubiquitous presence of discrimination against persons with disabilities and their families” within Christian churches. (p. 94) Ableist pervasion, paternalistic imposition, pitiful compassion, and toxic theology support this theme.
Paternalist imposition is often seen as a “more benevolent form of ableism” with some members of the church describing their actions as “well-intended.” (p. 95) One example is when a wheelchair user does not ask for help, but a non-wheelchair user pushes their wheelchair anyway. As seen in Glamour UK magazine, among hundreds of Reddit and Facebook posts, and within multiple disability etiquette pages, many know and understand the invasive nature of pushing someone’s wheelchair without permission. By respecting the mobility aid as another form of legs, there is no need for people to push strangers around in any form.
Similarly, pitiful compassion views persons with disabilities as “victims of a tragedy.” (p. 96) The idea that disability is an innately bad thing that causes unhappiness in a person’s life is completely inaccurate. Multiple quotes from throughout the study state that persons with disabilities are as happy as those without disabilities. Moving beyond unsolicited charity, persons with disabilities want to be seen as equal within the Church and “accepted as contributors in pursuing the goals of their [congregation]” rather than being seen as a person with a misfortune. (p. 96)
The Cross Examined is an evangelical interdenominational ministry that holds the “traditional worldview” that in the eyes of God, “humans possess intrinsic value in virtue of being created in the Image of God.” This means regardless of their situation, appearance, or any other characteristic, no one should be placed below any other human. But when many churches do not accept persons with disabilities as equally valuable, it is harder for them to have faith in a God who they are unsure accepts them.
Lastly, the traditional theology of Christianity is often misinterpreted . A toxic theology held by some Christians contains “oppressive religious notions that consider disability a condition unbefitting of true Christianity.” (p. 97) Many people still view disability as “being evil and the affected person being cursed or punished by God for unforgiven sins.” (p. 97) In the Old Testament, persons with disabilities cannot offer sacrifices and therefore cannot be priests. (Leviticus 12:16-24) John Piper, a Christian theologian, writes “God establishes a correlation between the deforming of the physical body and the deforming of the sanctuary.” This symbolic correlation creates the belief that persons with disabilities are not ‘whole,’ or perfect enough to be as equally involved with the Church as other members.
Churches are Exempt from the Americans with Disability Act
While many Christians believe the Church needs to be more inclusive, there has not been much progress even after adoption of the 1990 Americans with Disability Act (ADA), whose purpose is to protect “the rights of individuals with disabilities in employment, access to state and local government services, places of accommodation, transportation, and other important areas of American life.” Title III of the Act “prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in the activities of places of public accommodation” which would be businesses or organizations that are generally open to the public. Yet, as the United Church of Christ writes, “the sad fact is, that churches to this day are still exempt from ADA requirements in most ways.” (2023) This includes providing ramps for wheelchair users, having accessible parking and automatic doors, or even accessible seating within the church. Most religious entities have to explain on their websites that they are not required to conform to Title III of the ADA and do not have an explanation as to why.
Although churches are encouraged to abide by the ADA, many churches and places of worship have yet to remove the barriers that keep persons with disabilities from fully participating in the Church.
Understanding the beliefs that underlie the charity model of disability is vital to understanding and implementing the human rights model. Since the Bible is cited by many Christians as the reason for those beliefs, it is imperative that the Church clarify and enforce the inclusion of persons with disabilities as humans with “intrinsic value” who therefore have inalienable rights.
Alexandria Mathena is a researcher and writer whose work examines the intersection of disability and religion. Her work explores the treatment of persons with disabilities within faith based and secular organizations.
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