How many people with disabilities attend your parish?

You would expect that parishes would have disabled members at the same rate as the general population. In other words, since 4% of the population has life-threatening allergies, then at a typical Orthodox parish, with about 100 people attending on a Sunday morning, you would expect to have 4 people with life-threatening allergies. Similarly, you’d expect to have 2 people with autism, 6 or 7 who use a mobility aid, and 10 who have diabetes. Depending on the age of your parishioners, you might expect to have 1 or more people who are blind or deaf.

Most parishes have nowhere near that many people with disabilities who attend. Sometimes architectural barriers prevent people who use wheelchairs from attending. The more common, and far more difficult, barriers are the barriers caused by other people’s attitudes and expectations.

These barriers of the heart can be overcome. It’s not easy. It takes knowledge, humility, and philoxenia.

Read more about disability on Charlotte’s blog.