United Church of Christ Disabilities Ministries » 2009 » March
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Disability 101: I Have A Voice
Posted By Jim On March 20, 2009 @ 3:02 am In Disability Newswire, Opinion | 3 Comments
By Sandy Lahmann
Daily Summit County, Colorado
I’ve been racking my braintrying to figure out how to explain this to you. I guess it’s about a dumbing down, a denial of respect, a denial of dignity, a loss of voice.
I have a voice. I have a well thought out opinion. I have valuable knowledge. I am capable of making sound decisions.
But some people apparently think I don’t and I’m not. Just because I use a wheelchair. There’s a stereotype, an assumption, that people who use a wheelchair, people who are blind, people who are deaf, and other people with disabilities are not very intelligent.
As a result, some service providers, family members, co-workers, and community members feel compelled to tell us what to do. They feel a need to instruct us, guide us, inform us, explain to us, decide for us, and lecture us about how we should live our lives. And then they want to speak for us.
In other words, they treat us like children who must be protected for their own good. How terribly patronizing. It curls my toes. It sets me to screaming in frustration.
I am 46 years old. I have a college degree with a 4.0 GPA. I am a successful professional. I raised two children into two awesome and successful adults. I am not a child. Despite the fact I use a wheelchair.
I don’t need you to tell me how to manage my disability, what health care to pursue, what prescription drugs I should be taking, what supplements I should be taking, what food I should be eating, what exercise I should engage in, what extracurricular activities I should be participating in, where I should be living, whether or not I should be applying for social security benefits, what I should think, what I should believe, what I should do, and how I should breathe.
I really can figure these things out for myself. I am capable of doing my own research. And I have. I am capable of seeking out and evaluating the opinions of professionals. And I have. I am capable of weighing all the evidence and deciding for myself. And I have.
Why is it some people without a disability automatically think they know better than a person with a disability about how to live with a disability? It just doesn’t make sense.
Then some people without a disability want to speak to other people without a disability about what it’s like for people with a disability. How about if people with disabilities speak about what it’s like for people with disabilities?
I have a voice.
TASH, a civil rights organization for people with disabilities (www.tash.org [1]) shares the following verse:
“You do not know what I see, what I believe, what I dream, what I know. You do not live my life! You cannot be my voice. – From the Voice of the Highly Regarded (If I ever do want you to speak for me I’ll give you a call.)â€
T-shirts with the saying are available from The Nth Degree at www.thenthdegree.com [2]
Sometimes I might have an opinion with which you might disagree. Sometimes I might make a decision with which you might disagree. Sometimes I might take a risk and do something that’s not totally safe. And that is my right.
There is dignity in formulating my own opinions. There is dignity in making my own decisions. There is dignity in taking risks. Not to mention a life well lived.
Show me respect my granting me this dignity.
[4]
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March 22, 2009
Nancy Eiesland Is Dead at 44; Wrote of a Disabled God
By DOUGLAS MARTIN
By the time the theologian and sociologist Nancy Eiesland was 13 years old, she had had 11 operations for the congenital bone defect in her hips and realized pain was her lot in life. So why did she say she hoped that when she went to heaven she would still be disabled?
Read the full article at
www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/us/22eiesland.html?_r=3&ref=obituaries&pag
Friendship Ministries is an interdenominational, not-for-profit organization that exists to help churches and organizations around the world share God’s love with people who have cognitive impairments.
Website: www.friendship.org
Written by Barbara J. Newman
This book gives teachers practical tips for helping students welcome kids who have disabilities into their classes at church or at school.
Written by Barbara J. Newman
This unique resource will help your church to embrace people with autism into the full life of your congregation.
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From Candler Home News Tribute to Nancy Eiesland About Candler
A Tribute to Nancy Eiesland
Nancy L. Eiesland, Associate Professor of Sociology of Religion and Disability Studies at Candler School of Theology, died on Tuesday, March 10, 2009. After suffering from cancer for some months, she passed away peacefully and without pain in the embrace of family. Candler will host a memorial service in Cannon Chapel on Sunday, March 22, 2009, at 2:00 p.m. A reception, including an opportunity to greet the family, will follow the service. Memorial gifts may be sent to the Nancy L. Eiesland Fund to Support Students with Disabilities, Candler School of Theology, 1531 Dickey Drive, Atlanta, GA 30322.
Across three decades Nancy Eiesland gave our community graceful gifts beyond measure. As a Candler M.Div. student, a Ph.D. student in Emory’s Graduate Division of Religion, and as a deeply valued Candler faculty member, Nancy has shared with us her luminous love of learning and teaching, and her radiant smile and humor. Her great courage, compassion, and honesty and her trust in the goodness of creation and the promise of its redemption were hallmarks of her presence among us.
Professor Eiesland made groundbreaking contributions in two distinct fields of scholarship, a remarkable accomplishment for any scholar. She did pioneering work in disability studies, articulating the first liberatory theology of disability in her book, The Disabled God. This book, which began as an M.Div. honors thesis at Candler, has become a classic in the field. In A Particular Place, Nancy studied congregations in a rapidly growing exurban area of Atlanta, a small town absorbed into new urban patterns that deeply affected its churches. By following the day-to-day life of church members, she explored the ecology of social institutions and networks, showing how the role of congregations in people’s lives changes in new social conditions. This book established Professor Eiesland as a leader in sociology of religion and congregational studies.
Dr. Eiesland taught classes in the social and cultural study of religion, gender, and disability; urban change and religious organization; and methods of qualitative research. She prepared a generation of students to enter the ministry and the academy with a deep awareness of the intricate social world embodied in each congregation. Her passion for the life of the church inspired students to honor the promise each congregation holds to witness to the presence of God in the world. Her example as an engaged teacher and scholar provided a role model for doctoral students as they entered their own academic careers. Professor Eiesland enlivened a remarkable network of collegial relationships, entwined across academic disciplines, fields, and departments at Emory and around the world.
Nancy Eiesland has given us all an enduring example of Candler’s own commitment to the church and the world. We will miss her dearly.
***
Links to pieces that Nancy wrote are included here. Thanks to Kevin Christiano for the Impact link:
www.ici.umn.edu/products/impact/211/21.html and ici.umn.edu/products/impact/143/over02.html, as well as a piece she wrote for Emory recently, www.emory.edu/EMORY_REPORT/
erarchive/2008/April/April21/FirstPersonNancyEisland.htm.
Also, at www.emory.edu/EMORY_REPORT/, search Eiesland
Nancy Eiesland was a friend of UCC DM and has addressed the board. Search “Nancy Eiesland” this website (uccdm.org) for articles and reviews.
Contact Information for 14 Independent Living Centers
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Visit www.prayingwithLior.co/clergy.html for reviews of this DVD about an inclusive community and the religious coming of age of a young man with Down’s syndrome.
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BT Digest is an online magazine for youths and families facing disabilities.
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Strengthen and Make Whole the Body of Christ by Empowering Children With Disabilities
Can the church from the beginning of life be that place where justice is practiced, surrounding children with disabilities with the breadth and strength of such a network of support that it is simply empowering for life? I am convinced the answer is “yes.”
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Visit the Mental Illness Network: (www.min-ucc.org). Close the Mental Illness Network website to toggle back to uccdm.org. See also books about Serious Brain Disorders at Resource Room, Books.
