The Baylor Center for Developmental Disabilities (BCDD) hosted “Disability & Church: A Conversation” on Wednesday, April 17. The event was an initiative of the new Baylor Collaborative on Faith and Disability (BCFD). 

Jason La Shana, BCFD’s program director, opened the event by introducing the collaborative’s work and inviting all participants to do whatever is necessary during their time together to be their full selves. 

“Unfortunately, sometimes in gatherings like this,” he said,” both in the church and elsewhere, people with disabilities–intentionally or unintentionally–are made to feel like they or we need to conform to group norms that weren’t created with them or us in mind. So we hope this event is a place where you feel free to be who you are.” 

He added that for some, that may include being quiet and still, while for others, it may include making noises and moving around. “This is a good disability-friendly attitude,” he said, “but it is also a good human-friendly attitude.” 

In a presentation on institutional approaches to disability, Dr. Erik Carter, Executive Director of the Baylor Center for Developmental Disabilities, walked attendees through an evolution of attitudes. This began with full exclusion, where those with physical, intellectual and developmental disabilities were removed entirely from public life, including schools and churches. 

In the 1970s and 80s, according to Carter, “opportunities began to open up for those with disabilities, but were usually set up in separate settings, removed from those who didn’t have a similar label.” Then, in the 1990s and early 2000s, there was a shift toward integrating those with disabilities into ordinary life. 

Carter said, “But this still involved some level of separation. It places those with developmental disabilities near, but not among those without disabilities.” 

Carter continued to explain that many institutions are now focused on full inclusion. This consists of moving beyond being apart or among one another and toward being with one another.

But Carter suggested that churches should reach for a higher aspiration. This includes being “a community where belonging really does abound, where we all come to see each other in fundamentally different ways–not as the ‘ins’ and ‘outs’ or the ‘members’ and the ‘strangers’…and where we do more than just share space, but we also begin to share our lives.” 

The event continued with table conversations and a panel discussion featuring individuals with chronic illnesses and developmental disabilities, moderated by Grace Casper, program coordinator for the Baylor Center for Developmental Disabilities. 

Kenny Davis, who has autism and is part of BCDD, attended the event. In an email interview, he wrote, “I think it is important for church leaders to have conversations about creating a place of belonging for those of us with disabilities because we are people who want to belong somewhere, but often don’t.”

Davis added: “We are all God’s children, but many of us feel that we are not loved by God because we are ‘broken’ or a ‘burden’ to others. No one should ever feel left out, even if, while hanging out, they want to be alone. I don’t always want to go places everyone is going because it’s too loud, but I still want to be invited.”

Davis appreciated that the conversation wasn’t just about those with disabilities, but with them. He commented: “I love that the Bible verse was read by one of us, and no one cared that some of us were walking around, wearing headphones, entering later than others, holding stuffed dinosaurs, taking breaks, making sounds, stimming, and doing our own thing. We were all accepted and loved the way we were, and we had ‘safe people’ near us.”

The conversation was part of a collaborative project between Baylor’s Center for Developmental Disabilities, Truett Seminary and the Center for Church and Community Impact in the Diana Garland School of Social Work. According to a press release from December 2023, the interdisciplinary project, funded by a grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., “focuses on helping congregations embrace young people with disabilities, mental health challenges, and chronic illnesses.”