Peter Mawindo lost his leg due to bone cancer
when he was nine years old. Today, at 25, he is a full of life, articulate,
an enthusiastic member of Zimbabwe's national wheelchair basketball team
and wheelchair racer — and you may bump into him nimbly walking on crutches
at the 8th assembly.
Or John Naude, disabled and a psychotherapist in the UK.
Peter is one of 10 people with disabilities invited as advisers to
the assembly. Their presence is given added poignancy by the fact
that yesterday was International Day for Disabled People.
Some of the advisers will be available throughout the assembly
in the white tent next to the main library, near the worship tent, welcoming
assembly participants to get an insight into the world of disabilities
by simulation games, video films , dramas and role playing besides personalchats
and sharing.
Have a go at getting in a wheelchair to experience the disabled-unfriendly
environment the disabled live in (eg stairs instead of ramps). There
will also be ways on offer at the disabled tent to simulate blindness,
deafness or arthritis, etc.
The WCC has put much emphasis on promoting the issue of disabilities
at this assembly.
Peter muses over the way Christians relate to people like him.
"Many of our Christian fellow-worshippers are afraid to touch us, as
if they will get our disability. Or they give us money, hurting our
dignity. This is not what we need."
He also tells of Christians who, at church services, demonstratively
pray for the disabled to be healed.
"I lost a leg. How is that going to be healed? Or someone
who has suffered polio as a small child? Many of my friends say they
no longer go to church because the congregation prayed for them but they
were not healed.
"Their expectations have been raised unreasonably, they begin to think
that they have not been healed because they are sinners."
Indeed, churches need to reassess their relationships to disabled people.
"It concerns physical facilities, like access ramps to church buildings
and hearing aids in conferences, but it also concerns our attitudes,"
says WCC consultant Berhardur Gudmundsson.
"Do we see the people with disabilities only as a weak group that must
be cared for, or do we also recognise their gifts as an important factor,
a blessing, in the ministry of the churches?
"Paul wrote in 1.Cor.12.7: ‘To each is given the manifestation of the
Spirit for the common good.' Can then the church exemplify ‘the full
humanity of Christ' and deny the people with disabilities full participation
in its life, where people meet as equals?" he asks.
According to UN statistics, about 10 per cent of the world population,
or close to 600 million people, live with some kind of physical, mental
or sensory impairments which cause functional limitations.
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