Who Really has a Disability?

In today’s supposed enlightened society people with disabilities are often still marginalized and treated like third class citizens. People still hold a prejudice attitude towards persons with disabilities. Instead of seeing the person, they just see the disability. Sadly, such people in the job market or in the dating scene are often judged by their disability, instead of who they are as a person. There is NO EXCUSE for such discrimination today, when there is so much information out there on the topic.

This problem of discrimination is not only just a problem in today’s society, it is also a problem within the Church as well. Recently, I had a tea with a dear friend of mine who has a disability. She shared with me that one of the main reasons why she left Church was because of how she was treated by those inside the Church who should have loved, accepted, and embraced her as a fellow Christian never found a place where she was accepted in the local Church.

Could it be, that such people who stand in judgment of a disabled person’s social worth be disabled themselves; disabled in the sense that they cannot see past a person’s physical disability? Why is it some people attribute a person’s identity to their disability, instead of who they are as a person?

We should never define a person’s sense of worth by what’s wrong with them, but rather take the time to get to know that person personally, by learning to value him or her by what is right about them. Nobody is better than the next person, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3: 23). We all have our flaws, we all have something wrong with us. Just because our defect cannot be seen physically by others, does not mean we don’t have one. Just because a person has a mental or physical disability and we don’t, doesn’t make them any less a person than we are. For in a sense, sin is a universal disability that we ALL have in common (see Rom. 5: 12). May God deliver us from our self-righteous attitude like the Pharisees had. The Lord Jesus’ word is quite fitting here, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5: 31-32). Because such people don’t see anything wrong with themselves and how they view others who are disabled, they cannot see their own disability. Such people need to remember, those who are hasty in judging others, will by others be judged in haste! So tell me, who really has a disability?