30
DISABILITY
Research has shown that the attitudinal barriers to inclusion of people with LD ( fear , ignorance and lack of confidence ) are only eroded when people with and without LD spend time together and get to know each other . Places that enable this to happen are few and far between . The need for our church to be such a place became increasingly evident through our personal experience .
My daughter loved the worship and quiet times in our church services , but the teaching was delivered in a way that made it hard for her to maintain concentration and understand God ’ s heart for her . She says :
‘ I felt like I was the only one with additional needs in the whole church and everything there was for people without LD . It tried to be inclusive but the language was too complicated for me , there was too much detail – I couldn ’ t understand the main point .’
Surely we could not be the only family in this situation ? The more I thought and prayed about this , the stronger the sense I had that God wanted this to change !
‘ My grace is sufficient for you , for my power is made perfect in weakness .’ [ 2 Corinthians : 12:10 ]
So , in March 2009 , a small group of us – parents of young people with LD at our church and friends with Special Educational Needs ( SEN ) experience – met together to pray and discuss what , if anything , we might be able to do .
This was the start of our journey toward setting up WAVE ( We ’ re All Valued Equally ) Church – a community of people with and without LD , who enjoy leading and participating in worship together each month . At the core of WAVE is the recognised benefit of bringing people with and without learning disabilities together in places where we can do things ‘ with ’ and not ‘ for ’ each other – enabling unexpected friendships to develop . As parents of a person with learning disability , there is such deep comfort that comes from discovering the sacrificial love that Jesus has for our oftenunder-valued children and the comfort we can find in relying on his strength for their ultimate care . We particularly want to share this love and acceptance with those who might never think it possible to attend church or who may have given up on church because it is just too hard for their family member with LD to attend formal services .
At WAVE Church , we have seen how the LD label is actually irrelevant when it comes to knowing and sharing our love of God .
The charity Prospects helped us greatly at the outset . They had groups providing inclusive church meetings all over the country but , for some reason , none in inner London . With great encouragement from the Prospects team , we mustered the resolve to start a group in Muswell Hill !
Prospects groups were started back in the 1970s to provide accessible Bible teaching for individuals with LD who
IN MAIN CHURCH THERE IS A FORMAL ORDER WHERE THE CONGREGATION LISTENS , AT WAVE CHURCH WE RELAX AND TALK TO EACH OTHER MORE – YOU KNOW WHO ’ S DOING WHAT AND WHY – IT ’ S FRIENDLIER .
WAVE Church service with Helen and Ian leading , far left .
1
The official definition of learning disability is a reduced intellectual ability and difficulty with everyday activities , which affects someone for their whole life . The politically correct terminology inevitably changes . In the nineteenth century , it was acceptable to use the term lunatic or imbecile whereas more valuing and descriptive terms are now emerging to describe learning disability e . g . ‘ creative learners ’. Individuals with autism may , or may not , also have a learning disability .