The Church and Disability – by Cynthia Holder Rich

Read Lucia Rios’ Essay, “Disability and the Church – Attitudes and Access”
Read Jill VandeZande’s Essay, “Pale Faces”

My family lives with disability

My family lives with disability.  This week on ecclesio.com, three writers offer their perspectives on disability, particularly in the US, and call the Body of Christ to act.  Two of these are professionals living with disability.  In my case, disability is part of the life of my family.  Many authors suggest that disability is not experienced individually, but rather that the whole family is impacted by the disability of one or more family members.  In my family, every member’s experience of life in the church and the world has been informed by the presence of disability in our home.

For us, the disability is mental illness.  As disabilities go, mental illness is remarkably common.  Over 1/3 of all families in the US experience and live with mental illness in any given year.  A significant number of US residents and families, then, have learned about mental illness through living with it.  However, this collective experience has not served to significantly lessen the stigma that surrounds people living with one or more than one of this group of diseases, disorders and disabilities.

US society values self-control and self-determination highly, and rewards those who can demonstrate same.  Many people with mental illness can satisfy these societal demands some of the time; some people with mental illness can satisfy them much of the time.  And many people with mental illness, including my own child, are intellectually gifted – so at times, these people can offer their significant gifts to others through work, service, and family and community life.

But then there are the times when people with mental illness cannot offer their gifts.  For many people, mental illness is cyclical in nature.  It cycles from states of high functionality where the illness is barely visible to acute phases where functioning is much more difficult.

It is these more-difficult times that put people with mental illness at great risk.  This risk grows from the good intentions of previous generations.  Spurred on by abuses among the institutions of the state mental hospital system, US President Kennedy signed the Community Mental Health Act of 1963.  The goals were good – stop warehousing (and too often, abusing) people in remote locations in order to “protect” society – but the results were mixed at best.

With the closing of many state hospitals, people with mental illness who were not able consistently or periodically to function on their own and contribute to society through employment began to have difficulty finding housing.  The lack of reliable, safe and healthy housing infrastructure built on a foundational understanding of mental illness and the needs that may arise for people who live with the disease lands many American mentally ill people in one of two places – the street or the prison system.  A recent National Public Radio investigation found that more Americans receive treatment for mental illness in jails and prisons than in hospitals or psychiatric treatment centers, and that the three largest inpatient psychiatric facilities in the US are jails – LA County Jail in California, Rikers Island in New York and Cook County in Illinois.

As a mother, these realities can drop me to my knees.  As a member of the Body of Christ, I hear them as a call to action.

People living with mental illness did not gain that status through some character flaw or sin.  The concept of a relationship between sin and mental illness has a long history.  Today, many people would suggest that belief in this relationship has gone the way of other archaic, outdated and primitive ways of thought.  That would be great – if only it were true.  Two realities, at least, stand in the way.

The first is that many Christians, including many pastors, have difficulty believing that mental illness exists.  A 2008 study by the Journal of Mental Health, Religion and Culture found that over 1/3 of survey respondents who had approached their church or religious leaders for counsel about mental illness had been encouraged to believe that their illness was solely spiritual – that is, that it was based in sin, and not physiological disorder, disease or trauma.  Moreover, to complicate the picture, the researchers (at Baylor University) found that women were more likely to have their illness dismissed or discounted.  This and a plethora of “Christian” websites encouraging people who “think” they have mental illness to pray their way out of it demonstrate clearly that the ideas that mental illness exists, and that it is not the same as sin, are not yet accepted by all followers of Jesus.

The second is the stark reality of our acceptance in this society of the use of prisons as our primary (and in many cases, sole) psychiatric care facilities.  The recidivism rate of people with mental illness in the country’s prison system is shockingly high.  We have, as many experts in the field suggest, criminalized this form of disability.  It is, in many ways, illegal to be mentally ill in the US.

What can the Body of Christ do in the face of this form of bald-faced, unapologetic injustice and oppression?

• LEARN about mental illness, disorder and disability.  Look over the list of resources at the end of this essay.  Explore what resources are available in your community to assist the members and families living with mental illness in your congregation – who are there whether you know it or not.  Take the time to learn, train your leadership, and make sure your pastor knows about mental illness.
• ADVOCATE.  As the recession continues (and deepens in some areas), cuts to mental health services are happening in many places.  Take the time to understand the issues and advocate for assistance and support.
• PREACH and TEACH about mental illness.  Preachers who refer to mental illness may be surprised with the response of many congregants.  Compassionate references will draw people with mental illness and their families out of the congregational woodwork, where many live with shame and fear of the profound and potentially-damaging levels of ignorance and misunderstanding present in society and in the community of faith of the illness with which they live.

Ultimately, we who follow Jesus are called to accept the reality of universal brokenness, clear the logs from our eyes, and step up to the challenge.  Living with mental illness is challenging and can be scary.  Our own fear of the unknown cannot be allowed to stop us from answering Jesus’ call to reach out to those in need.  As we follow the One who calls us to “Fear Not”, we must find the strength to trust in Jesus sufficiently to stand with those who struggle with disability, including mental illness, and welcome all to the community where all are broken and all receive unmerited grace.

RESOURCES YOU MAY FIND HELPFUL

The Temple University Collaborative on Community Inclusion for Persons with Psychiatric Disabilities (http://tucollaborative.org/) is a very interesting website with lots of links, resources, and a conference held every few years.

“Toward a Theology of Mental Illness”, Marcia Webb, M.Div., PhD, 2009 Winifred E. Weter Faculty Award Lecture, pdf downloadable here.

NAMI Faithnet’s website is a very full and comprehensive resource with many links, program ideas, and contact information for a large variety of faith communities in ministry with people with mental illness.

On Wednesday, Lucia Rios and Jill VandeZande join the conversation.
Read Lucia Rios’ Essay, “Disability and the Church – Attitudes and Access”
Read Jill VandeZande’s Essay, “Pale Faces”