I mentioned in my first post that I am disabled. If you missed it, I’ll say it again. I’m disabled. It is neither profound and severe nor mild and irrelevant. Many days I have difficulty walking. I own a rollator and a cane and sometimes my dexterity is trash. You can imagine how tricky that makes ambulating on days when I absolutely need my rollator but also am having weakness in one or both arms and dexterity problems.
If you didn’t realize this before, religion tends to be horribly ableist and inaccessible.
Here’s a thought, how many churches do you know that a wheelchair can enter easily? How many stairs to the front door? How much energy and effort does it take for a cane or crutches user to climb them? Can those people get to the balcony? Is there a wheelchair space in the pews? Are there several?
That’s not even my main point.
Do you have any clue how often disabled people get harassed by religious folks? Mostly Christians, but pagans do it too. I’m sure all sorts do it, but these are the communities with which I am most familiar.
Being told your faith isn’t good enough or strong enough, that you did your spell or ritual wrong, or even implying that the gods are angry with you, or worse, testing you. I really fucking hate that one. “They don’t give you more than you can bear!” How about they not do that at all? It’s abusive. It’s disheartening.
It’s cruel to tell someone they’re disabled because they’re bad devotees. It’s downright evil to tell someone they weren’t healed because they lack faith or belief, because they prayed wrong or don’t come to mass enough.
You know what else though? The absolute insistence by some that disabled worshippers should trash their health in the name of their god.
Whether that’s completely unreasonable and willfully ignorant expectations and demands for someone to attend church despite pain, or the building being inaccessible, or some other issue, or calling someone’s witchcraft or pagan practice lazy and fake because their rituals aren’t to your standards. It’s fucking heartless.
Guilting people, tearing down and belittling them and their faith, blaming them for their spiritual hardships and loneliness and branding it as being bad, lazy, faithless, selfish, when it is solely an endeavor to protect their health, is unacceptable. I am honestly offended that the gods don’t do more to curb that bullshit.
It’s a fucking joke. Leave disabled people alone.
You know, my cousin went to school two hours from our home town, and she, reasonably, didn’t come home every sunday for church because she doesn’t drive and that is far to travel (especially considering how long it’d take her on the train) EVERY week for ONE day. It’s expensive too, and she was a college student. Now, she wasn’t disabled, but it goes to show the nasty and unreasonable, abusive behavior of certain religious people. They kicked her off the membership role for not coming home every fucking week. When she rightfully told them wtf, they said that, if she really loved god, she’d have gone to a closer school or found some way to get to church.
Yall. That is insane. It is mind bogglingly absurd. To tell someone that they’re selfish, lazy and don’t love god because they went to school? And wasn’t going to spend gods know how much time, energy and money to get back and forth, and be tired as hell for class on monday? Nevermind homework!
People treat disabled folks even worse. Make it stop.
Resting in Her Wild Hands 