Who says I'm different?

Over the next series of post, I'm going to explore the theology of disability through the context of work. Much of this will be based upon my Bachelor of Theology dissertation that I have recently revised in the light of my current work with young people with learning disabilities.

I am particularly interested in the work of Dr Stanley Hauerwas and the critique of Dr John Swinton particularly expressed in "Critical Reflections of Stanley Hauerwas' Theology of Disability: Disabling Society, Enabling Theology"

I would welcome companions on this journey and look forward to sharing comments, criticism and conversations on route.

Count Me In

The purpose of this blog is take a theological look at disability and disadvantage through the lens of social inclusion. People invariably hold deep seated and yet unarticulated prejudices that instinctively excludes those different from themselves. This is nowhere more evident than those disadvantaged by society because they have an impairment of one kind or another.

I want to theologically question whether impairment and disability are the same thing and explore a different reading of what we think we see.

A London underground map is only of use for when travelling by tube. Try navigating across London in a car using such a map. In reality the Map is not the Territory but a one dimensional guide for a specific situation. Often our cultural map is not sufficiently comprehensive as an inclusion tool and inevitably leads to an exclusive society that marked by the rejections it makes.

If our cultural map creates false boundaries who we excluding; ourselves? Didn't Jesus in the New Testament change the boundary of thinking by the question; "who is my neighbour".

Culture is surely about values; but whose? Next post - redrawing the Map.