Disability Resources

Six Myths about Members with Disabilities

Dispelling misperceptions can remove barriers to acceptance and participation.

A young deacon who uses a wheelchair and is unable to carry a sacrament tray had a great desire to carry out his priesthood responsibilities. A sensitive bishop fashioned a wooden shelf that attached to the wheelchair so he could pass the sacrament. Now ward members witness a beautiful example of service as this young man magnifies his calling each week.

Many members with disabilities are loved and accepted for who they are and what they can do. Most Church leaders and members respond helpfully and in positive ways. However, on occasion, fear or lack of knowledge may cause misunderstandings. A few of these misconceptions are explored below. 

MYTH 1: There are very few people with disabilities in the average ward.

DISABILITY STATISTICS:

There are no statistics as to how often disabilities affect Church members as compared to others in their nations. However, the following are common statistics affecting people in the United States:

• Developmental disabilities affect 17 percent of children in the United States. These lifelong disabilities begin in childhood and have a major impact on the health and educational functioning of children. These include physical, psychological, intellectual, and speech impairments.[1]
• In the United States, 22 percent of U.S. adults (18 years and older) reported having a disability.[2]
• In the United States, over 46 percent of adults over 18 experience a diagnosable mental disorder during their lifetime. Anxiety, impulse control disorders, mood disorders (for example, depression and bipolar disorder), and substance abuse are the most common.[3] Other disorders may include sleep disorders, dementia, and eating disorders.

From the statistics above, we can see that there are many members with disabilities. Why don’t we see them at church? There are at least two reasons:

First, most people who have disabilities cannot be identified by their appearance. Many disabilities are not obvious—such as mental illness, a learning disability, an intellectual impairment, a communication disorder, mild autism, deafness, or blindness.

Second, we don’t see more members with a disability because they do not attend Church meetings. Some may need support to feel comfortable participating or special assistance because of health concerns.

MYTH 2: If a few members with disabilities don’t attend Church, it doesn’t have a serious impact on our congregation.

“Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God” (D&C 18:10). It is a great loss to the congregation and to the individual when a person with a disability feels rejected or uncomfortable and avoids Church meetings and activities.  In addition, entire families may be affected.

The parent of a young woman with schizophrenia stated, “Families who have children who become mentally ill lead a lonely life. Mental illness is common, yet the subject is ignored, neglected, and treated with disdain.”

“I have found that in many circles,” says another mother, “[disabilities] are still very much an ‘in the closet’ problem. Ward members don’t discuss it, and family members are left to deal with their struggles alone. In our experience, we’ve needed to look outside the circle of the Church to find support.”

A mother of a son with autism says: “When we moved to a new ward, I called the Church to see if there was a class for Bobby. I called back several times, but no one ever contacted me. My visiting teachers and home teachers began to ask why we weren’t at church. Again we asked if someone could help us with our problem. But as time went on and no one addressed the problem, we began to drift away and apart. My husband and I were divorced.”

Fortunately, this good woman later met and married a man who was contacted by the missionaries and joined the Church. The family moved to a new area where the leaders responded to the needs of the son, and the whole family has now been sealed in the temple.

These experiences show that the response to the needs of one person with a disability can have far-reaching impact on the activity and the salvation of not only that person, but an entire family. There are many such individuals and families still struggling and in need of our love and concern.

For deeper insight into families faced with such challenges, see Boyd K. Packer, “The Moving of the Water,” Ensign, May 1991, 7–9, and W. Craig Zwick, “Encircled in the Savior’s Love,” Ensign, Nov. 1995, 13–14.

MYTH 3: If an individual is not fully accountable, he or she has no need to learn the gospel.

“All the minds and spirits that God ever sent into the world are susceptible of enlargement” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [1976], 354).

All people, including those with intellectual disabilities, need to understand as much as they can about the principles of the gospel. The principles of the gospel can give individuals with disabilities the growth and inner peace they need to endure their trials in this life. The gospel helps them develop understanding, patience, courage, and hope. It blesses them with the assurance that they are of worth and are loved.

A Young Women leader remarked enthusiastically, “Every young man and woman can worship the Lord now—not waiting for the Millennium or the Resurrection—but now, in his or her own way.”

MYTH 4: You have to have special training to work with people with disabilities.

If you want to help, you can! Consider the parable of the good Samaritan. When the priest and the Levite saw the wounded man, why did they cross over to the other side? Perhaps rather than being inherently wicked, they were simply afraid. Perhaps they didn’t know what to do.

It was the Samaritan, a political adversary, who “when he saw him . . . had compassion on him.” He did what he could for the man and then enlisted the support of others to render the necessary care. (See Luke 10:29–37.)

Like the Samaritan, we can help if we want to. All we really need is the awareness and the desire. Try to think of individuals with disabilities as exactly that—individuals who happen to have disabilities. Such members have the same needs as the rest of the ward family; they want to be loved and recognized, to participate, and to experience the same joys.

MYTH 5: It is difficult to involve members with disabilities because of their limited abilities.

There are many ways to involve members with disabilities. Adapting Church programs to the needs of the individual requires sensitivity, understanding, and inspiration, but it can be done.

Consider the bishop who presides over his ward from a wheelchair, a Relief Society sister with an intellectual disability who serves with great pride in the nursery, a woman with hearing impairments who teaches Sunday School, and a man with no hands who serves as a patriarch. A high councilor stated: “I am blind, yet I’ve had major callings in the ward and stake. People relate to me as a person—the handicap doesn’t get in the way. This wasn’t always so; it’s taken a few years to accomplish.”

Whether a person with a disability is called to serve as stake president or as the helper who turns off the lights after the meetings, all can feel the joy of serving in the Lord’s kingdom.

MYTH 6: I sympathize with those who have disabilities, but I honestly don’t have the time.

Assisting those with disabilities usually means new attitudes rather than new programs, more caring rather than more time. A number of years ago a family attended the Philmont Scout Training Camp in New Mexico. The older children in the family joined in the activities and were having a wonderful time. However, the nine-year-old son with autism was having a real struggle; the Cub Scout events were not designed for someone with social and language impairments. The mother felt hurt and humiliated as she observed the intolerance and impatience directed toward her normal-appearing son’s inappropriate behavior.

So at a Relief Society meeting at the camp, she took a few moments to explain his disability and share some of the challenges she and her husband were facing in rearing him. One by one, the sisters found their families and explained the situation.

“Never have I seen such a complete reversal in attitude, nor felt such an outpouring of love and acceptance,” said the mother.  “That experience confirmed my belief that the Church is made up of wonderful people who will respond in a Christlike manner when they understand others’ needs.”

As we respond, we will be better people because of that service. A priesthood leader tells about Kurt, a scout born with Down syndrome. “He went with our troop on a Mormon Battalion hike of 18 miles. After 10 miles, he lost his walking rhythm. But with his dad in front of him and his Scoutmaster behind him, he walked every step.”

“When Kurt and his helpers finally appeared through the brush,” the leader continued, “a spontaneous cheer went up, and Kurt proudly ran the last part, crying, and saying, ‘I did it, I did it! They are cheering for me! They think I’m good!’ No one had a dry eye. We will never forget that lesson.”

Jesus said: “Have ye any that are sick among you? Bring them hither. Have ye any that are lame, or blind, or halt, or maimed, or leprous, or that are withered, or that are deaf, or that are afflicted in any manner? Bring them hither . . . for I have compassion upon you” (3 Nephi 17:7).