Shining a Light in the ENABLE Team.

 

I’s 7.19 am, I’m on the train, and I’m heading to The Living Well in Nonington, Canterbury. It feels strange to write that sentence as it carries more weight than a simple blog post entry. This is something I have longed for, as I prepare to give a bible study at a disability workshop. I’ve not publicly spoken outside of church in years, yet here I am, reading my notes, rehearsing, and trying to steady my anxiety.

My life has always been shaped by disability. As you know, I write about FSHD, where my muscles degenerate faster than most. My disability is not static. It’s progressive. Every year takes something new and I must adapt again. I also write about my recent ASD diagnosis and how it shapes my thinking and communication. Disability has never been a side note in my life. It has been the lens through which I see everything. So when disability touches my faith, theological studies, calling, or place in the Church, I must acknowledge it here.

Alongside my health, I’ve also written disability topics about independence vs autonomy, presence vs participation, able bodied privilege equality vs equity. I’ve written about how the Church sees disability and how it often fails to see it at all. I have written about the harm caused to people like me, as mentioned in the Fearfully and Wonderfully Made report. All of this has shaped me, my theology, and my calling.

So today matters.

I’m part of the ENABLE team under Melissa, the disability advisor for Canterbury Diocese. She is wonderful. I told the bishop in February that we needed someone in this role and a team of various disabled individuals. She agreed. Now Melissa is here. I, of course, couldn’t miss the opportunity to be part of it. It feels like the first time in a long time that something has moved in the right direction. Not perfectly. Not quickly. Yet still moving.

Melissa wants us to roll out disability conferences across the diocese. Our hope is to engage and educate everyone. Clergy. Lay ministers. Congregations. Anyone who wants to understand disability better, build a Church that is accessible, welcoming, and be honest about the barriers disabled people face. We talked about doing a test run. That is today.

My role is a Bible study workshop based on the theme Made in the Image of God. I’ve written it in three parts. The first looks at distortions about disabled people that have crept into Scripture through interpretation rather than truth. The second explores what it really means to be made in the image of God. The third asks how the Church can move forward and embrace disabled and neurodivergent people with genuine welcome rather than polite tolerance. I'll share these here, and hopefully the links are above. 

I’m excited, but incredibly nervous.

It feels significant to be doing this after all this time and offering something that comes from years of lived experience, theology, and of navigating a Church that has not always known what to do with disabled bodies or disabled minds. I want people to understand that disability is not a problem to solve. It’s a reality to honour. A perspective to learn from. A gift to the Church when the Church is willing to receive it.

I also want people to understand the urgency. My FSHD is not gentle. My body is changing faster than most and my future as a priest depends on a Church that understands disability not as an obstacle but as part of my calling. I want to know that I have a future in an accessible Church. Not just as a disabled person, but as a priest who is disabled.

Today feels like a step toward that future.

I keep thinking about the phrase Tim gave me. Shine a light. Not fight. It has stayed with me. Fighting drains me and makes people retreat into process. Shining a light is slower, calmer, and harder. It invites people to see what they have missed and walk with, but not against, others. Today is about shining a light on what disability really looks like in the life of faith. A friend is running a sensory based creative workshop, myself this bible study, and Melissa looking at prayer from the disability perspective. 

I don’t know how this will go or how those there will respond. I only know that this is part of my calling and this is something I’ve needed to do for a long time. Disabled people deserve a Church that sees them, hears them, and values them. I want to be part of building that Church.

I am grateful to be here, teaching, and shining a light.

Maybe that’s enough for today.

To read Part 1, 2, or 3, click the links here.