What kind of spirituality do people with life-long disabilities practice? How does God seem to them?

These are the main questions driving research done by two faculty members of the Wes-ton Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge. Reporting on their findings last week in a talk entitled “Guts and Grace: ^The Spiritual Lives of People with Disabilities,” psychologist Katherine Clark and theologian Francine Cardman announced results that overturn expectations.

From the beginning it should be understood that the two researchers deliberately sought out people who have enjoyed a high level of worldly success. The thirty men and women chosen do not, therefore, amount to a sample that represents the disability community at large. However, those chosen for the study do reveal some spiritual attitudes that have significance for others with or without major disabilities.

For purposes of the research, the professors set out “to discover  patterns of spiritual resilience in people who live with life-long disability.”  They looked to see what people set their hearts on. In doing so, they defined spirituality as “beliefs, practices, relationships, and orientations to life that embody a person’s overall way of being in the world.”

The first question asked of the thirty was what they thought about the reasons for their disability. Why do bad things happen to good people? How can a caring God let bad things happen to me?

Surprisingly, many respondents said they had never thought about such questions. Others asked another question in response: why not me? Still others expressed their confidence that there is a reason even though they do not know what that reason is. And, finally, others answered: that’s just who I am.

Overall, one theme emerged most strongly: having a disability served as a source of identity. It had shaped their lives, made them who they were.

When asked how having a disability stood in relation to spirituality, people said that it made them ponder life more deeply. For others, it led toward them knowing they have a purpose in life. It helped some develop a compassion for other people and moved them to work for a better world.

The theologian, Professor Cardman, discovered that most of the people who were polled did not think their image of God affected by their disability. Thus, not a single person blamed God for his or her condition. Instead, many saw God as loving and accepting them; God did not make any distinction between abled and disabled. At the same time, some imagined God as beyond any human description.

Two-thirds of the respondents are active in Church or synagogue. They consider these as important to belong to and to have their families associated with. But many feel conflicted because these religious institutions often practice ways of exclusion. For example, the church-goers among them say that no church building is accessible.

Not surprisingly, personal relationships are vital. Two-thirds have marriage partners or the equivalent. Friends are critically important, especially those who themselves have or understand having a disability. Most of those polled have connections with the disability community and some serve as advocates for societal change.

About their identity, many say “this is just my life.” And they are likely to affirm, “disability is not a tragedy.” Thus it is often difficult for them to deal with people who cannot accept differences, who lack the spiritual insight to recognize the basic unity of the whole human community.

Some people felt a sense of shame in being different. For these people, a key spiritual task was reversing this shame. Some escaped that feeling altogether, presumably those whose families accepted them as normal when they were growing up. Just about everyone would resent others expressing pity for them or treating them as if something were lacking.

Francine Cardman listed three basic parts of a spiritual pattern that marks many of the people studied. First, they felt a strong sense of trust that things are basically good. This trust, however, remains compatible with a critique of things in society that need change.

Secondly, people have moved from being apologetic about their condition toward being prophetic. They are ready to be critical of the able-bodied who do not recognize the needs of others.

Finally, they refuse to serve as models for the inspiration of others. Instead, they prefer to say, “It’s just my life.”

In closing her report, Katherine Clark, referred to the title and concluded provocatively: “You don’t live successfully with a disability unless you live in the guts of it.”

Richard Griffin