Disability and Inclusive Communities, by Kevin Timpe, is an overview of the history of disability, its historical treatment in the Bible, the United States, and in the Christian church. It's published out of a local Christian college, making it a little harder to find than most of the books I've reviewed, but there's still an Amazon link there for anyone interested.
At 107 pages plus a few more of references, it's not a long read, but it is an important one. It is, effectively, an overview of the exclusion of disabled people in the United States, and the various facets of that: social, legal, religious, interpersonal, and systemic.
For a book ostensibly focused on inclusion, it spends a lot of its time talking about exclusion. Fully half the chapters focus on various types of exclusion, which is perhaps fair given the world's general treatment of people with disabilities. This is a book that was definitely written by an academic, but it uses fairly simple language, making it more accessible than any other piece on the subject I've seen.
The book is full of self-aware touches like that. The author is by far the most cautious writer I've ever read on the subject. He shares some of his family's story, because his son is autistic and also has some other differences and challenges. But not too much, because he recognizes that his son's story is his son's to tell (or to not tell). He's also wise enough to recognize that he, as a non-disabled person, isn't ideally suited to write about the subject... but also that somebody has to.
The author also doesn't flinch about describing the exceptionally poor treatment the Christian church has historically (and all too often, recently) given disabled people. The reasons for this are discussed, though not in overwhelming detail. But he quite rightly points out that those reasons rely on an incomplete understanding of the New Testament. The church is, of course, also inclined to take on the philosophies of the cultures it lives in, which in the US, means valuing youth and health above all.
Of particular note to me was the section on US law, which gave both the history of disability civil rights, and the various iterations of laws around accommodations and education. There isn't much on the subject and I was already aware of most of it, but it helps to have it all put together in line. Really, the same goes for the Biblical understanding of disability. I was familiar with most of what was discussed, but it had never been laid out plainly like this.
In general, this book and its author were knowledgeable on the subjects they discussed. The perspective was basically right on every point. The author even went to the trouble of consulting with various people with disabilities, to try to be sure he was getting the full picture and being sensitive to the topic. He didn't succeed 100% at getting every detail of that correct, but that's perhaps as much on his references as it is on him.
The one thing I wasn't impressed with was the comparison between the Deaf community and the autism community. While it is definitely true that some people in the autism community believe autism itself isn't a disability... the general consensus that I tend to see is rather: "in a perfect world, we might not be disabled, but because that's not how it is, we are definitely disabled." And of course there are people with sensory sensitivities who might consider themselves disabled even if the world was perfectly suited for autistic people.
I suppose another point of criticism here is that the book doesn't really offer concrete suggestions for how to improve inclusion in a church or school. Instead, it offers broad ideas, like "listen to your disabled people."
At 107 pages plus a few more of references, it's not a long read, but it is an important one. It is, effectively, an overview of the exclusion of disabled people in the United States, and the various facets of that: social, legal, religious, interpersonal, and systemic.
For a book ostensibly focused on inclusion, it spends a lot of its time talking about exclusion. Fully half the chapters focus on various types of exclusion, which is perhaps fair given the world's general treatment of people with disabilities. This is a book that was definitely written by an academic, but it uses fairly simple language, making it more accessible than any other piece on the subject I've seen.
The book is full of self-aware touches like that. The author is by far the most cautious writer I've ever read on the subject. He shares some of his family's story, because his son is autistic and also has some other differences and challenges. But not too much, because he recognizes that his son's story is his son's to tell (or to not tell). He's also wise enough to recognize that he, as a non-disabled person, isn't ideally suited to write about the subject... but also that somebody has to.
The author also doesn't flinch about describing the exceptionally poor treatment the Christian church has historically (and all too often, recently) given disabled people. The reasons for this are discussed, though not in overwhelming detail. But he quite rightly points out that those reasons rely on an incomplete understanding of the New Testament. The church is, of course, also inclined to take on the philosophies of the cultures it lives in, which in the US, means valuing youth and health above all.
Of particular note to me was the section on US law, which gave both the history of disability civil rights, and the various iterations of laws around accommodations and education. There isn't much on the subject and I was already aware of most of it, but it helps to have it all put together in line. Really, the same goes for the Biblical understanding of disability. I was familiar with most of what was discussed, but it had never been laid out plainly like this.
In general, this book and its author were knowledgeable on the subjects they discussed. The perspective was basically right on every point. The author even went to the trouble of consulting with various people with disabilities, to try to be sure he was getting the full picture and being sensitive to the topic. He didn't succeed 100% at getting every detail of that correct, but that's perhaps as much on his references as it is on him.
The one thing I wasn't impressed with was the comparison between the Deaf community and the autism community. While it is definitely true that some people in the autism community believe autism itself isn't a disability... the general consensus that I tend to see is rather: "in a perfect world, we might not be disabled, but because that's not how it is, we are definitely disabled." And of course there are people with sensory sensitivities who might consider themselves disabled even if the world was perfectly suited for autistic people.
I suppose another point of criticism here is that the book doesn't really offer concrete suggestions for how to improve inclusion in a church or school. Instead, it offers broad ideas, like "listen to your disabled people."
Read This Book If
You're anyone would benefit from an overview of disability and exclusion in the United States. This is a very good starting point due to its conciseness and use of understandable, jargon-less language, and you needn't be religious, disabled, or non-disabled to appreciate what it offers. It also contains a reasonable list of references and further reading at the end, for people who want more information or any particular part, or overall. Mostly, though, this is a good place to start because it's gotten the vast majority of its philosophy correct on the first try.
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