ABOUT THIS BOOK

Most people encounter disability at some point in their lives, either in their own bodies or through a friend or loved one. Faith leaders, sacred texts, and members of religious communities frequently offer religious teachings and metaphors as explanation for the presence of disability, but rarely do we hear the voices of people living with disabilities reflecting on their experiences of God, faith, or religious life. In Healing Ableism: Stories about Disability and Religious Life, Darla Schumm explores the extraordinary stories of people with disabilities who struggle with the ordinary human challenges of faith and doubt, exclusion and inclusion, and injustice and justice. Blending candid story-telling, cultural critique, and theory, Schumm invites readers to reflect on the experiences of people with disabilities in religious communities and organizations. Schumm argues that it’s not disability that needs healing, it’s ableism that needs healing. In the final chapter, Schumm offers accessible love as one avenue for healing ableism.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

DARLA SCHUMM is a disabled author and educator. She is the associate provost for curriculum and faculty engagement at Hollins University, Virginia. Schumm has co-edited four books exploring intersections of disability and the world’s religions, most recently, Disability and World Religions: An Introduction.

REVIEWS

"Schumm provides an approachable entry point for readers unfamiliar with disability studies, drawing on theoretical concepts to propose practical solutions like placing pew cuts for wheelchairs in church sanctuaries. Weaving together stories from other disabled people and experiences from Schumm's own life, Healing Ableism calls on each of us to make our religious communities more accessible for all of God's people."

— Commonweal Magazine

"A clarion call for disability justice, directing attention to the ableist discrimination that too frequently goes unnoticed in religious community life and inviting readers to join in the long-overdue disruption of the ableist status quo. . . . Schumm writes with attention to power, privilege, and the nuanced, sometimes contradictory texture of disabled life."

— Reading Religion

"Schumm, who is blind, presents a unique and vital perspective in her latest work. . . . Schumm's book moves the important perspectives of people who are disabled to the forefront, inviting readers to consider that ableism, not one's disability, needs healing."

— The Roanoke Star

"'Accessible love' is Darla Schumm's brilliant proposal for dismantling ableism. Religious people commonly construct monumental barriers to access, inclusion, and equity in their teachings and architecture. Careful, candid, comprehensive analysis grounded in interviews with disabled people opens new paths. This deftly written book is theology at its most useful."— Mary E. Hunt, cofounder and codirector, Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual (WATER)

"In Healing Ableism, Schumm invites us into a fascinating conversation about the complex interaction between disability and religion. Schumm, acting as alternatively memoirist, teacher, and social scientist, provides an enlightened insider's look at disability and blindness. The book both entertains and informs, providing a needed adjunct to more dryly academic works."— Lennard J. Davis, distinguished professor emeritus, University of Illinois Chicago

"Healing Ableism is a vital contribution to the changing conversation on disability in religious contexts. Through in-depth qualitative research with disabled people from a range of religious traditions, Schumm reflects on ableism and disability (in)justice in religious communities, weaving interviewees' voices together with illuminating perspectives from critical disability theory. The book is a powerful call to religious practitioners—and all of us—to rage against ableism in our communities, transforming them together through love."— Naomi Lawson Jacobs, coauthor of At the Gates: Disability, Justice and the Churches

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1          Introduction
2          Let’s Talk About Disability
3          Sinners, Saints, Super Crips, and Misfits
4          Challenging Normalcy
5          Crip Tests
6          Slow Futures, Crip Time
7          Healing Ableism
Acknowledgements
Notes
Bibliography