Special.

Disabled. Not Normal. Different. How do you see children and people with disabilities? What would it be like to live with a disability? What qualifies as a disability? "A disability is a condition or function judged to be significantly impaired relative to the usual standard of an individual or group. The term is used to refer to individual functioning, including physical impairment, sensory impairment, cognitive impairment, intellectual impairment mental illness, and various types of chronic disease (Source.)" Usually what comes to my mind is a handicap parking spot sticker. So just how many people suffer from some kind of impairment? In the United States almost 1 in 5 people have some kind of a disability (Source.) So how bout I go into detail about a few different kinds of disabilities? Sounds good. 
1. Deaf-blindness: Cannot see or hear whatsoever
"There are approximately roughly 45,000 to 50,000 individuals in the U.S who are deaf-blind. According to the 2007 National Deaf-Blind Child Count, over 10,000 are children under the age of 21 (Source.)"
2. Intellectual disability: "certain limitations in mental functioning and in skills such as communicating, taking care of him or herself, and social skills. "
"As many as 3 out of every 100 people in the country have an intellectual disability. Nearly 614,000 children ages 3 to 21 have some level of intellectual disability and need special education in school. In fact, 1 out of every 10 children who need special education has some form of intellectual disability (Source.)"
3. Speech and Language Impairments: problems with communication and motor oral skills
"More than 1.4 million students served in the public schools’ special education programs in the 2002-2003 school year were categorized as having a speech or language impairment (Source.)"
4. Learning Disability: "specific kinds of learning problems. A learning disability can cause a person to have trouble learning and using certain skills. The skills most often affected are: reading, writing, listening, speaking, reasoning, and doing math (Source.)"
"Learning disabilities affect at least 1 in 10 schoolchildren (Source.)"
Did you know that "Ninety per cent of children with disabilities in developing countries do not attend school (Source)"? Now that we have a better understanding of what disabilities kids are at risk of facing, how about a true story about a little girl named Michele? Michele was six years old and deaf. Michele was attending a boarding school where she learned to sign, but because her parents did not sign, she could not communicate with them. Can you imagine? When she was six her parents started to learn how to sign and through this gesture the family became closer. Little Michele's disability limited her, caused problems when interacting even with her parents, and provoked discriminations. This is the reality for disabled children. You can read the rest of the story at Michele's story. Makes me want to learn how to sign. How about you? Makes you want to help, doesn't it? One of my speakers from this school said, "Children with disabilities make us uncomfortable." How true is that? So often we hardly no how to react around those afflicted with a disability. And unfortunately this often means that we do nothing. Know something sad? Ninety-five percent of children with disabilities are unchurched. Why is that? Is it because we've resorted to doing nothing? Why do we do nothing and why do we feel so uncomfortable around the disabled? Is it because our subconscience is calling out the unanswerable question of "Why?" It's most likely because we can't blame anyone. Why was the child born like this or why did the event that caused their disability have to happen? We are uncomfortable because we can't answer these question. And it upsets us. So we deprive these kids because we can't put too much thought into them. That is why so many disabled children don't attend church. So what do we do? Well the church should make sure that those with disabilities are not excluded from the congregation! Duh! Isaiah 35:3-6 says, "Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.”Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert." And you can also read Mark 2 to see how Jesus healed a paralyzed man. Clearly, this is important to Him. So what's the government up to? Article 23 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child says, "States Parties recognize that a mentally or physically disabled child should enjoy a full and decent life, in conditions which ensure dignity, promote self-reliance and facilitate the child's active participation in the community." Also there is a whole United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. You should check it out. If you'd like to know what's going on in the news, check out this article to learn more about what's being done to help those with Autism. If you want to learn even more, http://www.nichcy.org is a great resource with HEAPS of information on all sorts of disabilities. One of the speakers in my school, Leslie Freeman, suggests the book, Adopting the Hurt Child: Hope for Families with Special-Needs Kids. I want to read it too. Especially, because I want to be an adoptive mommy. You can check it out on Amazon. Happy reading and researching! And I challenge you (and me!)  to be more sensitive of those with disabilities!

Almost one in five people has a disability.