Why Not Help People with Disabilities?

Alex Haxton, Director of Operations for World Emergency Relief writes for ChristianToday.com about his experiences with disability centers in Romania. In reflecting on his uplifting experiences there, Haxton juxtaposes the seeming indifference Christians have to the pressing needs of people with disabilities. He asks:

Did Jesus not call for the children to be able to come to Him? Did He not spend more time with the needy, the lame, the sick and those that society would prefer to reject or at least ignore? I believe that we ignore disabled people at our peril, especially if we are Christians.

Can it be right that we will give our money to feed or educate a child in Africa but we will not give to save the life of a disabled child in Romania or to help provide a wheelchair for a child in Guatemala?

Let us at least examine our own hearts and our attitudes. Jesus went over the lake to release a human being from a severe disability. How far will you go? How far will I go?

At Elim, we have been blessed with thousands of people who have been called to care for those with disabilities, both here and abroad. Some of them do the work, and some of them come alongside the work through their financial gifts.

Today, Elim needs to raise $1.4 million by the June 3, 2008, and $400,000 just in the next thirty-two days. You can help. These questions Haxton asks, like "How far will you go?" - that's a very relevant question. What does God ask of you? Where does He call you to serve? In fact, those are big questions, so let's make it simple:

What can you do today? Look to the right of this post. You'll see a little bar that has a picture of one of Elim's children, along with links to watch a video about Elim and, most importantly, an opportunity to donate. We do need you today. Imagine what you can accomplish at Elim through your gift.

You don't have to imagine. When you donate, we'll tell you what your gift accomplishes. So, please donate today!

Wallace & Gromit on Disabilities

An article from the Multiple Sclerosis section of a Medical News website talks about the new website www.creature discomforts.org, a site with ads created by the team that does all those Wallace & Gromit shows and movies. From the article:

The disability charity has teamed up with Aardman Animations to create Creature Discomforts, based on the much-loved Creature Comforts series but featuring the hallmark Plasticine characters voiced by people with disabilities including multiple sclerosis (MS).

The characters include wheelchair-user Peg the Hedgehog, Spud the Slug in his mobility scooter and Tim the Tortoise on crutches and carry the voices and experiences of real people living with MS.

Matthew Trainer, Head of Communications at the MS Society, said: "Creature Discomforts will raise issues faced by people living with disabilities in a way that has not been done before. We hope this will challenge the discrimination and ignorance that people with MS face."

The animations use the genuine voices of a number of disabled people describing in their own words the negative attitudes and barriers they experience, which separate them from society.

Please visit the Creature Discomforts website to see all the ads. And then, visit Elim's YouTube site to watch some of our videos too!

Audrey's Kentucky Wheelchair Gets Rolled Away

Friends of Elim may recall that just over a year ago, Elim student Stephen Sichak had his wheelchair stolen from the end of his driveway, along with his school stuff. The items had been placed there just a few minutes prior to get ready for the school bus to pick him up.

Today, I read about a 8-year-old Kentucky girl who had her wheelchair stolen too, just as we come up on Christmas. You can read the article by clicking here. My hope today is that Audrey gets a wheelchair (sounds like a local family is helping them out), and that the thief who took Audrey's wheelchair has a change of heart.

Stephen never got his wheelchair back, and they never found the person who took it, according to his mom, Erin. But they are all back to normal.

Last year, that story brought supporters out to help Elim, and maybe you can join them this year. You can go to Elim's "donate" page to help out at this important time.

Down Syndrome Causes Abortions

In calling for a presidential disability-focused debate, David Rundle posed this as one of his most pressing questions:

When potential parents discover their unborn child has Down syndrome, they abort it 85 percent of the time. Are you concerned by that?

I don't know whether or not the next American president is concerned about that, but I wish he was. Abortion is no doubt a difficult issue. Most people acknowledge that you are killing a human through abortion (and that is certainly how I feel), but we start to diverge when it comes to whether or not that act (or murder) is right.

Here's what the "85%" fact above tells us though - it tells us that those parents-to-be are asking questions about the value of that life. It seems to me they are asking:

1) Who would want to live a life with Down Syndrome?
2) Why would I/we want to go through life as the parent(s) of a child with Down Syndrome?
3) What prospects are there, really, for this person's life, when he's stuck with this disorder?

Now, I will not be naive and say, "Living with Down Syndrome is a joy and utterly painless." But I will tell you, with the experience of knowing dozens of families who have struggled with the effects of Down Syndrome and other developmental disabilities, that disabilities are not equal to, and do not deserve, the death sentence, and abortion is a death sentence.

A person is not defined by their disability, and when people abort children with a disability, they are doing exactly that, letting the disability define the person.

More than that, a disability requires struggle. Struggle requires perseverance. Perseverance, and the reliance upon God that it requires, are what brings God glory. Therefore, we testify to His strength through our weakness. When 85% of people choose death instead of life for a child with a disability, they ignore the blessings and life education that God will provide.

Searching for Elim

Think it's too complicated to get involved in helping people with disabilities? It's not - really! It's as easy as searching for something on the web - no, really!

In fact, when you use Goodsearch.com to search for everything you usually look for online, you'll generate donations to Elim. Since July, we've raised almost $50, with just a few people using the system. But with 200 people doing just 5 searches per day, we could raise over $3600 in one year!

So, I've got three steps for you to take:

1) Go to GoodSearch.com right now and type in "Elim Christian Services" as your charity, and start searching.
2) Make GoodSearch.com your homepage, so you automatically go there for searches, raising money for Elim's adults and children every day.
3) Tell others - right now. Email this information to all your family & friends and follow up with them to make sure they are helping people with disabilities every time they do online searches.

Here's a screenshot of the GoodSearch website (notice, you can also help Elim by shopping through the GoodSearch website - and there's no better time to shop than right now!)


You can make a big difference with just a few small actions! Please act right now!

Welcoming Disabilities

Helen Keinlen wrote a list for eHow.com called "How to make your house accessible to disabled," grammatically incorrect and non-person-first language notwithstanding. You can read the quick list by clicking here.

Meanwhile, mothers of children with disabilities are invited to relax with other moms once a month in the Kane county area of Chicagoland. Read the article by clicking here. From the article: The group meets from 9 to 11 a.m. the second Saturday of the month at Papa G's restaurant at 250 S. Main St. in Elburn (Illinois) - click here for a map. For information, e-mail Capes at capesfamily@verizon.net.

Today's Blessing: Michael (at Misericordia)

Neal Steinberg, a writer for the Chicago Sun-Times, writes today of a little "slice of heaven" he found at Misericordia.

Misericordia is a ministry much like Elim. They focus much more on residential services, and most of their day program focuses on serving adults - but clearly, they also experience the same message that we do here at Elim: We bless them. They bless us. Together, we honor God. Here is an excerpt from the end of Mr. Steinberg's article (I hope you'll click here to read all of it):

'He's a blessing'
When I ask Chris Patarzzi what benefit comes from his daily visits to Michael, I mean what benefit to his brother.
But that's not how Chris takes the question -- he assumes I mean what benefit to himself.
"It has brought me closer to him in ways that never would have happened," he says. "Little parts of his personality that I pick up on that I'd miss if I visited once a month. I can tell when he's happy, I can tell when he's sad."
His brother isn't a burden, he says. He's a blessing.
"He's helping the family," he says. "Our family was really close, before, but Michael has brought us closer. The last 10 years of my life would not have happened without him."

Thank you Mr. Steinberg for being among those whose eyes are open to the blessings that people with disabilities - created by God - are meant to be in this life.