Do People with Disabilities Care More?

When Elim adults assembled packs of school supplies two years ago, they did a fantastic job.

Our adults had been tasked with assembling kits of school supplies to be distributed by another Christian ministry to people in other countries. The adults diligently put their efforts into assembling these kits. As always, they completed the job right on time and as requested by the customer.

But the customer was used to volunteers assembling these relief kits, and wanted to make sure that Elim's adults with disabilties had put together all the kits correctly and completely. So, they made arrangements to put one last item in each kit to do quality control.

And they found mistakes.

That's right, among the 23,000 kits that Elim's adults put together, the customer did find mistakes - two, to be exact. Yep. Two mistakes.

We had put an extra eraser in two of the supply kits. The customer called us up, told us about the quality check, and enthused "We have never had any group do a job as well as your adults did!"

What a blessing! Adults with disabilities did the best assembly of school supply kits this ministry partner had ever seen!

But it gets better, so keep stopping by to find out more!

'Challenge' is not a Bad Word

Because Elim's philosophy is that God has a purpose and a plan for each person He's put on this earth, this belief causes us to examine how we do 'special needs services.'

If we felt that life was not given by God, and that it was not endowed with the capacity to reflect God's love and grace, and yes - even perfection, then we would not feel compelled to do much more than simply "take care" of people with disabilities.

However, because Elim's philosophy is the exact opposite, that God's image is reflected in the lives of all His people, we know that He has a purpose, a potential, for each life, including lives disabled or touched with a special need or even (this is a naughty word for some people) weakness.

Now, there's a lot of philosophy to discuss here, but I'm not going to do that. You can read some of my other posts to get 'philosophied up' if you so desire. What I'm aiming at is pretty simple:

The reason you can come to Elim and see adults with disabilities who are more actively engaged in the world than at many other facilities for adults with disabilities is precisely becaue of this philosophy. They are worthwhile. More than that, they reflect the image of God.

That's why Elim stands where it stands, and that's why Elim has, for so long, sought challenging and meaningful work opportunities for the adults we serve. And that's why I'm so excited about what we have to unveil here in the next few weeks.

HOPE, the four-letter word of the future

For twenty years, Elim Christian Services has been serving adults with disabilities. Most people think of Elim as a wonderful school for children with disabilities, but those children grow up, and many of them continue to need Elim once they've graduated.

Today, we have 251 children in the school, and just under 200 adults in our Adult Services programs. The programs we have for adults are just as challenging and have just as big an impact as do our programs for children.

There are many challenges involved in serving adults with disabilities, and one of our biggest is simply this: Do we challenge our adults with worthwhile activities, or do we engage in nursing care that simply takes care of their most pressing needs?

I think you know where Elim stands on this, but you'll be surprised where that stance has taken us.

Be back here soon with the next installment...