Daily Devotional
Loving that person with 'special needs'
by John Fischer
Donna is a contributing reader who provides some insight today about connecting to those around us with special needs, which, in her mind, would be just about everybody.
Donna writes: "I keep getting people who, when I tell them I work on the Special Ed. bus, get all serious and very solemnly say, 'It takes a special person to work with those kids.' To me they are really saying, 'Special needs people make me uncomfortable and since I don't have the 'gift' to work with them, I'm glad you do.'"
"I met a man in a bookstore once who said that if he could sit down face to face with God, he would ask him why he let some people be born with handicaps. I got to thinking about that. Who's to say that 'special needs' people are inadequate? Is he saying their lives are not as valuable as his? Of course if God would heal them that would be wonderful, but if he doesn't, that doesn't mean they can't have meaningful lives. Maybe they are here to teach the rest of us. If we say they aren't valuable and have no purpose then it's a very short step from there to lots of horrible things."
Donna's reasoning as to why this is wrong is what makes her comments so insightful. She believes this kind of thinking is wrong because, in reality, we all have special needs, and we all need the same thing: someone to see the real person that we are and love us for that.
Donna continues: "I've learned to see people with handicaps as real people with some special need. And when it comes down to it, don't we all have some special need? Don't we all have an uncle that we don't dare bring up politics to because of his reaction? Don't we all walk on pins and needles around women in the family who are 'PMS-ing?' Don't our spouses have buttons we don't want to push?"
"So I think we should all give special needs people a break and look beyond the dribbling, the wheelchair, the funny speech, the shriveled hand, and find a new friend."
It occurs to me that it's going to take someone willing to get over my own dribbling, shriveled-up nature to be my friend, and if for some reason they can't, I have to wonder if I have a friend at all.
Anyone want to love a person with special needs? I hope so; otherwise, no one is going to get any love here.
by John Fischer
Donna is a contributing reader who provides some insight today about connecting to those around us with special needs, which, in her mind, would be just about everybody.
Donna writes: "I keep getting people who, when I tell them I work on the Special Ed. bus, get all serious and very solemnly say, 'It takes a special person to work with those kids.' To me they are really saying, 'Special needs people make me uncomfortable and since I don't have the 'gift' to work with them, I'm glad you do.'"
"I met a man in a bookstore once who said that if he could sit down face to face with God, he would ask him why he let some people be born with handicaps. I got to thinking about that. Who's to say that 'special needs' people are inadequate? Is he saying their lives are not as valuable as his? Of course if God would heal them that would be wonderful, but if he doesn't, that doesn't mean they can't have meaningful lives. Maybe they are here to teach the rest of us. If we say they aren't valuable and have no purpose then it's a very short step from there to lots of horrible things."
Donna's reasoning as to why this is wrong is what makes her comments so insightful. She believes this kind of thinking is wrong because, in reality, we all have special needs, and we all need the same thing: someone to see the real person that we are and love us for that.
Donna continues: "I've learned to see people with handicaps as real people with some special need. And when it comes down to it, don't we all have some special need? Don't we all have an uncle that we don't dare bring up politics to because of his reaction? Don't we all walk on pins and needles around women in the family who are 'PMS-ing?' Don't our spouses have buttons we don't want to push?"
"So I think we should all give special needs people a break and look beyond the dribbling, the wheelchair, the funny speech, the shriveled hand, and find a new friend."
It occurs to me that it's going to take someone willing to get over my own dribbling, shriveled-up nature to be my friend, and if for some reason they can't, I have to wonder if I have a friend at all.
Anyone want to love a person with special needs? I hope so; otherwise, no one is going to get any love here.