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The tide is turning, what are the prospects now?

How the charity PROSPECTS has changed our attitude to the disabled

A perceptible change is evident - and not before time!

After nearly 2,000 years Christians are becoming more aware and accepting of people with learning disabilities.

Incredible as it may seem, there is one significant people-group who, from the early church to the present day, have been largely overlooked in the evangelistic and caring ministries of the Church in every country. Thankfully there have been exceptions, although they were almost always the result of the initiative and compassion of perceptive and compassionate individuals.

This surprising and more or less consistent neglect has generally reflected a misunderstanding of the disability. People with learning disabilities have been seen as somehow less than human and even, in some cultures, as having demonic origin! Often their disability has been assumed to be punishment for parental sins. And even where such demeaning attitudes have been absent, it has been thought that either they do not need salvation or are incapable of understanding enough to experience it.

Admittedly there are challenges to be faced when it comes to reaching people with learning disabilities and integrating them into the church. Our traditional patterns of evangelism and church life assume that a person is able to read, that they can grasp abstract ideas and that they can follow a 30 minutes' (plus!) explanation of truth. Each of these present stumbling blocks since learning disability usually limits the development of these skills: most do not read, have difficulty understanding concepts and have short concentration spans. Hence little by way of outreach, and as for 'caring' ministries, well that is the role of the State! However there is evidence that things are changing here in the United Kingdom and among evangelicals.

'A Cause for Concern'

25 years ago this year a charity was founded to stimulate and channel Christian concern and interest for people with learning disabilities - or 'mental handicaps' as the conditions were then described. The charity was called 'A Cause for Concern', later renamed and known today as PROSPECTS. It began by opening residential care homes for people with learning disabilities in different parts of the country. The first was Plas Lluest in Aberystwyth, then Helena House in Reading, then Jireh House in Maidstone (later closed), then Deganwy, Bournemouth, Shrewsbury and so on.

Today there are over 30 homes across England, Wales and Northern Ireland supporting about 150 people with learning disabilities and employing more than 200 Christian staff. There are also centres providing or organising day activities as diverse as a nursery, craft workshops and work experience in a wide range of services. Many people now supported by PROSPECTS spent much of their life in institutions; many grew up in Christian families.

Parental approach

25 years ago Christian parents began approaching PROSPECTS with deep anxiety about the long term future of their learning disabled son or daughter. 'Who will care when we can no longer do so?' They longed for a Christian option but there was none. Many of those parents are now dead but they lived long enough to see their adult but dependent child supported by PROSPECTS. Changes in legislation will in future make it even more possible for this to happen as the choices of the individual and his/her relatives must be a factor in the assessments made by authorities responsible for finding long term care.

Spiritual needs

25 years ago little thought had been given to the spiritual needs of people with learning disabilities. There were no teaching aids, no instruction manuals, no evangelistic materials suitable for use with this group ù in spite of the fact that there are over 1.2 million people with learning disabilities in the United Kingdom. As the large institutions closed down in the last years of the 20th century so churches were faced with more and more people with learning disabilities turning up at their services. Many turned to PROSPECTS for help.
PROSPECTS had already searched for suitable aids but found there were none, anywhere in Europe or America. It developed an approach to reaching people with learning disabilities for Christ and teaching them truth from Scripture, now known as the JUST Teaching method (Jesus-centred, Understandable, Simple, Truth). As they were proved in use and then made available to others, more and more churches began to set up and run worship and ministry meetings for people with learning disabilities to supplement their attendance at church services. There are now over 120 such groups across Britain linked to Causeway PROSPECTS with a regular attendance of around 1500 people with learning disabilities.
Hundreds of others are reached by people using resource and training materials produced by PROSPECTS. Some of these materials have been translated into Spanish and Hungarian. Translation into other languages is taking place. Discussions are taking place to develop a Causeway PROSPECTS ministry in the USA.

Change at conferences

25 years ago Bible conventions and conferences, attended by tens of thousands of Christians, ignored the needs of people with learning disabilities taken along by family or church groups. They were expected to sit patiently through long sermons and even longer meetings which, though inspiring many, were of no help to themselves. Then in 1986 Spring Harvest agreed to PROSPECTS running meetings for people with learning disabilities during one of the weeks. Only 24 people attended but it was so worthwhile that it was repeated the following year, then extended to two weeks the year after. Now hundreds of people with learning disabilities attend annually to share in these meetings. Since 1996 a similar stream has been included in the programme of the Keswick Convention. From 2002 the FIEC annual conference will also provide meetings for people with learning disabilities, again run by PROSPECTS.

In the Eastern bloc

25 years ago Eastern Europe was still in the grip of communism. It dealt harshly with citizens with learning disabilities, consigning them to dreadful institutions. The world was shocked when, after the fall of communist governments, the existence of these institutions became known. Yet many are still there and such are the pressures of life in former Eastern Bloc countries that little is done to improve them. Some Christians are trying to make a difference and have turned to PROSPECTS for help. It has responded by sharing its expertise, training national Christians in Romania and Moldova who seek to bring God's love and care to people with learning disabilities in institutions. International PROSPECTS is still in its infancy but hopefully the next 25 years will see it giving significant support to Christians in other countries as they respond to local needs.

Positive response?

The tide is turning, but it is still a long way from the beach! People with learning disabilities still find themselves on the fringe of their communities, experiencing fear and prejudice. Less than one in 100 churches in the UK are engaged in any positive response to people with learning disabilities. The vast majority of people with learning disabilities in Britain still have not the slightest knowledge of the good news of God's love in Christ. It is still relatively uncommon for Christians to regard working with people with learning disabilities as a form of Christian service or providing a meaningful and fulfilling Christian career. The few Christian organisations in the UK who work in this sphere still find that their work is not sufficiently attractive to most Christians to draw their support in prayer and giving. None the less, as it celebrates its first 25 years, PROSPECTS is set to press forward with its mission to enable people with learning disabilities to experience life to the full.

David Potter