INCLUSION: NO ONE DENIED Presents "Ableism, Alive and Well"

Over the past few weeks we have preached about Jacob wrestling with the Angel of the Lord and though walking away limping, he nevertheless was blessed, becoming, the Father of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. We also, spoke on the topic of "The Cost of Discipleship". In that message we discussed the Godly commission that He has placed on everyone who calls Him Lord; that is, we are to care for one another, share with one another and earnestly, love one another, especially the disenfranchized among us.

This week we are going to return to our general theme concerning society's traditionally negative atitude towards people with disabilities. Ableism (the belief that people with disabilities are inferior to those who consider themselves "able-bodied") is very much alive in the 21st century.

I read a story this weekend that proved that prejudice, discrimination and even hatred towards the disabled is by no means a thing of the past. The news story was about a father who had a 7 year old son with Cerebral Palsy. This "man" despised his son so much that he physically and emotionally abused the boy everyday of his life, referring to him not by his given name, Jori, but rather, calling him "dummy". He even used that derogatory name when being questioned by the police; but I am ahead of myself. The story goes that this "man" took his wheelchair bound son into the kitchen and killed the boy by beheading and dismembering him with a meat cleaver. He then left the decapitated head by the roadside, outside his Louisiana home, so that the boy's mother would find it.