Cite
Ohsberg, H. Oliver. The Church and Persons With Handicaps. Kitchener, Ont.: Herald Press, 1982.
Jeremy
A very practical book to get started in ministry surrounding people with disabilities. First couple of chapters lean into the theological stuff, but the rest of the book is essentially a bunch of considerations for things like setting up a classroom to the best qualities in a teacher.
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Related::
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FirstAuthor:: Ohsberg, H. Oliver
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Title:: The Church and Persons With Handicaps
Year:: 1982
Citekey:: ohsbergChurchPersonsHandicaps1982
itemType:: book
Publisher:: Herald Press
Location:: Kitchener, Ont.
ISBN:: 978-0-8361-1996-1
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Notes
# Jeremy’s Review of The Church and Persons with Handicaps
A very practical book to get started in ministry surrounding people with disabilities. First couple of chapters lean into the theological stuff, but the rest of the book is essentially a bunch of considerations for things like setting up a classroom to the best qualities in a teacher.
# Reading Notes and Highlights for The Church and Persons with Handicaps
The Church and Persons with Handicaps
By: H. Oliver Ohsberg
Foreword
11
“We all have needs regardless of our ability or disability. Often these needs require the help and care of other persons. need the gifts and abilities that persons with handicaps to offer. We each have a role to play in the body of Christ.” (Ohsberg, 1982, p.11)
“The question we must confront is not why do we suffer but how will we respond to suffering. That is a question we must will we respond to suffering. That is a question we must examine in ourselves and that we are called to examine with others who are experiencing suffering.” (Ohsberg, 1982, p.14)
CHAPTER 1: Recent Changes in Attitude
17
“The church that claims the worth and dignity of all persons, regardless of their abilities or disabilities, must make provision in its total ministry for those with disabilities as well as those with abilities.” (Ohsberg, 1982, p.17)
18
“The individual is a composite of many attributes. In additon the physical, there are the emotional, social, intellectual, and spiritual attributes of the individual.” (Ohsberg, 1982, p.18)
20
“The ultimate goal for the church’s ministry to persons with disabilities is not different from its goal for ministry to every person. We desire for each person to take one’s place in society as a reasonably independent individual, to be reasonably happy in that place, and to attain the fullness of one’s potential as a child of God.” (Ohsberg, 1982, p.20)
- Individual, or part of the community. Can one exist without the other? Maybe not according to Thomas Reynolds
CHAPTER 2: The Meaning of Disabilities
23
“As one girl with a cleft palate told me, “The strangest thing about people with disabilities that we usually think, feel, and react like ‘normal’ people, yet people expect us to react differently.” (Ohsberg, 1982, p.23)
25
“Persons with physical, medical, and mental handicaps often ask questions to which answers are not forthcoming except within the realm of religious faith. They need answers to make their lives s meaningful, and the church must be ready to help them find the answers.” (Ohsberg, 1982, p.25)
CHAPTER 3: Some Biblical Insights
27
“Persons do not suffer because they deserve it. No one would venture to say that Jesus received just what he deserved when he died on Calvary.” (Ohsberg, 1982, p.27)
28
“No one should No one should conclude that God has a grudge against them or that the disability is some sort of punishment for past sins.” (Ohsberg, 1982, p.28)
30
“Handicaps and their attending suffering involve two questions: what caused it and what is my response? Most people expend a great deal of energy trying to answer the first question before dealing with the response. But the main emphasis in the Bible regarding a situation is upon the response. Suffering has ocurred, now how will you respond?” (Ohsberg, 1982, p.30)
32
“In this life, suffering will always remain a mystery. But we can hope for some light in the darkness. Perhaps what we need is not a final explanation for suffering, but a sign and a sign and a path to lead us through it. Christian faith and the grace of God provide that sign path.” (Ohsberg, 1982, p.32)
CHAPTER 4: The Stigma of Labels
34
“Recognizing the uniqueness of every human being at every stage of development helps us to become more accepting and understanding of individual needs” (Ohsberg, 1982, p.34)
- Which builds the community if shared with one another.
35
“Many feel that the disabled have been “handicapped” much by the attitude of society as by their physical limitations. The tendency to set apart a person who is different because of a conspicuous physical disability needs to be replaced by the realization that the individual is a person first and only secondarily has a handicap. The individual is a whole person with physical, mental, social, and emotional needs.” (Ohsberg, 1982, p.35)
35
“The attitudes of the community, the family, and the with the disability determine to a large degree ability of that person to participate to his or her capacity in the social and economic life.” (Ohsberg, 1982, p.35)
CHAPTER 5: The Disabled is a Person
43
“Children with handicaps, like others, sooner or later confront a world that extends beyond their immediate amily. They need to learn how to live in that world.” (Ohsberg, 1982, p.43)- Isn’t the thurst of my project that the real world is big enough to accept diversity and impairments?
48
“ministering to the disabled we need genuine empathy. Empathy means “to feel into” better, “to feel with."" (Ohsberg, 1982, p.48)
56
“A caring community is one function the church fulfills in relation to persons with disabilities.” (Ohsberg, 1982, p.56)
CHAPTER 6: Counseling with Parents
70
“While there are obvious advantages for the parents to get together to mutual problems and suggestions, they still need fellowship and acceptance of the whole church. They should not be isolated from the rest of the congregation. Special efforts may be necessary to insure they are included in the wider activities of the congregatoin.” (Ohsberg, 1982, p.70)
CHAPTER 7: Preparing the Church
74
“We are trying to follow Jesus Christ, but we live in communities and tend to reflect the cultural at titudes of those communities aro hon Social distinctions often based upon physical attraction. Because a person different, we assume that one is different in all and tend to set such a person apart from the group.” (Ohsberg, 1982, p.74)
87
“Disabled persons, along with all persons, need Jesus Christ and the church. Through participation in the worship. fellowship, and instruction of the church, persons who are disabled may build a faith that will sustain them and enrich their lives.” (Ohsberg, 1982, p.87)
CHAPTER 8: The Teace
90
“Understanding and acceptance includes knowing, each person by name, knowing each one’s interests and abilities, being familiar with the home and school environment, and expressing a personal concern in the development and welfare of each person.” (Ohsberg, 1982, p.90)
- The author was talking about kids, but this works everywhere
CHAPTER 9: Creative Teaching
100
“At the risk of repetition and oversimplification, it is wise to remind ourselves that spiritual concepts are communicated in two ways, One is through words, spoken and read. Parents tell their children about God. teachers add to what is spoken, and the ministers reach about God. Children read or have read to them stories about God in the Bible or in Bible story books.
Relationships are the second means of communicating spiritual truths. In relationships, God comes to persons through other persons. The child is involved in relationships from the moment of birth.” (Ohsberg, 1982, p.100)
108
“Often we say to children, “Tell me how you feel.” In many instances, they are unable to tell us how they feel In creative dramatics, we say to children, “Very well. then, show me how You feel.” The children are presented with something so compelling that they lose their reserve and join into play and show us how they feel.” (Ohsberg, 1982, p.108)
- I wonder if this is why Ezra likes theatre so much.