Religion and Disability

Developing an Intervention Model for Persons with Disabilities

Abstract

Persons with disabilities continue to be marginalised in many areas of life the world over. Religious communities routinely draw on the interpretive and moral authority of religion to shape how disability is understood and addressed, yet few scholars have proposed intervention models that translate these interpretations into structured institutional practice. This paper responds to that gap by developing an intervention model, the IEF, to guide religious institutions toward a structured and sustained response to disability rather than the ad hoc gestures of goodwill that currently predominate. The framework identifies three interdependent components—awareness and education, support systems, and empowerment—that religious institutions can use to organise their response to disability around persons with disabilities themselves rather than around institutional convenience. A qualitative research approach was adopted to examine perceptions of disability held by representatives of African traditional religion (ATR) and Christianity. An ethnographic, cultural-anthropology design was used to collect data from ten traditional healers and ten pastors in Zimbabwe, selected through purposive sampling. Data collected through semi-structured interviews were analysed thematically. The resulting model is intended to help both Christian and ATR institutions move from theoretical commitments to inclusion toward practices that preserve the dignity and self-worth of persons with disabilities.