Steven M. Fettke’s article on mental disabilities in the light of Christian faith was very insightful. It allowed me to view mental disabilities in a new and more appropriate way with more respect for those who are affected, both the mentally handicapped and their families and friends. Fettke presents mental disabilities as a gift of God. God has a reason and a plan for why those who are mentally handicapped are the way that they are. Even still, mentally handicapped people are created in the image and likeness of God.
As I was reading the story and as we have been talking about mentally handicapped people in class, I couldn’t help but be reminded of whom I consider my little sister, Eva. Eva is seven years old and has Down syndrome. She is not biologically my sister, but my mom has been babysitting her for quite some time now and my brothers and I have bonded with Eva. I had never really had a personal experience with mentally handicapped people and I honestly admit my view on them has changed since I have been spending time with Eva. She has emotions, she responds to things by presenting her own opinion, she knows what she does and does not want to do. She laughs, she cries, and she loves. I have come to a realization that Eva is perfectly there and not absent-minded as many people assume that’s just the way mentally handicapped people are.
Professor Fettke was right. In his article he said, “In our own experience of our son and his condition, my wife and I have often remarked about his potential healing as something we might actually regret.” Those words repeatedly rang in my ears. He went on to say that he doesn’t mean that their faith is too little that he can’t be healed, but that their son will not be the same person that he and his wife have come to know and love over the past 23 years. I know and love Eva just the way she is. If she was to be healed, our time together during babysitting hours wouldn’t be the same. That bond, that connection that we have now will be diminished. And this is not to say that a new bond cannot be established, but there is nothing wrong with the one that we have now. I view Eva as a gift. She has blessed my life, changed the way I think, changed the way I feel, and changed the way I view God’s creation, just as Professor Fettke talked about. Fettke references Hauerwas’ modernity view. This view is that people with mental disabilities are better to be nonexistent. Eva is not somebody who is better to be nonexistent by any means! She is a beautiful creation who never fails to bless those around her.
The church has a responsibility to God’s creation: those who are mentally able and those who are mentally handicapped. Are we not responsible for ministering to the needs of the world? Mentally handicapped people live on the earth just as well as those who are mentally able. The church needs to be Christ’s hands extended to the world, reaching every kind of people.
From left to right: Me, Emily (Eva's baby sister), Taylor, Eva, and Zachary
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