Amy Julia Becker

How do our churches and groups become communities of belonging? Our guest speaker, Amy Julia Becker, describes herself, "Through my writing and speaking, I desire to challenge assumptions about the good life, proclaim the inherent belovedness of every human being, and help us envision a world of belonging where everyone matters."

Amy is the author of To Be Made Well, White Picket Fences, Small Talk, and A Good and Perfect Gift. In this conversation Amy Julia joins Kay Daigle to talk about ways that churches can become communities of belonging for people with disabilities.

You can link to a video of this conversation if you prefer.

Don't miss BOW's many other resources on caring well for our neighbors.

Resources

Amy Julia has suggested some resources that work for groups that include people with disabilities. Two ministries, With Ministry and Bethesda, have created resources for groups that include people of all abilities. Also Erik Carter's Wheel of Belonging that provides a visual picture of the things people with disabilities need in order to feel that they belong. All of these resources can help churches and their groups become communities of belonging.

Timestamps:

0:33 –Welcome & introductions

03:37 - How are churches unwelcoming and how can we change that?

08:51 - Include the disabled in conversations about making the church more accessible and welcoming.

10:53 - Programs for those with disabilities & how to staff them

12:44 - Welcoming those with intellectual disabilities

15:05 - Resources to help churches

15:48 - Congregations who welcome disruptive people

21:23 - The church as a place of belonging

28:06 - Helping the parents and the disabled themselves

31:35 – Amy Julia's books

38:03 – What we all can do to incorporate people with disabilities

TranscriptKay >> I'm Kay Daigle and I'd like to welcome you to this episode of the Beyond Ordinary Women Podcast and Video Series. Our special guest today is Amy Julia Becker. Welcome, Amy Julia.

Amy Julia >> Thank you for having me, Kay. I'm really glad to be here.

Kay >> We are so excited to have you. Amy Julia is a writer, and I would call her a deep thinker. She's a disability advocate. She's a graduate of Princeton University and Princeton Seminary, where she earned a master of divinity degree. She's an author of a number of books, including A Good and Perfect Gift, White Picket Fences, Small Talk, and her latest book, To Be Made Well.

So, Amy Julia, let's begin by telling our audience what happened in your life that really caused you to see the world differently and become an advocate for people with disabilities?

Amy Julia >> Sure. Yeah. Well, again, thank you for having me. And I would say it's interesting because if I look back on my whole life, there have been multiple moments that have caused me to see the world differently. But the one that really changed my perspective or began a change in perspective in terms of disability came when I was 28 years old.

And my husband I had been married for a number of years actually. At that point we got married pretty young and we were having our first baby. And when I gave birth on December 30th, 2005, two hours later, actually, the nurse called my husband out of the room. He came back into the room and told me that the doctors suspected our daughter had Down syndrome.

I knew very little about Down syndrome at that time, or even anything related to disability and especially intellectual disability. And so I would not say that my perspective changed immediately, but that was the beginning of a really big shift in the way I thought about disability. But honestly, ultimately, it was a shift in how I thought about our humanity, not just in terms of my daughter, but in terms of all of us.

Kay >> I read your book that tells that story, and I so appreciated just your honesty about your feelings and the journey that you went through in that time.