Creating Equity, Equality, and Inclusion for People with Disabilities

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“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Matthew 22:36–40

Following God’s Call at Joni and Friends

Larea first felt called by God into ministry during college. Since then she has been part of ministries in the United States, Germany, and Ghana. In her role at Joni and Friends, Larea applies what she has learned about ministry across cultures to serve people in under-resourced communities. 

As she says, drawing from Matthew 22:“I think the main thing is just loving people. That’s what God did. He said, love me, love people. That’s the commandment. It sums up all the other commandments, and I think you can overcome the barriers of communication and culture when you are walking with a heart and a presence of love.”

Demonstrating God’s love to people means meeting them where they are and meeting their needs. For families living with disability, especially divorced families and those living below the poverty line, struggles can quickly become overwhelming.

Larea says, “I’ve seen it time and again where the [parent] who’s left as the caregiver simply struggles, not because they are unwilling to work, not because they are incapable of working, not because they don’t have a desire, but because they are the main caregiver. And if they hired another caregiver, it would literally take anything that they brought in anyway. So poverty, I mean, we fight it. We face it every day.”

Meeting Needs for Families Facing Poverty and Disability

Larea knows that practical provision is often the first step to loving people in the name of Jesus. She has worked with city leaders, church leaders, and school leaders to help families with disabilities. When people and organizations work together, real change begins to happen—and through it, God changes lives.

Here are practical steps to following Jesus’s command to “Love your neighbor as yourself,” by creating equity, equality, and inclusiveness in your church or neighborhood:

• Offer necessities—groceries, hygiene items, and other daily essentials
• Battle isolation by inviting people into community
• Make activities and spaces accessible for people with disabilities
• Help people access necessary services
• Provide paths toward stability and opportunities to contribute

If you want to be part of serving families with disabilities, and equipping people to escape the poverty-disability cycle, Larea encourages you to lean in.

“For anyone who’s listening and wants to get involved, there’s no one who needs you more than a single mother or a single father caring for a child with a disability on their own. With Joni and Friends, being who we are, we can minister to them. It is imperative. It’s essential.”

Larea

Like Larea you can follow God’s call to serve people living with disability, in your community and around the world. There are many ways you can get involved.

Find your way to be part of making bringing the Joni and Friends vision to life: a world where every person with a disability finds hope, dignity, and their place in the body of Christ.