While we’re all created in God’s image, there’s a large population of individuals who are not fully recognized—something an AU professor hopes to raise awareness for.
Dr. Laurie Thompson, who is a senior academic success advisor for the Anderson University Enrollment Management Office and an adjunct professor in the Anderson University College of Christian Studies, has published a book titled Disability-Inclusivity: Creating Awareness to Change the Current Trajectory.
This book draws from Dr. Thompson’s own experience of being disabled as a result of being hit by a drunk driver at age 14, in addition to her years of ministry and academic pursuits to bring awareness to the need for pastors and Christian leaders to better respond to the needs of individuals who are living with disabilities of various kinds.
“Drawing on her own experience as well as biblical insights and survey results, Laurie Thompson has demonstrated that the disabled are too often overlooked by the church. She effectively makes the case that if we are to be faithful to scripture, the church must be more effective and inclusive in ministering to those who have disabilities. This is a book that church leaders should read,” said Dr. Michael Duduit, dean of the Anderson University College of Christian Studies. “Laurie is a dedicated believer who has carried her own experience with disability into the classroom. We are so glad that she is willing to use her own physical challenge as a foundation for ministry. She is a real asset to AU.”
Dr. Thompson teaches the course “A Theology of Pain, Suffering, and Disability,” as well as an introductory Bible course for the Anderson University College of Christian Studies. Upon approval from Dr. Duduit, she began working with Dr. Nathan Cox, associate provost, to develop the theology and disability course and include it in the Gold Core Curriculum, AU’s general education program. “A Theology of Pain, Suffering, and Disability” is an Interdisciplinary Connections course that’s available to all undergraduate majors and is designed to foster the critical thinking skills needed for students to make meaningful connections between different disciplines or societal issues.
“Learning about any given topic doesn’t take place in a silo,” says Dr. Cox. “Complex problems and solutions are almost always influenced by factors from a variety of perspectives and disciplines. The Connections courses stretch our students to find and explore the meaning of these connections.”
Dr. Cox is grateful to Dr. Thompson for developing and offering this class.
“Her passion for this topic inspires her students, helps them to consider how their Christian faith informs their understanding of human suffering, and ask them to inspect how society views and serves, or, in some cases, fails to serve and include the disabled community. This all happens through the very personal lens of Dr. Thompson’s own lived experience,” he said. “This course helps to remind us that our neighbors are not just those who live near us, who might look or think like us, or have similar abilities and life experiences. In the eyes of God, we are all neighbors. It is all too easy for folks to forget that the disabled community is an important and very large part of our much wider shared community.”
“When I start the first week of class,” Dr. Thompson said, “I will tell students that the most important thing for us as believers is to know who we are in the eyes of God, and who is God? Who does God say that He is? Also, who does God say that we are? When we have that foundation, the way that we see other people is transformed.”
Entering her doctoral research, Dr. Thompson prayed for God’s direction.
“As much as I had wanted to stay away from being seen as disabled, I just felt God was calling me to be an advocate for those with disabilities, because a lot of people with disabilities are not speaking out for themselves,” she said.
Dr. Thompson’s book deals with disabilities defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)—physical, intellectual, emotional and mental. She shared current statistics stating that those with disabilities are the largest minority in the world.
“That is a huge population in our country. It hurts my heart that this is a group of people I’m a part of that is not active in the church,” she said. “I really started praying over that. If I can be someone who can contribute something to change the current statistics and the current trajectory, then I want to do that because I’ve lived as a person with a disability. I know what it’s like to be stared at. I know what it’s like to be told that you can’t do something. I know what it’s like to not be invited to a woman’s retreat because it’s a beach house that only has stairs. I know how to navigate life through that lens.”
When she set out on her research, Dr. Thompson interviewed Southern Baptist pastors from across South Carolina.
“In my research with pastors, they were not aware that people with disabilities are the largest minority in the world,” she said. “It’s not that people are being intentionally exclusive; I think that it’s more they just are not aware that there are so many people with disabilities and the fact that they’re not being included in church, and so I just feel called to create as much awareness as I can in a way that’s loving, in a way that’s biblical and in a way that can change the current statistics.”
Dr. Thompson hopes that insights from her research that are found in her book will be seen as a valuable resource, especially for pastors and Christian leaders in all occupations.
“One of the themes throughout my book is the imago Dei principle that is taught in scripture starting in Genesis 1:27 that all of us are created in the image of God,” she said. “I think that if we learn to see other people through that biblical lens, then it changes how we treat them and it changes how we interact with them, because we don’t see them as less than, but we see them as vessels of God himself created in His image, just like everyone else.”
Dr. Thompson is grateful to Anderson University for giving her the opportunity to raise awareness of disabilities through her doctoral work, her course and her book.
“I am so proud to work at Anderson University, and I know that AU is doing its best to be very diverse,” she said. “Diversity is not just about race. It’s about cultures… Employing me and giving me the opportunities to teach as someone with a disability, I think that’s important because there are so many Christian universities that are not operating with a biblical approach to diversity. I’m thankful to have that opportunity.”
Dr. Thompson also hopes to develop classes for pastors and Christian leaders in all occupations on disability-inclusivity.
Disability-Inclusivity: Creating Awareness to Change the Current Trajectory is available on Amazon in hard copy or as an eBook.
