Disability and Special Needs

If your family includes people with disability and special needs, you’re not alone. Whether you need practical ideas or the comfort of companionship, we’re with you. If you’re looking for a particular topic, check the index.



After St. Gorgonia’s funeral

After St. Gorgonia’s funeral

St. Gorgonia was born in Nazianzus, Cappadocia, in the early part of the fourth century. She was the daughter of St. Gregory the Elder and St. Nonna and the sister of St. Gregory Nazianzen and St. Caesarius. She had at least two sons, along with three daughters, whose...
The best picture books with disabled characters

The best picture books with disabled characters

Updated April 2022 How many of the picture books at your house include characters with disabilities? The book collection at my godson’s house is probably typical. Four big piles of books with no disabled characters, and two very small stacks that have major or...
A table where strangers are welcome

A table where strangers are welcome

I love words. Words are my toys, and they’re my tools. I think with them, I work with them, I play with them. I use them to interact with people, and I use them to understand the world. And while I’d like to say that I love all words equally, that’s not true. I have...
Why I find the Sunday of the Paralytic disheartening

Why I find the Sunday of the Paralytic disheartening

Guest post by Monica Spoor The Sunday of the Paralytic is just behind us – it is in fact a week later – and I’ve had the week to discover that it made me upset again, and why. I’ve heard sermons on that Sunday for years, of course, and they’re not very different from...
Lent when you have disabilities in the family

Lent when you have disabilities in the family

I can tell Lent is coming. I’ve heard the stories of Zacchaeus, and the Publican and the Pharisee, and the Prodigal Son. I’ve been warned about the sheep and the goats. I’ve done some serious menu planning, to make sure we use up the foods that we aren’t going to eat...
A mercy of meds, a sacrifice of sleep

A mercy of meds, a sacrifice of sleep

Guest post by Nic Hartmann “Whenever I see a brother who has fallen asleep during the services, I put his head in my lap and let him rest there.” Pambo, 4th century monk Every day, for most of the last two years, I have had the same ritual in the middle of the...

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