Babies Perfect and Imperfect

Babies Perfect and Imperfect is a piece in First Things written by Amy Julia Becker, a student in a theological seminary, who is the mother of a child with Down syndrome. Her daughter Penny was born over two years ago and the author writes of her own transformation in defining "healing" and the definition of inclusion.

She candidly admitted that she reviewed her own theological suppositions:

And I wondered—Was Down syndrome a product of cosmic disorder? What did it mean for Penny, extra chromosome and all, to be created in the image of God? Could Down syndrome have existed in the Garden of Eden? Would Penny have Down syndrome in heaven? In other words, was Down syndrome a part of God’s good creation, or was it evidence of creation gone awry?

She also discusses the writings of Yong and Reynolds:

when we conceive of healing simply as miraculous cures for abnormal states of being—blindness, deafness, cognitive delays—we miss the point. They do not see the transformation of every physical limitation as a guarantee, or even as necessary for fulfilling our human potential, and they construe healing in a holistic sense, as the inclusion of all people, regardless of bodily or mental function, in communion with God.

h/t NJCIM list serve

I would go further and suggest that the focus needs to be on the ways in which Christian communities still define those with disabilities as flawed and in need of healing, as opposed to seeing them as full members with many gifts to offer to others with their presence. Such a stance blocks a dialogue toward inclusion with its assumptions and misperceptions. In this sense, the community that excludes disabled members is, in and of itself, in need of a spiritual fix.

See also Amos Yong’s Theology and Down Syndrome, Thomas Reynolds’ Vulnerable Communion, and Hans Reinders’ Receiving the Gift of Friendship