Care for People with Disabilities

The lecture explains the concept of disability (disability) and its types — physical, visual, mental or combined — and affirms the necessity of the Church’s practical and spiritual care for people with disabilities and their companions.
Types of disability and their view:
There are physical disabilities (loss of a limb or damage to it), visual disabilities (the blind), and mental disabilities (mentally retarded) and sometimes a mixture of mental and physical disability. Each type requires special treatment and not all cases are treated the same way.
Practical church services:
The Church organizes homes and shelters for the blind and follows up on providing assistive tools: prosthetic members (artificial limbs), white canes for the blind, recording devices for blind students in study, and transportation companions when needed. It also contributes to training teachers and servants for disability.
Rehabilitation and training:
Conferences and training for servants and specialists in disability care were mentioned, and a book was issued in this field, hosting specialized institutions to qualify the disabled and involve them in productive and vocational activities.
Spiritual and pastoral dimension:
The Church cares for spiritual pastoral care: teaching, service in the church (such as appointing a blind person as a chanter/sergeant), spiritual and behavioral concerns suited to the case, emphasizing that the gifted person must have spiritual and religious qualities to be entrusted with service.
Social life and marriage:
The lecture mentions that a blind person may marry a seeing person or a blind person, and that marriage sometimes helps meet the blind person’s daily needs, with practical examples showing social adaptation and compensatory abilities of the senses.
Compensation and compensation by other senses:
The lecture shows that the disabled person may compensate for the loss of a sense by increasing the strength of other senses (hearing, touch, smell) and that this allows him to perform functions such as memorizing hymns, or navigating with the help of animals or simple mechanisms.
Practical appeal:
A call to intensify care for people with disabilities from all aspects: provide material, technical, social and spiritual aids, train qualified servants, and activate care institutions and rehabilitation projects while respecting the dignity and talent of each person.
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