Listening to lived experience of people with disability
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Finding out directly how the Church community can do more to help people with disabilities and close the gap between action and words was the aim of a Listening Day hosted by the Disability Projects Office (DPO) in Adelaide recently.
In his 2025 book Becoming a More Discerning Church Together: A New Guide to Better Understand Synodality the Trinidad and Tobago Archbishop, Charles Jason Gordan, reflected on the need to better include people with disabilities within the Church.
“We appreciate the contribution that comes from the immense wealth of humanity they bring with them,” he said.
“We acknowledge their experiences of suffering, marginalisation and discrimination, sometimes suffered even within the Christian community due to attempts at showing compassion that can be paternalistic.”
It was a theme discussed at length at an inaugural meeting last month, hosted by Sanjay Mohanarj on behalf of the Archdiocese of Adelaide, and which asked how people with disabilities can become more integrated in Church life and involved with the 2026 Diocesan Synod in Adelaide.
Run by Dr Adam Hughes Henry, the Listening Day pilot scheme is an initiative of the Disability Projects Office (DPO), Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (Canberra). The idea emerged from the Catholic Accessibility Forum (CAF), a new online forum seeking guidance from people with lived experiences.
It is a way of finding out directly how the church community can do more to help people with disabilities and close the gap between action and words, said Adam.
Next year’s Synod is an opportunity to include people who do not necessarily sit safely within any one group of society he said. Disability is not always easy to gauge or classify hence the DPO initiative to learn more.
Listening Days have already been held in Brisbane and Sydney with other capital cities, and larger dioceses to follow.
The SA Catholic deaf community, which has up to 30 members, is just one example of many, myriad disability groups in South Australia.
Speaking on behalf of this deaf community, Dr Donovan Cresdee told The Southern Cross that its members would like to participate in the 2026 Synod if professional interpreters are available.
“The Synod is seen as an opportunity to raise awareness and advocate for greater recognition and accessibility,” for deaf Catholics in SA,” he said.
More widely, greater recognition of such groups will be achieved by building a primary and national network of people sharing ideas and experiences said Adam with the information and thoughts gathered then funnelled out, by the DPO, to relevant social justice committees.
“We need to implement a new way of doing things and we need to share concepts,” he said.
Listening Days are about finding out the experiences of people with disability and the stories are many and varied. It is common, the Adelaide gathering found, that many people with disabilities – and their families and carers – are exhausted simply by life at the end of every day so lose connection with both community and church.
Engaging with them in relation to the Diocesan Synod could be a precursor to wider involvement with the church.
“We’re looking at ways to connect with the church. It’s about the church beyond the pew. People need to feel valued and part of it,” Adam said.
“People want to participate and feel fully involved. We are looking at barriers and obstacles preventing this from occurring.
“Church can be more than the Mass and access to the building. It can be a sense of community and connection. We need to have a practical understanding of the significant barriers that leave people with little time to think about other activities.”
“Disappointingly, the response from the federal govt on the recent Royal Commission into Disability has been tepid,” he said.
“It’s more than just having a ramp; it’s about perceptions of what is important in terms of how we help people.”
What has been done in the past is not always the best way to do it in the future.
“It’s common for people to feel that their experiences have not been taken on board or they don’t see the practical outcome,” he said.
“On December 3 this year, there will be the International Day of Persons with Disabilities and the DPO will again issue a media kit and statement from the ACBC,” said Adam.
“It is important that we continue to build on the work being undertaken by the Listening Day pilot.”
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