If I could only recommend one book this year, this would be the one. With a mixture of honesty, humour, and self awareness Kenny lays out an important mixture of disabled history, theology, and autobiography to lay out some of the realities of disability within the church.
Considering the text is less than 200 pages, Kenny packs a lot of content in providing a great overview into the issues surrounding disability justice, accessibility, and thriving.
I appreciated how Kenny took the time to look into historical issues like the church's poor relationship with ADA, to how that culture is continuing to affect disabled individuals today.
As a disabled person, many of the historical and cultural elements were familiar to me. It really is so valuable though to have a resource that is engaging and easy to recommend to others who are looking to broaden their awareness on disability issues.
I was also encouraged and amazed at Kenny's work presenting teachings on how disability is positively presented in scripture and the value the disabled church brings to the full body of Christ. I cannot remember another place despite attending a religious college and being part of a faith community where disability was so embraced and celebrated as part of the gospel story as I saw Kenny lay it out here.
There are two elements I could see some readers taking issue with and I feel they're worth addressing. First, there are many sections of the book which feels more autobiographical than readers may be expecting. I found this extremely helpful to highlight just how different each disabled experience is. Kenny is the expert in their own life and so that is the foundation that anchors her experience. I appreciated how Kenny both speaks to fundamental truths of disability as well as acknowledges the limits of her own perspective.
The second thing some readers may find surprising are the times that the tone of the book becomes more pointed/aggressive. At first, it caught me off guard too until I released that, as a disabled person myself, I wasn't used to seeing disabled people unashamedly taking up space and calling out where the North American church has failed their disabled members and neighbours.
As a disabled person, to see the challenges of the disabled church acknowledged and our strengths celebrated was meaningful in a way that is hard to put into words.
4.5 out of 5 stars
Book was provided courtesy of Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. and Baker Publishing Group.
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