Spirituality is for Everyone
by Jo Lambert
All
people have a need to acknowledge the spiritual aspects of their
life. How a person does this is individual. I would not presume to
know all the avenues available for the development of his/her spiritual
aspect, but it is important a person be given the opportunity to
do so. I realize there is room for improvement in all aspects of
the person’s
life with a disability, but at least there is acknowledgment by society of the
importance of the physical, psychological, emotional, and social needs. I agree
as would most people these are essential to the health and happiness of a person
with or without a disability, but if I added spiritual, would people agree to
its importance or list this as a minor issue. I imagine it would be a mixed response,
but it should not be, by not addressing the spiritual aspect of an individual,
he/she will not be able to achieve his/her optimal in the other areas of life.
It has been stated not only in religious circles, but in medical and scientific
research, when a person’s ‘well-being’ is addressed an energy
helps in the healing process. Well-being is the spiritual aspect of the person,
if it is easier to relate to by using well-being, please feel free to replace
the word spiritual with well-being if you like.
People working in disability
rights, and agencies delivering services to people with disabilities,
may not share this view of spirituality, seeing the complete person
as physical, psychological, emotional, and social. Because of this
view, agencies both public and private are violating the rights
of the individual. At times, agencies both public and private use ‘separation of church and state’,
or it is listed as a ‘subtopic’ under ‘leisure
activities’, or as a therapeutic alternative to choose reducing
its importance, or even eliminating it all together. If given the
option to choose I believe the majority of consumers would give service
providers a list of ways he/she could develop his/her spiritual aspect.
Of course this would mean allowing consumers the option to have a
spiritual category as part of their care plans, or service plans
with input from the consumer as to how they would achieve their spiritual
optimal. Both public and private service providers, members of this
society, would have to revise their narrow view of spirituality as
church attendance to include a world view. A world view definition
of spirituality, can take on many faces, many ways to be achieved.
The definition is a holistic approach to life, meaning it has to
reflect the culture or cultures of the individual as well as the;
physical, psychological, emotional, and social aspects of the person.
Spirituality is defined
by the individual needs, not what society defines as ‘well being’, giving the person control on
how to achieve well-being. The definition of ‘well being’ includes
the inner life of the person, or what makes them both want to smile
and cry.
It can be the ability to share
what your inner most dreams are with another person, or what energizes
you, and then you are expressing your well-being or spiritual aspect.
This look at spirituality can be found in various writings at http://en.wikipedia.org
No matter how you define
it, it is important in all people’s
lives and is not always allowed to grow in the life of the person
with a disability.
In order to take a holistic
approach agencies both private and public have to ‘hear’ and
implement what the consumer’s
needs are with openness to diversity toward a person’s life.
There are many ways to look at the spiritual aspect of the person
and there are many avenues to achieve spiritual growth, just like
when approaching other aspects of a person’s life.
I strongly believe the
basic rights of people are being violated when spiritual needs
are not given the same attention as other needs by advocates or
service providers. It should not be ignored just because someone
has a different concept of spiritual, or in many cases have decided
not take care of their spiritual needs. I equate this with an agency
worker or advocate delivering care to a person with a disability
stating that they personally do not believe a balanced diet is
important, therefore it will be allowed as a topic of concern to
the client. Does this sound rather stupid to you? Well, when I
hear someone from an agency say that they are not obligated to
include spirituality when working for a person with a disability
it sounds rather stupid to me. As you may have guessed, I have
no patience with individuals within agencies or organizations claiming ‘the
best interest’ of the client say there is no need to address
this issue. It is an important aspect of the individual’s life
and it is a right. The agency must provide resources to address the
spiritual needs of the individual, just like all the other aspects
of the person’s life, it is the obligation of agencies both
private and public to provide these resources or information on avenues
to achieve spiritual growth no matter what the individual beliefs
of the employees or management.
I am aware there are
many people, both in the private and public sector working to increase
the awareness and further the understand of the importance of the
spiritual or ‘well-being’ of
a person with a disability. However, again I must say I believe spiritual
or well-being has to be given equal time along with addressing the
physical, psychological, emotional, and social aspects of the person
with a disability by those that provide services for people with
disabilities.
