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Parents often can benefit from counseling on such problems as how to explain the handicap to the child and how to keep a balance between protecting him and challenging him to achieve. In an address (3) Dr. Leo Kanner, the distinguished child psychiatrist, pointed out two dangers a family might face. First he related the story of a little boy whose severe heart condition was the focus of the family's attention to such an extent that the boy himself was submerged by it. "Billy knew of himself essentially as a sick heart. When given an opportunity to unburden himself, he reported that he often talked to himself when he was alone. This is what he kept repeating over and over in his monologues: 'I am a person. I am a person.' Thus he tried desperately to clutch at whatever remnant of identity he was able to retain in this situation."

Dr. Kanner's other concern dealt with two types of parents: those who are so intent on accepting the handicap and helping the child to accept it that they overlook opportunities for overcoming it to whatever degree is possible; and on the other hand, those who, unable to accept a child's limitation, make him "miserable through their constant corrective efforts to mend the unmendable. The child, finding himself in a repair shop instead of in a home, cannot help smarting from the impact of all this molding and hammering."

But the church must not think of serving only the parents of the handicapped child. Brothers and sisters also feel a heavy burden when someone in the family is crippled, disfigured, disturbed, or retarded. Without help this may result in poor relations not only with the afflicted child, but with the parents as well. The church is particularly well suited to provide this help. (4)

The church may also offer services relating to the management of the handicapped child in the home. A group might build a special table, or a ramp for a wheel chair. Perhaps a sitter service might be provided to allow the mother some time away from home.

Some handicapped people have to leave their homes to spend considerable time in hospitals or other institutions. In these cases the church must be aware of its continuing responsibility to be of service and to help maintain and strengthen ties.

Services to the child

Fellowship is an essential factor in Christian life and in the expression of Christian faith. The church may be the only place in the community where the family with a handicapped child can join together in an activity. Even if the child has to enter a special group, the mere fact that the entire family goes to church at the same time can be of tremendous significance. The church must plan to accommodate a person who has trouble climbing stairs or who requires special seating arrangements.

Church school programs may have to be adapted to the special needs of handicapped children; perhaps more emphasis on music, on rhythm, on the spoken word, or on visual presentation may be required. Organizing a special scout troop for handicapped children or, better still, making special arrangements for a handicapped child to participate in an existing troop provides additional social opportunities.

As the handicapped child grows older, the church can take cognizance of his need to give love as well as receive it. Seemingly insignificant opportunities for him to be of service to others, to assist the teacher, to provide what others can use, may be important steps toward a fuller life. This progress often can be accentuated by providing opportunities to show how the handicap can be overcome-allowing the wheelchair patient to bring things, letting the palsied child show his limited but developing dexterity, giving the retarded child a simple part in a play.

Services to the community

How a family feels about a handicapped child depends frequently on how society in general and the particular community feel about handicapped people. The church has an important role in community planning for the handicapped. Through sermons and the Christian education program the congregation can be helped to understand the needs of the handicapped and their families and the extent to which handicaps can be overcome if acceptance and help are provided. Many other persons can be reached as the church works through the local council of churches, the ministerial association, and community agencies.

Churches have opened their facilities to special activities for handicapped people in the community, such as classes for retarded children or special recreation groups. Often a church can become a gathering point for community action on behalf of the handicapped.

Churches of a community often work together, since one church can seldom develop adequate specialized services for all its handicapped people. One church may serve the physically handicapped and another the mentally handicapped in a certain age group; thus no one is neglected.