🎥 Video 11B Transcript: What Not to Do: Protecting People Out of Participation or Using Them as Tokens

Hi, I am Haley, a Christian Leaders Institute presenter.

In this video, let us talk about two common mistakes.

The first mistake is overprotection.

The second mistake is tokenism.

Both may look caring on the surface. But both can quietly harm dignity.

Overprotection happens when leaders, families, or ministry teams assume that an adult with a disability should be kept away from challenge, responsibility, or visible participation. Sometimes this comes from love. Sometimes it comes from fear. Sometimes it comes from low expectations. But whatever the motive, the result can be the same. A capable person is left on the outside of meaningful service.

This often sounds polite.

“We just do not want to overwhelm them.”
“We thought this might be too much.”
“We did not want them to feel pressured.”
“We were trying to help.”

Sometimes that concern is real. Not every role fits every person. But wise care does not make permanent decisions based on assumption. Wise care asks, listens, explores, adapts, and discerns.

A Disability-Aware Chaplain must not confuse concern with clarity.

The person may be ready for more than others think.
The person may want to serve, but not know how to ask.
The person may need support, but not exclusion.
The person may need adaptation, not removal.

The second mistake is tokenism.

Tokenism happens when a church or ministry includes a person in a role mainly to send a message, improve appearances, or prove that the ministry is welcoming. The person is visible, but not truly supported. Included, but not truly equipped. Publicly affirmed, but privately sidelined.

That is not belonging.
That is image management.

An Adults with Disabilities Chaplain should help ministries avoid both errors.

Do not hide adults with disabilities from service because you assume weakness.

And do not showcase adults with disabilities in service without real support, preparation, or fit.

Both mistakes reduce the person.

This is where non-reductionism matters in a practical way.

A person is more than one visible challenge. But a person is also more than one inspiring story. The goal is neither pity nor performance. The goal is fitting participation with dignity.

Galatians 6:2 says, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” That does not mean carrying people in ways that cancel their agency. It means helping one another faithfully. It means support that strengthens, not support that smothers.

Ephesians 4 teaches that the body grows as each part does its work. That phrase matters. Each part. Not just the strongest part. Not just the fastest part. Not just the most polished part.

So what should chaplains avoid?

Do not speak about a person’s limits more than their gifts.
Do not decide too quickly what they cannot do.
Do not make parents or caregivers the only voice when the adult can speak for himself or herself.
Do not create fake roles with no real contribution.
Do not place someone in public service without support, preparation, and consent.
Do not treat ministry as charity work done for them instead of shared life with them.
Do not assume that visible disability means invisible incapacity in every other area.

Also, do not rush.

Some adults with disabilities have been shut down so many times that they may hesitate when invited. They may need encouragement, structure, coaching, repetition, or a quieter starting place. That is not failure. That is wise pacing.

The chaplain’s role is not to force participation.

The chaplain’s role is to help create conditions where meaningful participation becomes more possible.

That may include matching the right role, explaining expectations clearly, helping a church slow down, encouraging a leader to make room, helping a person build confidence, or making digital service options more accessible.

Protect dignity.
Reject tokenism.
Refuse reductionism.
And remember this.

Support should help a person stand, not disappear.

That is the better path.