♿ Healing from Religious Ableism

💔 When Disability Was Framed as a Test, a Curse, or a Lack of Faith

In many fundamentalist or Pentecostal spaces, disability and chronic illness weren’t met with empathy — they were met with suspicion, pity, or spiritual gaslighting.

You may have been told:

  • “God will heal you if you just believe.”

  • “You need to pray harder.”

  • “Your suffering glorifies God.”

  • “There must be sin in your life.”

  • “Claim your healing!”

  • “Don’t confess that over yourself.”

You weren’t supported.
You were blamed, erased, or used as a cautionary tale.

😔 What Religious Ableism Feels Like

It feels like being on a prayer list when you just wanted a ramp.

It feels like hiding your pain because you’re tired of being someone’s testimony.

It feels like being told your body is a problem to be fixed instead of a truth to be honored.

It feels like spiritual bypassing in the form of:

  • “God works all things for good.”

  • “Your healing is coming.”

  • “Your reward is in heaven.”

  • “Maybe this is your cross to bear.”

And if you never got “healed,” it became your fault.

🧠 The Long-Term Effects

Religious ableism doesn’t just harm your body — it harms your mind, your dignity, and your sense of self-worth.

It teaches you:

  • To distrust your pain

  • To mask or push through symptoms for others’ comfort

  • That asking for access or accommodation is “being difficult”

  • That your body must be punished, prayed over, or “disciplined” into submission

  • That disability is inherently shameful — or worse, contagious

Even if you’re no longer in those spaces, those messages can still echo in your relationships, your self-talk, and your healthcare decisions.

🌿 Reclaiming Your Body and Your Worth

Healing from religious ableism means gently telling yourself the truth — and letting that truth rewrite what you were taught.

You get to say:

  • “My body is not a punishment.”

  • “I don’t need to be healed to be whole.”

  • “I deserve support without needing to perform pain or piety.”

  • “Spiritual bypassing is not comfort — it's control dressed up as compassion.”

  • “I am not a lesson, a burden, or an object lesson. I am a person.”

🛠️ Tools for Rebuilding After Religious Ableism

  • Disability justice education (especially by BIPOC and queer disabled activists)

  • Therapy with a trauma-informed, disability-affirming provider

  • Journaling prompts like:

    • What did I learn about my body in church?

    • What do I believe now about strength, rest, and care?

    • What accommodations do I need — and who will honor them with love?

  • Connecting with others who have lived this experience and are creating new meaning

  • Unlearning toxic positivity and embracing honest, messy, embodied truth

💬 You Were Never Less Than

You were never weak for needing help.
You were never broken for not getting “better.”
You were never lacking faith.
You were simply human — and deeply deserving of care.

Healing from religious ableism is not about becoming “strong” or “inspiring.”
It’s about becoming safe — in your body, your community, and your truth.

You don’t need to be someone’s miracle.
You are already a whole, complex, sacred story.