More Than Able
A Reflection on Neurodiversity and Sacred Evolution
We call it a “disability.”
As though joy, creativity, intuition, or presence were somehow less than productivity.
As though the kingdom of God runs on efficiency.
“Why feel sorry for the blind man?
His soul is a bird on the wing,
While you might have eyes like a eagle
And never see one blessed thing”
— New Grass Revival, “How About You”
I’ve been thinking about that song lately—how we notice the blindness, the delay, the difference…
But miss the vision, the gift, the divine improvisation.
Even in the United Methodist Church, we speak of “Disability Ministries.”
And while the care is real, the term still whispers that something’s broken.
But what if the only thing broken is our lens?
“We need to understand disability not as a problem to be solved but as a life to be honored.”
— Deborah Creamer, Disability and Christian Theology
Maybe ADHD isn’t a disorder—it’s a rhythm the modern world forgot how to dance to.
Maybe autism isn’t a deficit—it’s sacred attention to a different song.
Maybe Down Syndrome isn’t a mistake—it’s an invitation to joy we’re too guarded to feel.
Science has started to catch on.
Some now say neurodivergence is evolution—a branching out of human possibility.
“Neurodiversity is not a disability; it is a gift.
Each neurological type contributes a valuable and necessary ingredient to the human ecosystem.”
— Dr. Thomas Armstrong
I wonder if Jesus, walking among us today, would even call it “diversity.”
He might just call it blessed.
“The resurrected Christ appeared as a disabled God.
The broken body was not left behind. It was made holy.”
— Nancy Eiesland, The Disabled God
That changes things.
It means the stimming isn’t a problem.
It’s a prayer.
It means the wandering mind isn’t disobedient.
It’s just following a cloud of glory the rest of us can’t see.
It means joy isn’t childlike.
It’s divine.
If the Church is evolving, let it be toward wholeness.
Not by fixing people, but by fixing our understanding of what God calls good.
Let us build ministries not for them, but with them—
And name the gifts they bring as vital to the Body of Christ.
Because some of the most sacred windows into God’s heart
Are carried by those the world still tries to correct.
