An investigation into the challenges faced by people with disability in their participation in the church activities in Lira Cathedral Parish - Lira Diocese

Abstract

The study was conducted to establish a thesis that involvement of the church is a necessary strategy to address the challenges faced by people with disability in Lira Cathedral Parish, Lira Diocese. The study particularly sought out to show that the current challenges faced by the disabled in Lira Cathedral Parish is based on the fact that the majority abled group has failed to execute their God given responsibility to take care of the underprivileged. The study was carried out through both qualitative and quantitative analysis. The data was collected from the months of January-December 2018 from (80) respondents from various Christians from Lira cathedral parish using the questionnaires, interviews and observations. The data was analysed using both the qualitative and quantitative approaches. The study established that the disabled in Lira cathedral parish really face challenges that affect their participation in the church, these include; Poor health facility, lack of access to special needs education, lack of adequate government support, poor attitude by the society towards the disabled. Besides that, the study indicated that the Christians of Lira cathedral parish does not know that the disabled should be included into the church activities so that they have active participation, they instead have negative attitude towards the disabled and see them as half human. The study also observed that in order to fight against the exclusion of the disabled from the church in Lira cathedral parish, the following factors should be put into consideration: sensitizing Christians about the situation of the disabled, fighting against poor attitude by the society towards the disabled, lobbying for government supports for the disabled, provision of special needs education to the disabled and training the personnel who are capable to handle the disabled. The study concludes that having a positive attitude and a proper care for the disabled is indeed a necessary a solution to curb the challenges faced by them. It recommends that the people of Lira cathedral parish should pay much attention to the disabled, and should uphold their vocation to care for the underprivileged. The inclusion of the disabled into the church should be consolidated especially by the church because they are always the light and an eye opener to the world. This can be done through fighting for the human rights of the disabled, and by the government through special needs education and financial support. A critical reading and popularization of this research book would help in creating awareness of this pastoral challenge at hand and provide solutions for these challenges.