One of the most pervasive myths about disability is that it inherently diminishes a person’s worth. Amy Julia Becker, who is raising her daughter Penny with Down Syndrome, offers a powerful counter-narrative: value is not determined by ability or independence but by the unique humanity that each individual possesses as a child of God. Through her journey, she has seen firsthand how society often defaults to pity rather than compassion, failing to recognize the rich and fulfilling lives that individuals with disabilities can lead. She also shares the unique challenges and opportunities she has as a mother, examining how her own relationship with disability has helped her understand what humanity’s inherent brokenness in a fallen world means in a deeply personal sense.

Church communities have a unique role to play in reshaping harmful narratives, and have the opportunity to demonstrate a new way of existence that is a counterforce to a society that often views disability as a problem to be eliminated. In this podcast episode, Curtis Chang and Becker discuss how churches can move beyond superficial inclusion to create spaces where families with children who have disabilities feel genuinely welcomed and supported – a sense of inclusion and safety that can extend even to able-bodied people. This requires intentionality, education, and a commitment to seeing each person as having a place in the Kingdom of God.

This excerpt has been edited for length and clarity.

Amy Julia Becker: Penny belongs here. She is valuable, she is a contributor, her life matters. But my gosh, the rest of us desperately need her. It’s not just that we should be benevolent and allow her to take up space in this world. It is that me, as an overachieving, Princeton- educated, Westerner who got straight A’s… I desperately need not just Penny, but people like Penny who will expand my imagination about what it means to be human and be beloved. I desperately need her. And I interact with people all the time who are more like me. So I think there is a tragedy in any nation, family, community that says ‘we don’t want people like you and we don’t see our real need for that.’

The way of being in the world that says ‘I’m only valuable when I can think in a certain way, when I can prove myself in a certain way, when I am independently able’ – that way of being in the world is really ultimately self -destructive and dehumanizing. It destroys community. There’s so much deterioration that actually comes from that. Whereas a way of being that’s based upon the blessing of God, the belovedness of knowing one another and being in relationship that is not transactional, but is rather mutual and interdependent, it’s a really different way to be.