As a person with disabilities, I believe that everyone has the right to some space they can call their own—a place where we can exercise our rights to independence. Having said that, I know that not all people of able body agree with statements like that: some folks believe that we should only receive care in specific settings.

Thus, I was unpleasantly surprised to hear that on June 18th, 2026, in the United States, the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel released a memorandum that impacts the rights of people of disabilities to live, and to receive care and support, in community settings. Specifically, drawing on the previous Olmstead decision on the same issues, the DOJ memo opines that neither the Americans with Disabilities Act nor Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act explicitly require state governments to offer people with disabilities services in integrated spaces. According to the National Down Syndrome Society, this new legal opinion flies in the face of the way that Americans with disabilities receive care, because most legal opinion since the ADA affirms that people with disabilities can receive supports in places where they feel secure. While the new memorandum is not law, it opens up scary possibilities for people with disabilities!

Full disclosure: I come from Canada, and have marvellous and multifaceted social and medical supports. Thus, the legal issues raised by this memo don’t directly affect me. That said, as someone who cares deeply for other people with disabilities, I thought it very important that we affirm, as people of faith, how Scripture and the Person to whom Scripture attests help people with disabilities to belong in safe, communal spaces.

So, what does Scripture say about where and how people with disabilities can belong and receive care? The text makes very clear, throughout the Old Testament, that God’s people can give and receive compassion in almost any place. For instance, Genesis 46 observes that, after the famines in Egypt and Canaan, Joseph’s brothers and their families move to Egypt as a cost-saving measure (e.g., Genesis 46:1-27, NRSV). The move allows Jacob, the patriarch who by that time has low visual acuity, to bless not only Joseph but his sons Ephraim and Manasseh (48:1-21). Moreover, later on, the prophet Isaiah asserts that the children of Israel in exile “shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat” (65:21, NRSV). In a different chapter, Isaiah reiterates simply, “My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting-places” (32:18, NRSV). It appears that God’s children of diverse abilities belong in multiple places!

Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan who experiences disability in both feet, provides a striking example of God’s hospitality to people with disabilities. During his war with Saul’s house, David not only shows Mephibosheth significant favour by meeting with him, but actually restores some of his father’s property to him, and even allows Mephibosheth to eat with him at his table (2 Samuel 9, NRSV). Here David, a renowned monarch, takes into his own household a person with multiple disabilities. David’s generous act is a prime example of the integration, hospitality, and compassion to which all Christ’s friends are called. 

Building on his ancestors’ vocation in terms of God’s radical hospitality, Jesus also embodies compassionate integration and belonging for folks with disabilities. For instance, he accepts the touch of the woman with the flow of blood, and calls her “daughter” (Mark 5:25-34, NRSV); likewise, he heals a woman with chronic pain and mobility issues on a Sabbath day (Luke 13:10-17, NRSV). Notably, Jesus converses with, and fully heals, Bartimaeus by the Jericho roadside, after the latter’s loud shouts force him to pay attention (Mark 10:46-52, NRSV)! I like that story in particular because it reminds us that God doesn’t mind if we shout to get his attention sometimes. Similarly, even after Jesus’ resurrection, the Lord asks a reluctant Ananias to show hospitality to Paul, who is at that time experiencing a profound blindness (Acts 9:3-31). In multiple ways, both Jesus and Jesus’ friends illustrate how people with disabilities can receive integrated care.

For all these reasons, I feel frightened by the Department of Justice’s memo about care for people with disabilities. It isn’t itself a law, but it could very easily impact care for folks like us. The DOJ could force the institutionalization of some people with disabilities, or more easily strip away social supports from others. That said, based on these reflections on Scripture, I believe both that everyone has the right to live in community, and that God’s actions in Scripture evince that same profound, personal compassion. 

I’ve written a lot in this blog about how that might appear in our context. As many of us know already, appropriate ways to care for folks with disabilities in worship and other settings include creating spaces for wheelchairs, walkers, and other mobility aids, ensuring that text is large enough for people with low vision, helping folks with sensory needs by providing areas of higher and lower stimulation, and empowering folks with disabilities to use our unique gifts in the community.

All of these reflections are meant to illustrate my conviction that, when belonging is our first thought, people with diverse abilities can flourish in integrated settings – like those mentioned in the original Olmstead decision. I hope you feel similarly!