Effective communication within a disability context
BY HANNAH NAIM*
When people hear the word communication, they might begin to reflect on a life-changing conversation, a book that really resonated, or perhaps that one email they really need to respond to but keep putting off. In any case, there is no denying that communication largely informs how people experience and access the world around them.
Major Grant Kingston-Kerr has served as a Salvation Army officer for 23 years and has unique experiences of communication in the context of disability.
“I have a son, he is almost 17, and he lives with cerebral palsy,” explains Grant. “He is non-verbal. He can communicate ‘yes’ by making a clicking sound with his lips. At times, he can communicate ‘no’ through a nodding motion of his head. His ability to communicate ‘no’ is not as consistent as the click.”
Read Grant’s Top Tips for effective communication a the end of the story
With a hunger to advance social justice, The Salvation Army is no stranger to the fact that strong communication is integral to its mission. There are several consequences to poor communication, particularly for people with disabilities who can experience a lack of inclusion, autonomy, and sense of belonging. In Australia, there are 5.5 million people with disabilities, a significant number who should be intentionally considered across The Salvation Army’s mission initiatives.
“I come from that paradigm of understanding that communication is both verbal and nonverbal,” Grant says. “Good communication is being aware of your own presence, maintaining good eye contact and being relaxed. It’s having an awareness that you need to give the other person time to process and respond so that you can adjust your communication accordingly. It is also about showing a genuine interest so that things can flourish organically. You must be willing to actively listen and be present.”
There are many ways to intentionally consider people with disabilities, but it largely starts with having an awareness of the barriers that prevent good communication and taking action to overcome them.
“The bottom line is that there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach, and there are many complexities to communication that create barriers for people with or without disabilities.”
Many social and societal landscapes often reinforce the idea that good communication is dependent on verbal articulation, comprehension and literacy. For church communities, there are unique consequences to consider that can have implications on discipleship, fellowship and spiritual development.
“Poor communication can easily reinforce that idea that nobody really listens to me, and nobody notices me, or nobody wants to notice me,” says Grant. “A lot of the way we experience God is through relationship with each other, through love, kindness, compassion, truth and trust. Hearing ‘God loves you’ being preached from a platform is a good message to hear, but unless we experience that from a relational perspective, it will never fully translate.”
It is normal to feel unsure about how to navigate the challenges of communication and disability. The bottom line is that there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach, and there are many complexities to communication that create barriers for people with or without disabilities. However, there is also a flipside to that rhetoric, a reminder that simple actions can speak volumes and that there is beauty in learning alongside others.
“There’s a lady at church that loves to dance with my son during worship,” says Grant. “She started out by holding his hands but stopped when she realised that he likes to flap his hands when he dances. She began to really interact with him and his style of dancing instead. The first time she did that, he completely lit up. He lit up because she had entered his world and wanted to be a part of what he was doing and how he worships the Lord.”
For additional mission-focused disability inclusion resources and information, check out the Disability Inclusion Toolkit on MySalvos.
*Hannah Naim is the Disability Inclusion Coordinator for the Mission Support Department
