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Should Christians Ask Disabled People if They Want Prayer?
Exploring the reasons why we should not go up to disabled people and ask if we can pray for their disability to be healed.
Imagine a British blind woman in a packed subway car on the London underground. A man touched her shoulder and asked if he could pray for her sight to be restored. She said “no.” This situation was one of several encounters this woman experienced since she lost her sight in her teen years. The Christian had approached her without any encouragement from her or warning. She did not give him permission to touch her.
The woman wrote an article about her experiences with some Christians called: “Stop trying to ‘heal’ me.” As a Christian writer and disability advocate, I was struck by the title. I wondered: Is there a right way and a wrong way to pray for strangers with disabilities?
One of the founding principles of our faith is to love our neighbors and pray for them, even if they are our enemies. We are supposed to be compassionate, caring, and willing to help if we can. Our desire to pray for people with disabilities can well-intentioned.
However, getting in the face of strangers with disabilities in a public place, touching them without permission, and asking if we can pray for them can be rude, demeaning, and embarrassing for disabled people.
