I was born in Darlinghurst in 1975 and grew up in Gosford. I enjoy cycling, travelling, motorsport, and deep conversation.

Cerebral Palsy affects my speech, fine motor and gross motor controls. Conversing and socialising with people I don’t know can be challenging, and is a point of anxiety. Not having good fine motor control means I can’t do up buttons, or tie shoe laces, or write with a pen. Not have good gross motor control means I don’t move as quickly or as efficiently as others – unless I’m on my bike.

None of this prevents me from enjoying an independent and active lifestyle.

Jesus’ healing of people with disabilities is often understood to be a reversal of the effects of the Fall. But I began to wonder, is this how those who witnessed the miracles understood them, or is this something that we as modern readers impose onto the text?

In Luke 7:22, six conditions are listed, and while blindness and lameness are readily associated with disability, leprosy, deafness, death and poverty are not. So, Jesus’ words are alluding to something that extends past modern concepts of disability.

What I discovered in the biblical narrative was a perceived correlation between an individual’s physical state and their spiritual state. Sometimes, this overlaps with modern concepts of disability while at other times it doesn’t. They key concern of Jesus was not to restore an individual’s bodily function, but to see the individual reconciled to God and their community. Within the culture of Jesus’ day, the restoration of bodily function was merely a sign of this spiritual restoration. Jesus’ healing ministry therefore sets a precedent for the church today to see the primary need of people with disabilities as being reconciled back to God and their community.