Salaam
Disability is not a topic that is widely discussed by Muslims. However, despite this Muslims had the highest rates of disability. Almost a quarter of Muslim females (24 per cent) had a disability, as did one in five (21 per cent) Muslim males (2001)
The amount of facilities that are available to disabled Muslims is really sad –
How many Mosques have wheelchair access?
Is the Qur’an available in Braille?
Do our Mosques cater for the needs of disabled Muslims?
Do our communities offer support groups for them?
If anything, I’ve heard so many harrowing stories about the way they are treated – their disability stigmatised, shunned or simply ignored.
Some people consider it a punishment from God.
I know of a blind person whose guide dog was forbidden access into a Mosque.
I heard of a deaf Muslims who mentioned that his only option to learn about Islam was to go and sit right in front of the imam, from where he would struggle to read the imam's lips during the khutbah.
I did a module on this in Uni – interestingly many top theorists stated that disabled people are placed at an disadvantage cos society fails to cater for the needs of such individuals – so its society that disabled: not individuals.
In Islam disability is mentioned more so in the spiritual sense – i.e. those who are ‘deaf and blind’ are those who refuse to see/hear.
What are your personal experiences of Islam and disability?
Wasalaam
our new masjid has got ramps and special wudu facilities for people in wheelchairs.
never heard of a Qur'an available in braille but i'm sure there are some in the world somewhere.
regarding disability and the community, well we don't really have a community so we can't do much. imo many muslim asian families tend to think that having a disabled child is something to hide or an embarrassment but they don't realise that this is what Allah (swt) has planned for them and no matter how hard they try to hide it, it will never go away.
i personally believe disabled people are special, Allah (swt) loves those who He (swt) tests and these people face a challenge and struggle everyday, and imagine the amount of sins of theirs which are getting washed away. subhaan’Allah, with everything there is a blessing.
I’ve only ever been to one Islamic event where there was a group of sisters with hearing impairments and a revert sister who was sat beside the guest speaker who was using sign language for those sisters
The revert sister – a speech therapist said this was the first kind of event those girls had been to, they miss out because they don’t have anyone there signing for them.
To be beautiful is to expect nothing in return.
Autism. It’s an ugly word, isn’t it? Certainly one that I never figured would have such a stranglehold on our lives when my precious son was born six years ago. Autism, best described as a complex developmental disability, affects one in 166 children, and my son is one of them.
My mother would tell me stories of our Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), whose four infant sons died, to remind me that even Allah’s most beloved suffered. She tried to impress upon me that, yes, our situation was bad, but it could be so much worse. She tried so hard to help us out of love for us and her grandson.
But at that time, all of the "comforting" words of faith felt like daggers in my heart. Both my husband’s family and mine are devout Muslims, true to their faith. They raised us to be Muslims first and everything else second. But this autism diagnosis, this cruel, cruel trick played on my son, shattered my faith.
I fasted (but it didn’t mean anything to me) and made it through the month, and my son did eventually settle into school. But I gradually gave up my five daily prayers, or sometimes said them half-heartedly. I had so little faith in Allah by then. I put my energy instead into my son’s therapy, and my husband and I, after meeting a lot of other parents with autistic children, decided we would just work hard at being happy.
But over the next two years, I began to feel that I had to reconnect with Islam and Allah. If I cut faith out of my life completely, then I knew eventually autism would beat my family and me. Living a life full of therapy and without a larger sense of purpose was draining me. And I needed to be a whole person, connected with my faith, so that I could be the mother my children needed me to be.
I thought a lot, I cried a lot, and fought with Allah a lot. Then I decided to go for Hajj, the once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina required of all Muslims. I went in January, 2005 with my husband. I went to fulfill my obligation to Allah, and to find my faith.
I came away from that experience with the feeling that when you finally accept your fate, you can embrace your life. And then you can actually celebrate and thank God for giving that fate to you. And that’s the golden ticket, I believe, to being happy and strong. An autistic child is not a loss, I realized, but a sort of gift that can be managed through faith
He’s a hard worker, my son. He’s got good days and bad days. His progress is all a series of baby steps. I don’t know what life holds for him, but I don’t (always) fear the future. We try to take it a day at a time. And there’s one thing I know, one hard and fast fact about him that gives me immense peace. He is a true innocent. He is incapable of sin.
I believe my son has the best chance of all of us to get into jannat (heaven). And I hope I'll always have the strength and ease of mind to help him fight this disorder. It's his fight, but he's my son. And I would do anything to lessen the affects of his autism on him--anything. I take strength from a verse in the Qu’ran: “Say: ‘If I am astray, I only stray to the loss of my own soul: but if I receive guidance, it is because of the inspiration of my Lord to me. (Saba’ 34:50)”
http://www.mvuk.co.uk/feature_view.asp?feature_id=54
its actually 20 per cent
Those who danced were thought to be quite insane, by those who couldn't hear the music...
Asalaamalaikum
I personally dont have any experiences of this myself but i do know of someone who is autistic. He is treated so badly it is a joke, racism is being prevented yet this kid gets the mick taken out of him everytime he makes a sound. I feel sorry for this guy because he doesnt really know what it is to have friends and to have a "laugh" and cases like this i believe are as important as racism and other discriminations.
Asalaamalaikum
huda hafiz
Those who danced were thought to be quite insane, by those who couldn't hear the music...
Regents park mosque has a talk 4 deaf/partially hearing evry saturday. Not sure what time but i think its around 2/3 o'clock. They also have lifts.
when i was in medina i visited th qur'an factory (they produce millions of copies per year, 95% of which they distribute 4 free & the others they sell at cost price). i asked th guide about braille & he told me that because it uses different machines they are produced at a seperate factory, but many thousands are made & distributed 4 free too. He offered 2 get some but i declined cos i dont actually know any blind muslims.
Don't just do something! Stand there.
A while back I used to help out in one of the only Disabled Muslim Women group in London (my mum was the chairperson). It was proper cool, we'd organise trips to theme parks, talks by professionals, flower making, home support and even learnt wheelchair dancing!
One of the problems with most disabled asian Muslim women is that they are housebound with limited facilities to get them active in society.
isn't this the same problem that most disabled people of all backgrounds?
is it more so with Asian Muslim women?
Don't just do something! Stand there.
Asian Muslim are not aware of the facilities that are available to them.
Asian Muslim women lack support from family/community (cos there's more of a stigma attached to disablity in the asian community)
Cultural/langauge barriers prevent Asian Muslim women from getting out into society.
There is a severe shortage of organisations that specifically cater to the needs of Asian Muslim women.
So cos of these factors - yes, being housebound affects asian women more so than women from other backgrounds.
When I was at uni, a blind guy came into the prayer room and wanted to pray so some brother 'showed' him the direction. It was nice to see how everyone was keen to help him out.
It's also amazing how good their sense of hearing and touch is.