TeenHelp - Question about Aspergers and religion.

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Question about Aspergers and religion.

Okay, so today I heard that a church can reject a person if they're autistic. I want to know if this is true or not because I have Aspergers and my family is going to start attending church next Sunday.

Re: Question about Aspergers and religion.

I don't think that is true. The only issue I could see is if you were highly autistic and prone to outbursts. Now, don't get me wrong, I work with disabled people so I am educated about it, I am not stupid enough to think that all people on the spectrum will randomly start screaming in a church or be ignorant enough not to understand why. But some autistic kids can be stimulated in the wrong way and that might be hard for a community if a child is creating a particular challenge like that. But if a child was to behave like that it is more likely the parents would make other arrangements for the kid to not be there or they'd be in a position of having to give up attending church altogether and that would be a family choice as opposed to a religious mandate because no one wants to be the parent of a child who is creating a commotion no matter how understandable it is (such as an autistic child being over stimulated or a baby crying on a plane cause his/her ears hurt, things like that are just a fact of life and people are understanding, but that doesn't make it easier for the parent when they simply can't console a child in certain stages of emotion)

I've never heard of a church rejecting a person on the grounds that they have a disability. In fact, I work with children who have autism and other disabilities who attend church and are very involved with their churches community as well as knowing many religious families with a child who has a disability, I've never once heard of the kids being turned away because of this.

I'd find it highly unusual if you were presented with this problem and would see it as an anomaly. So just go, be relaxed. If you have this problem go where it won't be a problem

Re: Question about Aspergers and religion.

The fact that you have aspergers should not have effect on if a church will accept you. I do not know much about churches, but I know that all houses of worship should be open to anyone who comes there.

Re: Question about Aspergers and religion.

Hi,
A church cannot reject people with any disability. You do not even have to tell them you are autistic unless you want to. If you in certain situations get loud or worry you may be interrupting the service you can walk out for as much time as you need and then you can return.
Hopefully this is helpful and that your church experience goes well.