A National Campaign for Better Disability Inclusion

Clare Bruce -

Did you know that people with disabilities often find themselves on the margins of local church life, unable to fully participate? That’s 1 in 5 Australians who might struggle to feel included, if they were to visit a church this Sunday.

The Bible contains has many loving, respectful and inclusive encounters that Jesus had with people with disabilities. Yet few Australian churches have actively built a culture where people with disabilities can fully participate and feel they truly belong.

That’s why CMAA is partnering with CBM, to spread the word about the need for better inclusion in our local churches.

The Luke14 campaign promotes CBM’s new disability inclusion training videos, and encourages Christians and churches to learn more about disability inclusion, in order to bring about real change.

The free Luke14 training program enables churches of all sizes and denominations to provide their staff and volunteers with access to quality training on disability inclusion, mental health and neurodivergence (autism, ADHD etc).

The more churches we can encourage to complete the training, the greater inclusion we will see for people with disabilities, mental health issues and neurodivergence.

What are the Statistics?

  • One in five Australians have a disability (almost 10% of children and 8% of teenagers), while 1 in 10 are carers for a person with a disability.
  • More than half of Australian church attenders have a connection with someone with a disability.
  • One in five Australians aged 16-85 experience a mental health condition in any given year.
  • Almost 40% of Australian church attenders who have a mental health condition reported that their local church didn’t know about it.
  • Only 3% of Australian churches report having made program-related provisions for people with disabilities, while just 28% of Australian churches report providing any staff/volunteer training on disability inclusion.

Learn More