The political narrative of disability support reform: implications for the Church, theology and discipleship

In the early to mid 1970s, attempts to reform Australian disability support systems through introduction of a 'National Compensation Bill' failed. In 2013 the National Disability Insurance Scheme a similar reform of Australian disability support systems was implemented as a pilot. This article demonstrates that while both reforms and the respective political contexts were similar, the narratives differ markedly, resulting in different outcomes. As church members and leaders discern these shifts in disability narrative and policy, they must recognise that the Australian Church itself has become more marginal, even as disability has become mainstream; theology and ethics have been largely unaware of, and even unchanged by, major social reforms; and an ever-widening gulf has emerged between theology and a social justice and human rights discourse. Finally, we call on the Church to recover its prophetic voice in advocacy for people who live with disabilities.