National Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month is dedicated to promoting opportunities and support for individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities, empowering them to reach their full potential and lead fulfilling lives. This includes helping them become active members of the workforce, encouraging self-advocacy, and providing necessary support services. The month also aims to raise awareness about the challenges and barriers faced by these individuals in our communities. In 1987, President Ronald Reagan proclaimed March as National Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month, recognizing the progress made:
“New opportunities have been created through the efforts of those with developmental disabilities and their families, along with professionals and officials at all levels of government. Working together, they have brought about significant changes in the public perception of young people and adults with developmental disabilities, opening new doors to independent and productive lives.” – President Reagan
Jesus was disabled, too
He took on this role intentionally. Born as a helpless infant, entirely dependent on two young teenagers from a small town, and in the most squalid of conditions. He grew up in a dusty, harsh world, working with His hands, enduring the burning desert sun. He experienced hunger, thirst, pain, sickness, sorrow, and betrayal. And on His final day, He was brutally beaten, His body so marred that He was unrecognizable, His strength drained to the point where another—Simon of Cyrene—was compelled to carry His cross up the hill for Him. Simon shared in the burden of Jesus, just as Jesus was about to bear the weight of humanity’s sins. It’s no wonder Jesus was so compassionate toward the hurting. It’s no surprise He saw and reached out to those who were often ignored or unloved. He showed no fear in touching the unclean, the diseased, and the outcast. Isaiah spoke of Him as one who bore our griefs and was familiar with suffering. To take on human flesh, with all its frailty—could there be anything more limiting for the Eternal God? Perhaps this is what He had in mind when He told the parable of the Sheep and the Goats.
"Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father; inherit the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; I needed clothes, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you looked after Me; I was in prison, and you came to visit Me.’
"Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and invite You in, or needing clothes and clothe You? When did we see You sick or in prison and go to visit You?’
"The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of Mine, you did for Me.’”
(Matthew 25:34-40)
Jesus then warns those on His left that by neglecting the poor, the hungry, the sick, and the imprisoned, they have rejected Him. Our treatment of the vulnerable—those who are disabled, impoverished, marginalized—does not go unnoticed. We might argue that we didn’t see the need, didn’t have the resources, or didn’t know how to help. But in the end, when we refuse to care for the suffering, the broken, and the downtrodden, we are, in effect, rejecting Jesus Himself. The beautiful, willingly disabled God-man.
Lord, help us to truly see. May we understand the cross for what it truly signifies: the Eternal, Almighty God who chose frailty, who embraced disability, so that we—fallen, imperfect humanity—might walk in freedom, wholeness, and the abundance of life.