My Life with Cerebral Palsy: Finding Equality in a Faith Community 

When Carl Sigmond is with other Quakers, he tells us, he does not feel like his cerebral palsy sets him apart from others as much as it can in other settings. “When I meet someone for the first time,” he says, “they really want to know me, and to see me for who I am. I am a complete equal in my community.”

Because Whittier Mikkelsen she didn’t meet anyone else with cerebral palsy until she was twenty-two, she felt strange growing up. “The Quakers gave me the strength to be myself,” she confides. “I found this wonderful community when I was very young, fifteen, and we were all about the hugs, you know? And they just brought me right in, even with my spastic body… Nobody pushed me away, so I felt absolutely seen and included, really for the first time, above and beyond my family.”

Carl and Whittier both speak frankly about how much work remains to be done when it comes to full inclusion of people with disabilities, despite Friends’ best intentions. Though they experience setbacks and frustrations, however, they remain optimistic. “Ask for what you want. Ask for what you need,” Carl advises. “And in asking, be open to receiving… Be open to co-creating something with your community that you never knew was possible.”