Jen Taggart

"Will they look at me weird? Will it be accessible? Will I be accepted for who I am?"

Church is meant to be a welcoming family, but for many people with disabilities, that is not reality. Jen’s life mission is to help bridge the Christian world and the disability world through her writing.

Too often, disabled voices are left out of the conversation in ministry, and their experiences are almost invisible within Christian culture. When people with disabilities are mentioned, they are mostly described as “charity cases” or those in need of healing, not as leaders or equal brothers and sisters in Christ. The consequences of this are devastating: only 5-10% of the world’s disabled population are reached with the gospel. Christians are called to speak up for the voiceless (Proverbs 31:8), and that is what Jen intends to do. She has around two years of experience working for a secular nonprofit, two years of experience leading Bible studies for adults with disabilities, and 30 years of lived experience as a woman with cerebral palsy.

Whether through writing a news story about an innovative disability ministry, interpreting a disability-related passage of scripture (such as Luke 14 or 2 Samuel 9), or emphasizing to young people the importance of friendship and inclusion, Jen has ideas on how to represent those with disabilities in a variety of publications.