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From Foundation to Family
In this first of two articles from Interserve Partner Alison, she shares how her experiences of disability ministry in Thailand have profoundly shaped her family and changed her understanding of inclusion.
My first experience of working with children with disabilities was in 2012 when my husband and I moved to Thailand to work in a Thai Christian foundation. I was a little nervous as, although I had an education degree and had trained as a social worker, this was my first time specifically working in the area of disability. However at the foundation I worked with kids from the ages of 2 to 18 with a range of disabilities, and what I quickly learnt was that every child was different. Two kids might have the same diagnosis, but they’re not the same person! Further training and learning about different disabilities is necessary and important, but so is taking time to get to know the child in front of me and what their needs are.
Through this work we ended up meeting and then adopting our son. He is profoundly deaf, and we all learnt sign language together – first Thai Sign Language and then British Sign Language. Becoming my son’s mother has had a profound impact on me. Suddenly, I was reading the bible from a new perspective and experienced the Christian world as a mum to a child who couldn’t access the majority of what we ‘do’ as Christians. Sundays suddenly became hard, and church no longer felt like a welcoming space.
As I examined the bible with this new perspective, I read story after story of God caring for all people especially the vulnerable and marginalised. I saw how Jesus interacted with the people he met and how he saw them as individuals; responding differently to different people. I was struck with what I had learned at that foundation… of how important it is to see the person before you and get to know them as an individual. I saw in the gospels how Jesus accommodated his message, his way of talking, and even his healing method to the needs of the person in front of him. He didn’t expect them to accommodate him. Yet often people with disabilities find that they are expected to attend a school or even church with no accommodations. Working in cross-cultural mission, it is important to be culturally appropriate in our new home so we are not creating barriers to the gospel being shared, but it can seem that we don’t spend the same effort trying to accommodate those we meet with disabilities.
This is now what I try to do with every person I meet, but especially in my work at a local Christian International school in the Special Education department. Both the foundation I first worked with and now this school seek to be God’s light in their communities and wider society. God values and cares for those with disabilities and these organisations pray that through their care and love many will experience God’s love and come to know God personally.
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Read more stories about mission and disability in our Spring 2026 GO magazine
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