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Alex Dobson reports on how access to a religious community can provide social support for people with learning difficulties and disabled people.

By acting out scenes from Christ's life on earth, Paul Lehrian says he has been brought closer to the God that he believes gives meaning to his life. Lehrian is 32 and has learning difficulties, but he is by no means a passive member of the church to which he belongs. He takes an active role, getting involved in drama and musical activities, serving on the altar and sometimes working with his priest as a Eucharistic minister.

The religious community to which he belongs - St Joseph's Pastoral Centre in Hendon, North London - has worked hard to make sure that he can participate as fully as he wishes, but with no undue pressure.

Lehrian is fortunate because he has access to the spiritual life of his choice, but for many people with learning difficulties, access, choice and participation in a faith community are not straightforward.

Often the obstacles to participating in a spiritual life can be purely practical - residential homes, for example, that fail to provide prayer mats or diets suitable to the individual's needs, or homes not having staff available to take a resident to church or other faith community regularly.

Michelle Chinnery of People First, a self-advocacy organisation offering information, training and consultancy by people with learning difficulties, points out obvious elements such as poor access for wheelchairs. She says that churches and other religious communities are often simply inaccessible to people with learning difficulties.

"Churches should, for instance, make doors wider and bibles and prayer books easier to read. They should have more pictures and the print should be larger," she says. Chinnery is also concerned about the plight of those people with learning difficulties who are living in residential homes, and points out that where staff are overstretched, residents are unlikely to be given the opportunity to take a full part in a religious life.

According to Brian McGinnis, special adviser to Mencap and a practising Christian, practical problems are never insurmountable, if enough thought is put into accommodating the specific needs of the individual.

He cites the example of his own Anglican church where a woman with profound and multiple disabilities, who cannot speak, read or write, but who has a deep religious faith, has been confirmed and now receives communion.

"Her disabilities mean that she has had to be fed through a tube, but the difficulties surrounding the administering of the bread and wine were overcome by the wafer being soaked in wine and then just touched against her lips," he says.

Alongside the practical aspects of involvement runs a deeper concern about whether people with learning difficulties are able to make their own decisions about the meaning of the spiritual life they become involved with; whether they are exercising choice; or whether assumptions are being made by families or carers, without adequate recognition of the individual's own wishes.

McGinnis says that religious communities can offer much that is beneficial to people with learning difficulties, but he is aware of the complexities of the issuessurrounding choice and decision-making.

"A person with a learning difficulty may never reach the point of decision-making. I don't think there is an answer because it is part of a much wider issue than one of spirituality. It goes into the whole business of someone who may be living with their family exercising choice over many aspects of their life, including the friends they choose and where they go," he says.

Ken Simons, senior research fellow at the Norah Fry Research Centre in Bristol, emphasises that for people who often find themselves at the margins of society, taking part in the life of a faith community can be a positive route to social inclusion, although he too sees complex issues surrounding full participation.

"My perspective would be that if you are interested in issues surrounding inclusion and community, then churches form an important part of community. They are a useful resource that needs to be thought about because they are a way of enabling people to take part in a community," he says.

He adds: "Finding instances where people have connections with each other is the critical thing, and it is obvious that churches are places where that connection can be made. Being a member of a faith community may be useful for someone with learning difficulties. The spiritual dimension may be more complex and hinges on their ability to make real choices and the capacity to become a full member of the church.''

One of the concerns of some practitioners is that people with learning difficulties may be vulnerable to undue influence or, in extreme cases, abuse. It is argued, for example, that they may be more susceptible to being pressurised into joining a sect or religious group that they do not fully understand. But other practitioners argue that this kind of group is more interested in people who have money or who are able to earn money.

Lehrian's church encourages people with learning difficulties to participate fully in the life of the church. A key feature of its services is that they use symbolism as a way of including those who find complex language difficult to understand.

Lehrian is more than happy with his own experience at St Joseph's. "I go to church every Sunday and attend St Joseph's Pastoral Centre two days a week. It helps me to relax and makes me feel calm and not worried. It helps me keep up my good spirits. I love the music, especially the organ. I want to keep my faith going for ever and ever and ever," he says. CC