“There are no invalids in the USSR!” Sarah Phillips (Abstract)

Dom Miloserdiya

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xThis abstract discusses the Soviet era approach to people with disability. There, are, unfortunately, some lingering effects from the policies of that era. The abstract of Ms. Phillip’s work:

 http://www.dsq-sds.org/article/view/936/1111

The good news is that there are efforts underway in Russia to turn things around. The Russian Orthodox Church’s Round Table “Education for Change and Diakonia” reveals encouraging developments: http://www.rondtb.msk.ru/home_en.htm 

For an overview of some of the efforts, see http://www.rondtb.msk.ru/info/en/info_en.htm 

particularly,

Assistance to Disabled Children http://www.rondtb.msk.ru/info/en/children_en.htm 

Spiritual Enlightening of the Hearing Impaired http://www.rondtb.msk.ru/info/en/deaf_en.htm 

A Specific Ministry: “Dom Miloserdiya”, a Social Rehabilitation Center for Minors: http://www.rondtb.msk.ru/info/en/orphanage_en.htm#3 & http://www.rondtb.msk.ru/info/en/family_en.htm#1

Just found this as well:  http://www.sbornet.com/groups/page-9.htm  

Photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/vladiq/page148/ 

“As you did it to the least of these My brethren …” (Audio)

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An Audio Sermon:

http://www.orthodox.net/audio/great-lent-sunday-before-great-lent-04_2007-02-11+sunday-of-the-last-judgment-meatfare.mp3

A Sunday of the Last Judgment Sermon on St. Matthew 25:31-46:

“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.  All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’ Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” http://www.biblegateway.com/ 

Notes on the sermon: helping people in dire circumstances . . . tears (or at least mourning others’ troubles) . . . being kind . . . fearing that we may miss opportunities to be there for Christ’s little ones . . . helping others who cannot repay us . . . (hate in 1st John: the absence of love, not being thoughtful of others) . . . God measures our progress by our compassion . . . missing the mark: resting on knowledge or membership rather than kindness . . . Will he recognize His image in us? . . . We are capable of kindness, of becoming kind. 

Mosaic from: http://blog.higherthings.org/borghardt/article/5352.html

the joy of bringing forth a human life into the world

… including children with disabilities.

A seven minute story worth watching:

“Our Lives are enriched.”

Lilliana Dennis – First birthday

The website LifeNews.com last July shared the result of a study published that month in the journal Pediatrics: Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics in regard to the experiences  of 503 parents of children with Trisomy 13 & 18, more severe forms of Down Syndrome.

According to the abstract of the study, while 87% of the parents were told by their pediatricians that their unborn children with this condition were incompatible with life, 30% opted for a full treatment plan of intervention; 79% of the children were still living. 97% of the parents reported their children as happy, and that their lives were enriched by them, irrespective of the prognosis that their lives would be short.

The author of this LifeNews.com article entitled Families of Kids With Disabilities; Our Lives Are Enriched, Alex Schadenberg, the Executive Director and International Chair of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, also wrote an article on the personal of experience of the family of Lilliana Dennis, entitled Trisomy 18 is not a death sentence: The story of Lilliana Dennis.  Within the article one can view a 3 1/2 minute YouTube video entitled Lilliana Joy Dennis – First Birthday.wmv. 

This article draws on another one written by Ryan Trares and published in the Daily Journal in Franklin Indiana, Hearts full of hope: Surgery helps extend life of infant with rare condition. 

The Abstract: The Experience of Families With Children With Trisomy 13 and 18 in Social Networks. Authors of the article: Annie Janvier, MD, PhD^a, Barbara Farlow, BEng, MBA^b, and Benjamin S. Wilfond, MD^c.

Barb Farlow, along with her husband Tim, is the parent of Annie, a child with Trisomy 13, who died just short of three months old in 2005. Read Helen Henderson’s article, How Annie’s short life inspired her mother’s mission, published in thestar.com, a publication based in Toronto, Canada. 

Picture from Catholic News Live