A Story Like Mine

This piece is based on two talks I have recently given on disability and sexuality: for the Church of England LGBTQIA+ network Open Table, and for a panel on disability and intersectionality organised by HeartEdge and the Church Times. In this rewritten piece, I reflect on my experience growing up in churches, where I heard no stories of queer, disabled people like me. I write about how disabled people’s sexuality is silenced, especially queer disabled sexuality, in a world where we are not wanted. I talk about the joy of finding stories of people like me in the Bible, as I see my relationship reflected in a resistant reading of Ruth and Naomi, and in the disabled Christ himself, who queers and crips the Resurrection. Finally, I ask what the church can learn from the stories of God told by people on the margins – a God like us.