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A few weeks ago, my 6 year old daughter, Elle, drew all over her forehead with a marker. As her class was walking down the school hallway, the Vice Principle pulled her out of line and pointing to her forehead, asked her "What's all this?" Elle looked at him for a moment, then stuck her finger in his belly and said, "What's all this!?" As Mr. Pratt, the Vice Principal, told us this story later that day, he walked off muttering about his need to go home and do some crunches that night.

Elle has autism. She always says what she thinks. If you don't want to know how she really feels about something, you'd be better off not asking. To say Elle makes life more interesting would be putting it mildly.

In the United States today, the Centers for Disease Control estimate that 1 out of every 88 kids has an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). ASDs include "classic" Autism, Asperger's Syndrome and Pervasive Developmental Disorder. In lay terms, it includes kids you may simply find to be somewhat quirky or odd, ranging to kids who have serious social disorders. That 1 in 88 number is 78 percent higher than it was only one decade ago. There's fierce debate as to whether autism is occurring more frequently now than it did in the past, or if it's simply being diagnosed more accurately. Regardless, it results in a sizable segment of children today--and then, of course, there are many other special needs besides those within the Autism Spectrum.   

So what, if any, obligations do Christians have to those with special needs? And what can we do to help?

To answer the first question, the central story of Christianity is of the strong helping the weak. A great, all powerful God was willing to live amongst the flawed, imperfect people whom He loved in order to lift them up. Jesus chose to surround Himself with people who were not the academic or social cream of the crop. People who were "not good enough" were always welcome to Him. If we choose to ignore those who seem to be broken in some way, we quickly become the servant who, being forgiven a great debt, refused to show mercy for a small one.

Perhaps we look at the fact that when Jesus encountered somebody who was mute or exhibiting drastic behavior, He always ends up casting a demon out of that person; and we wonder whether people with mental issues today have a physical issue (like a chemical imbalance or neurological disorder), or if Satan has a hand in it somehow. 

I don't know whether mental disorders are caused by the devil, genetic devolution stemming from the fall of man, manmade chemicals and materials, or by gamma rays from the planet Omicron Persei 8. What I do believe is we are to follow in the footsteps of Jesus; we must do whatever we can in order to help people in need--which includes those with special needs.

Here are some thoughts that can help prepare you to bring hope and encouragement to people who are fighting to connect with a world that can seem foreign and alien at times.

Because those with special needs frequently struggle with communication or the ability to interact socially, they can feel isolated, and this isolation can lead to depression. One of the more famous champions of Autism, Temple Grandin has said "I would not be here now if I did not have anti-depressants." 

Make an effort to interact with people who seem to be different at church, in your workplace or in your neighborhood. People with special needs have frequently been kept apart from the majority of their peers, put in separate classes, treated differently. Church in particular affords a chance to stand equally before a God who created us all. Being willing to accept people who don't necessarily "behave appropriately" all of the time opens us to the possibility of making connections with people who desperately need them.