Paralysed author-singer crusades for disabled

Press, 30 August 1989, Page 12

Paralysed author-singer crusades for disabled

By SUSAN COOK Joni Eareckson-Tada has written 11 books, recorded four albums, and was appointed in 1986 by the then President, Mr Ronald Reagan, to the United States National Council for the Disabled. But she might not have done any of these things had she not been paralysed from the neck down in a diving accident at the age of 17. Ms Eareckson-Tada was in Christchurch at the week-end to speak about

, disabled people and Christianity. She visited the Burwood Spinal Unit last Friday, performed at a concert at the town hall last Saturday, and on Sunday spoke at a seminar aiming to educate churches about disabilities.

Ms Eareckson-Tada said it was her faith in Jesus that dragged her out of four years of suicidal depression after her accident 22 years ago. “I thought to myself, Jesus was paralysed on

the cross, so he must know how I feel,” she said. “He reached out to disabled people and helped them in his own life.”

Ms Eareckson-Tada has conducted a long campaign to try to get society to recognise disabled people as equals. She said she strongly identified with young people “because my ablebodied life stopped at that stage. I love teenagers, and I love talking to them.”