What can churches do about discipling people with autism?

Dave Newton interviews Claire Williams, a lecturer at Regents Theological College who has just released an online course and book on autism and discipleship

Claire Williams

Tell us a bit about yourself

My name is Claire and I am wife to Ben and mum to four boys aged between 15 and nine. I also have Ivy, the cocker spaniel (who features quite a bit in my written work and lectures). I teach practical theology at Regents and I attend my local Newfrontiers congregation. I’m also in the final stages of my PhD research, which is a practical theology investigation. Most recently, I have written a book for SCM Press about autism and I’m also editing a book with my friend Karen O’Donnell about pregnancy and theology, also with SCM. When I’m not doing all these things, I enjoy reading novels, baking and mucking about with the children.

What motivated you to study theology?

I was a somewhat bookish teenager who, instead of socialising with my peers, was more likely to be found reading ‘1984’ or the complete works of Jane Austen. I realised early on in these adventures in the British literary canon that, although I loved the works, they were always pointing beyond themselves. It was that space, that beyond, that I wanted to study.

Having come to faith in a high Anglican church and moved down the candle to a charismatic Anglican community (with a youth group) I had encountered God in a real and tangible way. It made sense to me that my love of books and my love of God should combine into a pursuit of theology.

I went to a progressive girls’ grammar school where the head of RE had great ambitions for me to become the first female archbishop (apologies to Mrs S), and she suggested that the best place to serve both our goals was to study theology at Oxford. I applied, more specifically, to Wycliffe Hall in Oxford and was accepted onto the undergraduate programme. After I completed that course, I took some time off from work to raise my boys and returned to theology when they were a bit older.

By this time, my interests had narrowed from raising children to the study of Christianity as it is experienced in homes and lives, the essence of practical theological investigation.

I began my PhD into the faith-lives of women in Newfrontiers churches to delve more deeply into that lived reality, the presence of the Spirit in our homes, whilst we wash up, or take the children to school, whilst we answer emails or socialise with friends from church.

What is autism, and why is it an interest area?

Autism is a complicated thing to define! It is the subject of much debate and disagreement as to what it is ‘in essence’. Autism can be diagnosed and is, therefore, often thought of as a disorder or a medical issue. However, more recently, autistic advocates have suggested that the best way to understand autism is to think of it as a difference, a form of human diversity. The aim of this idea is to undermine the ‘autistic problem’ and stop the narrative that suggests autism is a problem, a situation that needs a solution. My relationship with autistic theology came about from my own diagnosis as autistic in 2018. As a ‘late-diagnosed’ woman, I fall into the category of the ‘missed autistic generation’ who doesn’t fit the typical stereotype of autistic people. Instead, I presented to my doctors with a long and complicated mental health history and a Google search about women and autism. This led to my diagnosis.

After I was diagnosed, I realised that I wanted to understand how that related to my faith and to my academic theology. I, of course, googled it and found that there was very little information available and what there was suggested that I could barely be considered a Christian. This was initially devastating, but the grace of God is good and I could not deny that I had and continue to have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Alongside my further studies in theology, I started to assemble something of an idea about autism and theology and also discovered permission to be an autistic Christian who doesn’t always conform. I very quickly stopped going to midweek small groups, for example!

What are the challenges and opportunities for the church working with those diagnosed as autistic?

The challenges for the church that wishes to work with autistic people is simultaneously the lack of understanding about autism and the lack of clarity from professionals about what autism is. It leaves people who wish to both empower and help unsure and unable to make informed choices. Another challenge is that although there are common features of autism, there are unique ways in which all autistic people exist. Therefore, there are no simple changes that churches can make to demonstrate that they are open to autistic people and attempt to facilitate their participation. These are the challenges.

However, the opportunities are endless! Autistic people are gifted, interesting and interested. They have rich faith lives. Typically, autistic people are disadvantaged in society; they have low employment rates and low life expectancy. They are assumed to have deficits that cannot be overcome. The church has inadvertently (I hope) adopted some of these assumptions. The opportunity the church has is to recognise their prejudice and to consciously work towards releasing autistic people into their potential and their God-given gifts. Autistic church leaders, for example, should be a possibility!

How do your course and book help?

Both the course and the book attempt to explain autism and some of the prejudices that society and the church have and to make suggestions that are theologically and practically constructive. The course examines some of the things that churches do now that don’t help autistic people and what they could do that might. In it I make some suggestions, but I hope, primarily, I explain in enough detail what autism is so that churches can apply this knowledge to their own context. If anything, both the book and the course demystify autism to some extent with the intention that it gives churches confidence to try things and to communicate with their autistic church members.

Claire Williams earned a BA in Theology at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. She completed an MA in Theology at St Augustine’s College of Theology in Kent and is currently working on a PhD at Durham University. Alongside her academic work, Claire preaches and teaches within the Newfrontiers network and is a speaker and author working with the Relational Mission network. She also teaches practical theology at Regents Theological College.

This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.

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