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# Naomi Lawson Jacobs

Disability & Neurodiversity Research

## Sitemaps

- [XML Sitemap](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website.

## Posts

- [Blog: At The Gates](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/at-the-gates/)
- [Shining a Light: Kindness, Hope and Social Justice](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/shining-a-light-kindness-hope-and-social-justice/) - The Neurodiversity Motion at General Synod & the Social Murder Festival at Manchester Metropolitan University Two groups I'm part of have been doing important, impactful work through activism and research, this week. 'All Kinds of Minds' - the General Synod motion on neurodiversity The first Social Murder Festival at Manchester Metropolitan University 'All Kinds of
- [New Article: Equality Act and Churches](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/new-article-equality-act-and-churches/) - I'm delighted to have an article out this week in the International Journal of Disability and Social Justice. It's called 'I just didn't fit into the way that they did church': Barriers to Access and Participation for Disabled People in UK Churches...
- [Breathing Life: Events to Share Research and Build Community](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/breathing-life-events-to-share-research-and-build-community/) - These bones can live. In a time of stark oppression, we're still here - building community, learning from each other, and taking action for change. If you're involved in that work, or you're just curious about how faith communities can become more inclusive, I'd love to see you at one or both of my upcoming events.
- [Real Activists, Failed Activists](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/real-activists-failed-activists/) - (Dreaming and Fixing and Failing and Starting Again) This post can also be read at my Substack. Real Activists I lost two disability activist friends this year. Lisa Egan was one of those disability activists who knew that none of us can do this alone. I think of Lisa as a crip doula, as the disability justice
- [Advent: Rest as Community Resistance, Toxic Productivity... and Waiting for Justice](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/advent-rest-as-community-resistance-toxic-productivity-and-waiting-for-justice/) - This post is also available on my Substack, here. I woke up at 9.30am today, the First Sunday in Advent, and I was too late to make it to church. And there was a moment there where I got truly, irrationally angry. Not with churches. With Advent. The season of waiting… and waiting… and waiting. In a
- [Slides from the Disability Studies Conference 2024](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/slides-from-the-disability-studies-conference-2024/) - This week I presented my research at the Disability Studies Conference at the University of Leeds, organised by the Centre for Disability Studies...
- [Joy on Wheels: An animist spiritual experience of wheelchairs (a post inspired by Julia Watts Belser)](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/joy-on-wheels-an-animist-spiritual-experience-of-wheelchairs-a-post-inspired-by-julia-watts-belser/) - I’ve been having a moment of radical recognition with Julia Watts Belser’s writing on animism and wheelchairs, in her book Loving Our Own Bones. In a chapter titled 'God on Wheels,' Belser writes: Over the decades, I’ve built relationships with many different wheelchairs, getting to know their preferences and particulars, coming to understand how they
- [Pay Disabled People!](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/pay-disabled-people/) - Disabled People's Unpaid Work and Academic Ableism Recently, I've been writing about inclusive and co-produced research projects. I've been talking about how disabled people should have a leading role in research about us. I've been saying that we should pay disabled people, as co-researchers. Disabled people have often been exploited in research that 'parachutes' into
- [Join us at this year's Disability Conference - 14 Oct 2023](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/join-us-at-this-years-disability-conference-14-oct-2023/) - If you've read At the Gates, you'll know that Emily and I have long been involved in a fantastic annual grassroots conference on disability and church - a partnership between Inclusive Church and St Martin-in-the-Fields Church. We are disabled-led, resourcing each other and the church from lived experience. And we're back this October! Join us
- [News: an Anthology and a Longlist](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/news-an-anthology-and-a-longlist/) - News! First of all, you might have seen that At the Gates has been longlisted for the Michael Ramsey Prize. We're surprised and stoked! It's a real honour to be on a list with incredible books like God is Not A White Man and Ghost Ship. To celebrate, At the Gates is on sale at
- [Making Disability Theology Accessible (Because it's About You and For You)](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/making-disability-theology-accessible-because-its-about-you-and-for-you/) - I'm delighted that my article has now been published in the Journal of Disability and Religion: 'Speaking with Us, Not for Us: Neurodiversity, Theology and Justice.' As the title suggests, it's about speaking for ourselves, as neurodivergent Christians. Other disabled Christians might find the themes relevant, too. If you can't access the article at the
- [Greenbelt and other news!](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/greenbelt-and-other-news/) - First, the big news - Emily and I are speaking at Greenbelt this year. We'll be at the Hot House at 1pm on Sunday (27th Aug), for a talk called 'Disability and Justice: Prophets on the Edge.' We'd love to see you there, if you're going! In other news, I've had an article accepted to
- [Book Review: 'Being Disabled, Being Human: Challenging Society’s Perception of Disability and Personhood' (Katie Tupling) and 'Worship and Disability: A Kingdom for All' (Katie Tupling & Anna de Lange), Grove Books, 2022](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/book-review-being-disabled-being-human-challenging-societys-perception-of-disability-and-personhood-katie-tupling-and-worship-and-disability-a-kingdom-for-all-katie-tupling-a/) - This year on the blog, I'm reviewing Christian books by disabled people and our allies who amplify our voices (find the first review here). Kt Tupling is a disabled priest and Diocesan Disability Advisor, co-founder of Disability and Jesus, and advocate for disabled people in the Church of England. Anna de Lange is a Reader
- [Book Review: 'Words for the Journey', David Lucas and Rebecca Parnaby-Rooke (2022)](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/book-review-words-for-the-journey-david-lucas-and-rebecca-parnaby-rooke-2022/) - This is the first in what I hope will be a series of book reviews of books by disabled Christians, or by our allies who amplify our voices. Disabled people are inundated with Christian books that Other us. Books that represent us as the objects of other Christians' outreach and ministry. Books that forget that
- [At the Gates: Creating an Audiobook](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/at-the-gates-creating-an-audiobook/) - We need your help. Emily and I are really keen to make sure that At the Gates: Disability, Justice and the Churches is accessible to every disabled Christian who wants to read it. We were delighted when Torch Trust offered to convert the book into large print and Braille versions. But that still leaves audio
- [Safety in Numbers: Autism, Theology and Me](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/safety-in-numbers-autism-theology-and-me/) - I’m in the British Library, surrounded by theology books debating autism, and I’m shaking. This is a story about those who get to speak, and those who are spoken about. This is the story of a Tuesday and a Friday. Tuesday: Speaking On Tuesday, we launched our book ‘At the Gates: Disability, Justice and the
- [Book and Community News: 'At the Gates' Book Launch & interviews; Disability Conference](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/book-and-community-news-at-the-gates-book-launch-disability-conference/) - 'At the Gates' has now been out for a few weeks, and we're delighted with the interest it's garnering. Thank you to our disabled Christian community for all the support! Here are more details of the online book launch, and some interviews with Emily and me... Book Launch Register here for our online book launch
- ['At the Gates' is out now!](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/at-the-gates-is-out-now/) - We're Book of the Week at Church House Bookshop - 20% off, this week only! 'At the Gates: Disability, Justice and the Churches' was released last Sunday. Readers have been receiving their copies this week, sharing some lovely tweets and comments with us. Thank you! We're so excited to get this book into the hands
- [Disabled Christian Community News & Events - Spring-Autumn 2021](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/disabled-christian-community-events-and-appearances-spring-autumn-2021/) - The disabled Christian community is a growing, vibrant movement, challenging exclusion and showing how we can do - and be - Church in more diverse, inclusive ways. I’m always keen to help get the word out about the community’s own events and activities. In no particular order, here are some of the things that disabled
- [Community News & Events: Disability & Church (Spring-Summer 2022)](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/community-news-events-disability-church-spring-summer-2022/) - In this edition: Pre-order our book 'At the Gates: Disability, Justice and the Churches' nowVideo series 'Shut In, Shut Out, Shut Up' returning this evening - 10th JuneChurch Times/HeartEdge webinar on Disability and IntersectionalitySave the date: Disability and Church annual conference - 15th OctANVIL Journal of Theology and Mission: issue on Mission and DisabilityRecommended reading:
- [At The Gates? Inclusion vs Justice for Marginalised People in Churches](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/at-the-gates-inclusion-vs-justice-for-marginalised-people-in-churches/) - This week was Inclusion Sunday in churches that wished to mark it. My new church, a wonderful place with a growing focus on equality for all, held a service on this theme. But I'll admit it now - even though I knew the people talking, I nearly didn't stream the service. I almost went out
- [Church Online and Disabled People: Locked Down or Opened Up?](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/church-online-and-disabled-people-locked-down-or-opened-up/) - Recently I've been discussing and writing about the shift of churches to online spaces, and how this impacts disabled Christians. Shut In, Shut Up, Shut Out I took part in the Shut In, Shut Up, Shut Out series, where disabled people have been talking about our experiences of church, led by Fiona MacMillan. I talked
- [Holy Doubting and Lived Experience](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/holy-doubting-and-lived-experience/) - A lived encounter with Jesus On Easter Sunday, Jesus appears to his friends. In fear, they've hidden themselves away in a locked room. In fear, they've ignored the women who told them to believe. And now here's Jesus, in the flesh. And what's the first thing he does? He shows them his marked, impaired hands
- [Shut Out of Church (Again): COVID-19, Disabled Christians and Justice](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/shut-out-of-church-again-covid-marginalised-christians-and-justice/) - This is not the blog post I wanted to be writing today. I had planned to write about some recent research and theology coming out of the disabled Christian movement. I'll be back soon with some of that. There's a more urgent issue today. On Monday night, I cried when I realised that I may
- [Statement on the Church of England’s Covid guidance to churches (July 2021)](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/statement-on-the-church-of-englands-covid-guidance-to-churches-july-2021/) - by Naomi Lawson Jacobs, Emma Major and Katie Tupling We were pleased that the Bishop of London recognised the work of disabled Christians in her recent address about changes to coronavirus restrictions in churches. In the address, Bishop Sarah Mullally called for Church of England churches to think about justice and care for all, as
- [A Story of the Disabled People of God](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/a-story-of-the-disabled-people-of-god/) - (Cross-posted to 'Stories from the Garden') Where are the stories of the disabled people of God? There’s a silence in the churches. Disabled Christians do not get to tell our own stories. If our stories are told at all, it is by others, twisted and misremembered, till our names are forgotten. Powerful voices speak of

## Pages

- [About Naomi Lawson Jacobs](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/) - I am an activist social researcher in disability studies. I have worked on research projects in academia and not-for-profit organisations, and I'm currently a research associate at Manchester Metropolitan University, in the Learning Disabilities and Autism research group. My book At The Gates: Disability, Justice and the Churches, with Emily Richardson, was based on my
- [Publications](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/news/) - Academic Articles Jacobs, N.L. (2025). 'I Just Didn’t Fit into the Way That They Did Church': Barriers to Access and Participation for Disabled People in UK Churches. International Journal of Disability and Social Justice, 5(2), pp.200-220. Lawson, A., Jacobs, N.L., Lockwood, L., Roseta, S. (2024). Law’s Role in Fostering Inclusive and Accessible Pedestrian Environments: Insights from
- [Contact](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/contact/) - To contact me about training, research or speaking, please use the form above. You can also find me: On Bluesky @naomijacobs.bsky.social On Mastodon @naomilawsonjacobs On my academia.edu page I receive quite a few requests to read or help with others' research. Unfortunately I'm not able to reply to them all, but thank you to everyone
- [Talks & Media](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/news-appearances-writing/) - Links below to talks, media appearances and other news. 2024 Nov 2024: I guest lectured for an undergraduate class at the College of the Holy Cross in MA, on disability theology and exploring difference. Download the slides here. Sept 2024: I presented at the CDS Disability Studies conference, University of Leeds - on ADHD, spirituality
- [At the Gates: Disability, Justice and the Churches](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/at-the-gates-disability-justice-and-the-churches/) - Out now! Order here from Darton, Longman and Todd, or buy the ebook here. Based on a decade of research into disabled people’s experiences of churches, At The Gates: Disability, Justice and the Churches shares disabled Christians' stories in their own words. These storytellers speak back to a church that has more often told their
- [Disability Consultancy](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/training/) - Access Advice While I'm training to be an access auditor, I'm able to give free access advice to not-for-profit organisations and churches. I can offer: Auditing: a 'mini audit' of your building, showing how to make the most of your access and where it could be improved Advice about making access easier for your customers/community
- [Current and Past Research Projects](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/research/) - I have worked on social research with the third sector, churches and academic institutions. My research interests include disability studies, critical neurodiversity studies, and participatory and activist research methods. Member: British Sociological Association, Social Research Association, National Coalition of Independent Scholars. Research Projects 2024 University of Leeds: Research Assistant on the Inclusive Public Space Project,
- [Slides from guest lecture at Holy Cross, 1st Nov 2024, 'Exploring Difference'](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/slides-from-guest-lecture-at-holy-cross-1st-nov-2024-exploring-difference/) - Exploring Difference: Disability TheologyDownload
- [Resources: Disability, Access and Justice - Churches and Theology](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/resources-for-churches/) - I'm often asked for resources to help church communities that want to live out disability access, justice and hospitality, but don't know where to start. Others ask where to start reading disabiity theology - you'll find both on this page. Resources - Access and Justice The UK disabled Christian movement has some experienced disabled leaders,
- [Summary of article ('Speaking With Us, Not For Us')](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/summary-of-article-speaking-with-us-not-for-us/) - Summarised by Tanya Marlow, with a few edits and additions from me [The full article can be read here or at the journal here] The paper is about the author’s own experience of being a neurodivergent Christian. (Neurodivergent means autism and other different ways of thinking and being. The author, Naomi, is autistic and dyspraxic

## Categories

- [disability and church](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/category/disability-and-church/)
- [inclusion](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/category/inclusion/)
- [social justice](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/category/social-justice/)
- [disability equality](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/category/disability-equality/)
- [neurodiversity](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/category/neurodiversity/)
- [disability theology](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/category/disability-theology/)
- [reflections](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/category/reflections/)
- [disabled christian community](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/category/disabled-christian-community/)
- [research](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/category/research/)
- [community news](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/category/community-news/)
- [at the gates](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/category/at-the-gates/)
- [book](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/category/book/)
- [online church](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/category/online-church/)
- [book reviews](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/category/book-reviews/)
- [inclusive worship](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/category/inclusive-worship/)
- [talks](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/category/talks/)
- [audiobook](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/category/audiobook/)
- [journal article](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/category/journal-article/)
- [neurodiversity theology](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/category/neurodiversity-theology/)
- [autism theology](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/category/autism-theology/)
- [autism](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/category/autism/)
- [disability conference](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/category/disability-conference/)
- [intersectionality](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/category/intersectionality/)
- [our disability theology](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/category/our-disability-theology/)
- [academic ableism](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/category/academic-ableism/)
- [disability studies](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/category/disability-studies/)
- [inclusive research](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/category/research/inclusive-research/)
- [disability research](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/category/research/disability-research/)
- [accessibility](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/category/accessibility/)
- [toxic productivity](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/category/toxic-productivity/)
- [disability justice](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/category/disability-justice/)
- [activism](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/category/activism/)
- [autism research](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/category/research/autism-research/)
- [equality law](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/category/equality-law/)
- [disability rights](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/category/disability-rights/)
- [learning disability](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/category/learning-disability/)
- [scholar-activism](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/category/activism/scholar-activism/)

## Tags

- [disability theology](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/tag/disability-theology/)
- [disability research](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/tag/disability-research/)
- [disability and church](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/tag/disability-and-church/)
- [at the gates](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/tag/at-the-gates/)
- [audiobook](https://naomilawsonjacobs.com/tag/audiobook/)
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