Celebrate the image of God in everyone this Disability Awareness Sunday

I lost my hearing 25 years ago. Along the way, I have also gained mobility difficulties and a facial difference. Mirrors are not my best friend!

Growing up in a Christian household, Genesis 1:27 has always been familiar to me: ​“God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (NLT)

It was something I knew, but never really thought about. Until I became disabled. Could I really be made in His image now?

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I clung to His promise, even and especially at times when it felt as though the promise did not apply to me. The image of God is in everyone…including me. And including you.

The theme of Disability Awareness Sunday 2025 is ​‘Made in God’s Image’. I doubt I’m the only person, disabled or not, who has struggled with seeing themselves as made in the image of God. Disability Awareness Sunday is an opportunity to be reminded. It’s an opportunity to celebrate all of us. God’s image is in us! Isn’t that amazing?

I have a book coming out in October, and in the introduction, I tell the following story: My 18-month-old niece saw herself in a mirror. She pointed to her reflection: ​“Baby! Baby!” I looked at the same reflection, and saw Abigail. She didn’t know her name yet, but I did. She wasn’t just a baby to me. We had a different perspective on the same thing.

Sometimes, when we see ourselves in the mirror of our lives, we see damage. We see negatives. We see reasons why God would not want us. And God, looking at the same reflection, sees His creation. He sees us as He made us to be. He sees the potential within us. He sees precious people, formed in His image.

A key verse in the Disability Awareness Sunday material this year is 1 Samuel 16:7: ​“People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (NIV)

The challenge is for us to do the same. It’s so easy to unintentionally make an assessment of a person before we’ve interacted with them at all. But there is so much more to us than our outward appearance and, as we seek to be more like Jesus, we will look for His image in ourselves and in each other.

Where did you see Jesus today? How did you reflect God’s way today? These are questions that, as God’s image-bearers, we can look to answer.

I’ve seen Jesus in a preacher who was speaking to hundreds of people about the Lord. I’ve seen Jesus in a homeless man who asked me for a cup of coffee. I’ve seen Jesus in people who offer me their seat on the bus. I’ve seen Jesus in…

If God made everyone in His image, the image of God is in everyone. Let’s look for it. Why not start by joining in with Disability Awareness Sunday?

Disability Awareness Sunday is a day to celebrate and ensure disabled people are fully included in church and Christian life. Disability inclusion is a gospel issue: Jesus called disabled people and asks others to do the same in Luke 14’s parable of the Great Banquet – see this disability-friendly NIrV Bible translation: ​“Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the town. Bring in those who are poor. Also bring those who can’t see or walk.”

Join churches across the UK – and beyond – to celebrate Disability Awareness Sunday on 28 September 2025 (or any Sunday). Invite disabled people to speak, include a prayer, and/​or play the five-minute video of Emily’s story from the 2025 resources, available for free on Through the Roof’s website.

The most important thing about Disability Awareness Sunday is that Christians reach out and include disabled people fully in community life. Jesus welcomed everyone. Let’s follow His example and open our doors – and hearts – wider to celebrate this Disability Awareness Sunday.