The Eastern Stigma of Being Handicapped

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

John 9:1-3

Sorry! The formatting on my website isn’t working at the moment, so I had to create paragraphs with dashes. Thanks as always for reading! ^^

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In the West, where there’s a pervading respect for and understanding of science, it would be unheard of to assume a person’s disability, for instance blindness, stemmed from personal or ancestral sin.

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But in many areas of the East, disabilities are considered a physical consequence for wrongdoing.

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We learned a lot about animism while in Laos and among the regional Hmong people. Before then, I’d had virtually no encounters with this belief system. Or so I’d thought.

Animists believe in a wide variety of spirits that are not regarded as exactly bad or good, but they are capricious and can cause trouble if irked, or supply help, if appeased.

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You’ll see cute, doll-like houses everywhere in Laos outside businesses, temples, and homes. Some are simple, some well-decorated and elaborate.

These are homes for spirits. And offerings of food and “spirits,” or alcohol, assists in keeping the spirits placated, or in “good spirits,” they believe. (Ok, enough with the puns. Sorry. XD)

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For example, before building a house, you should place a pyramid of rice on the ground, in the center of where the home would be. The next morning, if you find the rice to have fallen over, then this is a message from the land spirit not to build there.

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You’ll have to repeat this process in different spots until, eventually, the rice is found still in its pyramid shape the next day.

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This belief in such fickle beings has created a long list of superstitions. (Kinda think this one’s cute: “When you sneeze, someone is thinking about you.”)

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In Laos, Cambodia, or other Eastern countries, you’ll probably notice a crossover, or mixing, of both animism and Buddhism (and/or Hinduism, Taoism, Confucianism.)

This lax mixing of ideologies has allowed the doctrine of karma (from Buddhism and Hinduism) to become widely accepted in much of Southeast Asia.

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Karma in the East isn’t the gentle beast it’s taken for in the West.

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We use the idea of karma lightly in the States.

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Do something good? Great! Karma will reward you.

Someone treat you badly? No worries.

Karma will nip them in the butt for it later.

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But nah, karma’s actually not that nice.

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In Cambodia, if a building is going up in flames with people still inside, don’t expect bystanders to help.

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It’s not in their hands, they’ll say. The ones who have done good in their lives will make it out. The ones who die, in effect, deserved it.

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The outcome is under karma’s merciless control.

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This is the “works-based” system that all religions or ideologies run on, except Christianity.

I wrote a post a while back about an amazing lady we met in Kampot, Cambodia. Her name was Pheakdey. She ran her own restaurant and dessert shop, while also helping out in the local orphanage.

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She was once an orphan herself. At age 13, some men told her they’d found her mother in Cambodia’s capital and would take Pheakdey there.

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These men intended to sell her into the sex trade, but while driving to the capital, they were hit by another car.

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The car flipped and one of Pheakdey’s legs got pinned under the car. The men were hurt too, but managed to flee the scene.

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In the hospital, Pheakdey’s leg was amputated. (Years later she was able to use a prosthetic one.)

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She got transferred to an orphanage in the capital, owned and run by Christian Americans who taught her that she was loved despite her new disability. They told her she’d still be able to accomplish whatever she put her mind to.

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She accepted Jesus and was encouraged by the faith of those around her in the orphanage.

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But when she went out, people would see her limp, notice her missing leg and tell her, “You should just sit in the street in beg. What else is there for you to do?”

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Or, more cuttingly, she’d sometimes hear: “You did something to deserve that, so just accept it.”

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Pheakdey was deeply hurt by these words, but I’m happy to report that she’s now married, with kids, and a thriving business.

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However, while listening to her story, we were shocked. Karma then took on a whole new, deeper meaning for us. This meaning was much more callous and cruel.

In Laos and Cambodia, it felt uncomfortable and strange to walk around with Grace’s very apparent Down syndrome, while knowing that many who saw us believed her disability to be our fault.

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For families with handicapped children, this societal view often brought shame and resulted in handicapped people being isolated and hidden away at home. Or, in pregnancy, this generally meant the children were aborted.

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This stigma has hindered thousands of disabled people from getting help or from even having the boldness to ask for it.

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Thankfully this stigma has been diminishing in recent years, as we can see from the rising benefits and organizations coming together to provide services for all kinds of needs and disabilities in Eastern nations.

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Taiwan has been a leader in turning this around. The Lao government also has been working to dispel the common practice of discarding special needs babies.

Originally I thought I had no connections to the beliefs from animism or Buddhism. But as it turns out, I’m seeing these ideologies invade the US at an incredibly fast rate through the New Age.

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New Age practices are becoming more accepted and common, arriving through avenues such as yoga, tarot readings, and even the prosperity gospel from Bethel in California. You can find the roots of these practices in Eastern religions.

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Remember the land spirits in animism? There’s even a parallel to Catholicism here. Instead of a spirit, a saint is believed to be the authority over homes, St. Joseph specifically. Some Catholics follow a superstition of burying St. Joseph in the ground to help sell their house.

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Maybe you’ve noticed I’m really making two points with this post.

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We were definitely shocked to discover how many people still view the disabled in such an unfavorable and superstitious light throughout Asia.

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But it has also been fascinating to see the overlap and influence each ideology has had on the others, traveling between East and West. I believe there are strengths and weakness in every culture. The hope is that we rub off our good qualities on each other and shine light on the bad.

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What do you think? Have you had any encounters with animism or Buddhist traditions?

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See more pictures from Laos here!