Disability across cultures
Deborah-Ruth Ferber, bottom right, visits L’Arche Warsaw. (Photo courtesy of Deborah-Ruth Ferber)
Since its inception, L’Arche has been built on the values of mutual sharing, building relationships and being a signpost to the world that friendships with people who have disabilities is possible. In my last six years as an assistant in L’Arche communities in Canada and Scotland, I have found this to be the case, but I had one question in mind: “How does this look when a community doesn’t speak English?” Can I, as someone who more or less is mono-fluent, still feel the presence and spirit of L’Arche even when it is not conveyed in words?