Disability caregivers and church doulia: What Dietrich Bonhoeffer might say, part 1: Thoughts on theory

Abstract

This is Part 1 of a two-part article. People with intellectual and developmental disabilities either live at home with family or in facilities staffed by professionals. Family caregivers are fatigued, stressed, and financially burdened from the time, energy, and expense involved in looking after a dependent loved one. Professional caregivers experience hardship from the fact that wages are low—and so turnover is high, recruitment difficult, and vacancies persistent. This paper describes the needs of family and professional caregivers and develops a moral and theological rationale for why the church should support them. It draws on Eva Feder Kittay’s ethic of doulia and Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s ecclesiology of the “church for others.”