Religiosity and Disability in West Timor: Pray, Access and Peer Empowerment

Abstract

Religion does not always positively impacted people with disabilities as past studies also discovered some negative influences that arise from interaction with members of religious communities. This research aimed to explore the experience of religiosity of people with disabilities. Nine people with disabilities participated in semi-structured interviews. Findings suggest that religiosity experience were described with themes of praying as a psychological oasis, lack of access, and empowerment from religious peer groups. While people with disabilities admitted the importance of religiosity in their life, they were still hampered by poor accessibility caused by poor awareness from leaders and members of religious communities.