The Rev Melissa Carter, Team Rector in Dover is featured in an exhibition Called As We Are. The exhibition spotlights the contribution of those who are Deaf, disabled and or neurodivergent in images taken by portrait and documentary photographer Ruth Samuels. The exhibition will be launched at York Minster on Sunday (12 July) and then will go on tour in four Cathedrals and St Giles Cripplegate in central London.
Melissa, who is visually impaired and registered blind, and is the Honorary Bishop's Adviser for Disability said the portraits were more than just pictures – there were about their stories of the people taking part.
“It is lovely to be part of something that is celebrating the richness and the diversity of the Church of England, showing so many people who serve God in different ways,” she said.
“For me, being registered blind, light and colour are quite important, I have a little bit of residual sight, so for me I love the image of the rainbow, the light is split up into a spectrum of colour, and just like us, God uses us in all sorts of different ways, whoever we are and whatever our abilities are. He uses us for his glory so that the church can shine with a depth and a richness that comes from different people coming together.”
Others featuring in the exhibition include the Rev Alice Kemp, Dean of Women's Ministry in the Diocese of Bristol, the Rev Vanessa Thornborough, of St Edmund of Canterbury in Hayes, Diocese of London, and the Rev Pete Spiers, Archdeacon of Knowsley and Sefton in the Diocese of Liverpool,
The exhibition will be launched days after the General Synod has a debate on affirming neurodiversity within the life of the church.
Helen James, who features in the exhibition, and oversees the Church of England’s Disability Project, said: “There are many Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent priests and ministers living and proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but often this is unseen or unrecognised as a gift to the church.
“Disability, neurodivergence and difference are all part of what it means to be human, to be members of the ‘human race’ who are created to reflect the image of God. The breadth and diversity of the human experience leads us to understand more of the breadth and diversity of the God we worship and whose image we reflect.”
The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, will visit the exhibition on Sunday, 12 July at York Minster, where it will stay until 10 August.
Other venues include:
- Exeter Cathedral (12 August to 19 August)
- Liverpool Cathedral (14 September to 4 October)
- Chelmsford Cathedral (12 October to 9 November)
- St Albans Cathedral (10 November to 26 November).
- St Giles Cripplegate: 18th Jan 2027 to 8th Feb