I Don't Want Your Prayers

I walk through Footscray train station. It's usually filled with people pushing their flyers in your face, wanting you to buy their product, join their service, or convert to their religion. Today is no different. I usually walk quickly through, but today I cannot. My fatigue levels are too great, leaving me unable to walk quickly. Today, I walk slowly, aided by my walker. Still, I do my best not to make eye contact with anyone. I am tired and I want to be left alone. I do not want to have flyers pushed in my face, I do not want to be told how wonderful your brand of religion is. Not today, thanks.

But it is not so. Luck is not on my side. I walk slowly through, my gaze set on the bus stop I aim to get to. But today there is a large group of religious zealots hanging around the station, unwilling to take "no" for an answer. One woman approaches me, flyer outstretched, and begins to talk to me about faith. I respond, "no thank you", and continue on my slow journey through the crowd. Another woman approaches. "No thank you." I again continue on. Unimpressed with my response, a third woman approaches me after seeing me dismiss the previous two people. Again, I refuse a flyer and reply with my go-to response. "No thank you." "I'll pray for your healing!" This third woman yells out at me, through the crowd, after I refuse her offer.

But I don't want prayers. I don't want prayers from anyone, least of all some stranger who shouts at me in a crowded public space. She made sure that everyone around us heard her intention to pray for me. If she really must pray for me, then fine, she can go and pray for me, in her own time. What I don't appreciate is her yelling and telling everyone about her intentions. If it's so important that she pray for "my healing" then she can do so in private, she does not need to tell everyone about it, least of all me. I don't want your prayers. I want to be allowed to go about my day without your shouts of prayer thrown my way.

Also, I find it incredibly rude (and ableist) that she see my walker, my disability, and assume that I have something that needs to be "healed", that I have something wrong. Did she ever stop to think that maybe my life is great and that maybe I am happy exactly the way I am? Or, did she even stop to think that maybe my health, my medical history, my personal details, are absolutely none of her business and not something she needs to be including in her prayers?

My message is this: if you are a particularly religious person and wish to pray for a disabled person, including me, you are welcome to do so in privacy. Please do not approach disabled people you don't know and hark on to them about how you will pray for their healing. This is rude. This is ableist.

I don't want your prayers.