Underlying the presence
of physical barriers in churches and seminaries is a set
of still - perpetuated attitudinal barriers — primarily the following: (1) low expectations on the part
of both pastors and laypeople
of just what a disabled person can do; (2) a psychologically defined negation, usually unconscious, reflecting the Jamesian
response of «fight or fly»; (3) simple
lack of experience with handicapped persons, and
consequent embarrassment; (4) biblically derived sanctions, expressing thousands
of years
of tradition.