ABSTRACT
The way in which adherents of a religion respond to disability and illness, or even the way in which they are manifested, will depend not only on the teachings of the religion, but also on education, national identity, level of affluence and so on, as well as on how strictly the religion is followed. Studies comparing different religious groups are often not clear whether the religious affiliation is active or not. For example, the majority of people in the UK will appear, from their hospital records, to be 'C of E' (Church of England). Thus, for example, if a comparison was made of the attitudes to disability shown by a group of devout Hasidic Jews and a matched group of Anglicans whose only evidence of religious practice was derived from the hospital records, then like would not be being compared with like, and any conclusions about the different responses of the adherents of the two religions to disability would be invalid.
