Scientology, disability, and the illusion of transcendence

Scientology is for an able guy like you or like me … The insane and so forth, somebody else can have them. They’ve already failed.
- L. Ron Hubbard, 1966.¹

The Church of Scientology is obsessed with the concept of 'ability'. In his only public interview to date, David Miscavige, the current leader of the movement, said that the singular goal of Scientology is to ‘help the able become more able,’² and the Church claims to do just that by proselytising the psycho-therapeutic 'technology' invented by its founder, L. Ron Hubbard.

Casual observers of Scientology might notice the near-total absence of disabled parishioners or disability-inclusive messages in its promotional material. Most religions take pride in exhibiting the mental and physical diversity of their members, but not Scientology. The ideal parishioner is physically mobile, extroverted, and neurotypical. Hubbard wanted to create ‘a civilization without insanity,’³ which in his mind included mental disabilities, so traits like autism, dyslexia, and Down’s Syndrome are highly undesirable to a Scientology public relations officer.

Scientologists believe that most disabilities are caused by subconscious traumas hidden deep within our psyches, and that by addressing those traumas one can unlock superhuman…