{"id":50421,"date":"2017-02-02T14:00:44","date_gmt":"2017-02-02T20:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=50421"},"modified":"2017-02-02T14:00:44","modified_gmt":"2017-02-02T20:00:44","slug":"disability-intersects-muslim-identity-for-chicagoans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/disability-intersects-muslim-identity-for-chicagoans\/","title":{"rendered":"Disability Intersects Muslim Identity for Chicagoans"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>By Peter Jones<\/strong> <\/p>\n

Aziza Nassar and Muhammed S. Ullah are two American Muslims living with disabilities. Although President Donald Trump\u2019s executive order<\/a> temporarily banning all refugees and travelers from seven mainly Muslim countries has left Muslims in the U.S. feeling marginalized, Muslims with disabilities are feeling even more isolated.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Religion Census<\/a> estimated that the Muslim population of Illinois was 35,000 in 2010. According to the 2015 American Community Survey<\/a>, approximately 10.7 percent of people in the state are living with a disability. That means an estimated 3,700 Muslims with disabilities live in Illinois. Despite their sizeable population, Muslims with disabilities often avoid attending mosques because they are not accessible to the disabled.<\/p>\n

Aziza Nassar has not had such an easy time merging her faith with a disability. After losing her father and starting to use a wheelchair at age 15, Nassar and her family turned to their local mosque for support. But accessing that mosque proved difficult.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cI would sit outside and then finally [I] would ask a lot of the men and women to just physically pick me up in my wheelchair and bring me down the steps,\u201d Nassar said.<\/p>\n