There's a Difference Between Being Included and Actually Belonging

What this episode covers

You can sit in a room full of people and still feel completely alone. Being included is not the same as belonging — and Dr. Stuart Jones has spent his whole life learning that difference from a brother the world often overlooked.In Episode 98 of Hear Where You Belong Podcast, host Dea Irby sits down with Dr. Stuart Jones — author, speaker, ordained minister, former university vice president, and passionate advocate for disability, dignity, and human worth. His award-winning memoir, For the Love of Stephen: The Story of a Boy Who Was Never Broken, tells the true story of his brother Stephen, who was born with intellectual and developmental disabilities in 1954 — a time when children like him were routinely institutionalized, hidden away, and excluded from every aspect of community life.Stuart's parents — just 18 years old when Stephen was born — looked their family doctor in the eye and said no. No institution. No hiding. This is our son. He belongs.And he did. He joined Boy Scouts, 4H, the bowling league, the church volleyball team. He worked as a hospital janitor for 33 years. He rode his bike to work every single day. He knew no strangers — because in Stephen's world, every human being God created was someone worth knowing.300 people showed up to his funeral just days before Christmas.In this episode, Stuart opens up about what Stephen taught him about seeing people fully — and why Temple Grandin, who wrote the foreword, calls his book essential reading for every parent of a special needs child. He shares the tricycle moment that changed his parents forever. The heartbreaking irony of how Stephen died. And the question he asked a lecture hall full of future special education teachers that stopped them cold: your students will be included. But how will you make them belong?His favorite quote — from Maya Angelou — is the one that ties it all together:People will forget what you say. People will forget what you do. But people will never forget how you made them feel.This episode will make you look differently at every person you pass today. 💛📖 For the Love of Stephen is available on Amazon now🌐 Find Stuart at stuartdjones.com#HearWhereYouBelong, #YouBelong, #ForTheLoveOfStephen, #DrStuartJones, #DifferentNotLess, #DisabilityInclusion, #GodDontMakeNoJunk, #TruelyHuman, #BelongingNotJustInclusion, #TempleGrandin, #MayaAngelou, #NeverForgetHowYouMadeThemFeel, #DisabilityAwareness, #NewEpisode, #ChristianPodcast, #InclusionMatters, #SeeThemFully, #Psalm13914, #BelovedAndBroken, #YouAreNotOverlooked

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