Disability Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Disability is the loss or limitation of opportunities, participation, the denial of rights and to take part in the normal life of the community on an equal level with others due to physical and social barriers because of having an impairment.Disabilities are generally classified into various categories: physical disabilities, which affect movement and ambulation, such as post-polio syndrome, spina bifida and cerebral palsy; sensory impairments, such as gradations of blindness and deafness; cognitive disabilities such as dyslexia, Attention Deficit Disorder, or Down Syndrome; and neurological/psychiatric disabilities, including epilepsy, traumatic brain injury and certain mental illnesses. "Developmental Disability" is a term applied to any condition which appeared before adulthood, and affected the individual's learning and development. In addition, a particular disability may affect multiple body systems, and produce a range of functional limitations. For example, Cerebral Palsy can impair mobility, cognitive ability, vision, and other body systems.
Historically, disabilities have often been cast in a negative light. An individual thus affected was seen as being a “patient” subject either to cure or to ongoing medical care. His condition is seen as disabling; the social reactions to it are justified, and the barriers unavoidable. This position is known as the medical model of disability.
Over the past 20 years, a competing view known as the social model of disability has come to the fore. In this model, disability is seen more as a social construction than a medical reality. An individual may be impaired by a condition that requires daily living adaptations, but the bulk of his problem - his disability - can be found in the attitudinal and physical barriers erected by society.
Both the medical and social models agree, to a point, that facilities and opportunities should be made as accessible as possible to individuals who require adaptations. Dismantling physical barriers, or setting up adaptations such as wheelchair ramps, is known as "fostering accessibility".
| Table of contents |
|
2 Well-known disabled people 3 See also 4 Further reading |
Lately, the term disability has replaced the older designation handicapped. While these two designations can be used interchangeably, proponents of the social model of disability have appropriated the latter term to describe those social and economic consequences of the former. A physically or intellectually disabled individual, then, is said to be "handicapped" by the lowered expectations of society.
A person may also be "impaired" either by a correctable condition such as myopia, or by an uncorrectable one such as cerebral palsy. For those with mild conditions, related impairments disappear with the application of corrective devices. More serious impairments call for adaptive equipment.
The Person First Movement has added another layer to this discourse by asking that people with disabilities be identified first as individuals. "Person First Language" -- referring, for example, to a “woman who is blind” rather than to "a blind woman" - is a form of political correctness designed to further the aims of the social model by removing attitudinal barriers.
During the last years a human rights based approach has been adopted by many organisations of and for disabled persons. In 2000 the United Nations Assembly decided to start working on a comprehensive convention for the rights of disabled people. Please visit the following link to find out more about the convention: UN Enable
Some disabled people support the Person First Movement, while others do not. Deaf people in particular may see themselves as members of a specific community, properly called the Deaf culture, and so will reject efforts designed to distance them from the central fact of their identity.
Primarily in the UK disabled people within the disability rights movement commonly use the term "Disabled People" to denote someone who is "disabled by society's inability to cater for all of its inhabitants" not to deny their impairment but merely to focus attention on the disabling barriers within disabled People's daily lives such as inaccessible environments, attitudes & other circumstances that affect them.
Many people with disabilities have contributed to society. These include American president Franklin Roosevelt (impaired movement as the result of polio), classical composer Ludwig von Beethoven (deaf in later years), musician Stevie Wonder (blind), Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen (lost left arm in a car accident), civil rights activist Helen Keller (deaf and blind), Stephen Hawking (who has Motor Neurone Disease and uses a wheelchair and speech synthesizer), and many others.
This is an Article on Disability. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About Disability The language and terminology of disability
Well-known disabled people
See also
Further reading