NEWS > E-newsletters > What does Disability Mean?
Donate NowChange the lives of the world's most vulnerable.
|
What does Disability Mean?Traditionally, the term disability was regarded as a feature of the person, caused by disease, trauma or other health condition, needing medical care.
Over the decades, however, the definition of disability has shifted. Nowadays, disability is seen as the interactions between:
This means that a person’s impairment, or health condition, becomes a disability when she or he cannot participate in the wider community because of physical and social barriers.
Take, for example, Samantha – a little girl who has lost the use of her legs (health condition) and uses a wheelchair for her mobility. Her health condition becomes a disability when she cannot get into school because the building does not offer a wheelchair accessible entranceway (external environmental barrier). It is a further disability if she lives in a community that thinks that because she cannot walk she is cursed (social attitude) and therefore is not allowed to attend school, and that girls shouldn’t go to school anyway (internal personal factor – gender).
If Samantha’s school had a wheelchair accessible entranceway, if her community didn’t think she was cursed, and if they supported education for all people, would she be considered disabled? Or would she be a mobile, abled person?
The community as a whole has a role in minimising disability. We all should think about universal accessibility, the rights of persons with disabilities and support a society in which all are included. Community education, and education of ourselves, is key.
What do I say?
Have you ever been in a conversation with a person with a disability, or been talking about a person with a disability, and weren’t quite sure if you were using the correct terms? Well, the article Don't Dis my Ability gives some great tips on correct terminology. It is designed for the Australian English language but many of the concepts are universal.
Remember: The chosen terminology of the disability movement varies between cultures and languages. For example, ‘disabled people’ is favoured in the UK, however in other countries, ‘people with disabilities’ is preferred. The best guideline is to ask persons with disabilities themselves in a given culture.
What kind of impairments can a person have?
|
|
|
 |
Signup for our e-newsletter