Disability

About Disabilities

A Disability is a lack of ability relative to a personal or group standard or norm. In reality there is often simply a spectrum of ability.

Disability may involve physical impairment, sensory impairment, cognitive or intellectual impairment, mental disorder (also known as psychiatric or psychosocial disability), or various types of chronic disease. A disability may occur during a person's lifetime or may be present from birth.

The World Health Organization estimates that there are as many as 600 million persons with disabilities worldwide.

The medical model of disability is a model by which illness or disability is the result of a physical condition, is intrinsic to the individual (it is part of that individual’s own body), may reduce the individual's quality of life, and causes clear disadvantages to the individual. As a result, curing or managing illness or disability revolves around identifying the illness or disability, understanding it and learning to control and alter its course.

The disability rights movement aims to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities. For people with physical disabilities accessibility and safety are primary issues that this movement works to reform. Access to public areas such as city streets and public buildings and restrooms are some of the more visible changes brought about in recent decades.

The social model of disability proposes that barriers and prejudice and exclusion by society (purposely or inadvertently) are the ultimate factors defining who is disabled and who is not in a particular society. It recognizes that while some people have physical, intellectual, or psychological differences from a statistical mean, which may sometimes be impairments, these do not have to lead to disability unless society fails to accommodate and include them in the way it would those who are 'normal.'

Current issues and debates surrounding 'disability' include social and political rights, social inclusion and citizenship. In developed countries the debate has moved beyond a concern about the perceived cost of maintaining dependent people with a disability to an effort to find effective ways of ensuring people with a disability can participate in and contribute to society in all spheres of life.

Disabilities can be classified into several different types of disabilities.

Due to website expansion we are in the process of adding new disability categories, the older categories are below, and our new disability related sub-categories can be found in the right hand menu.

Your Disability and Health Stories

Disability Sexuality

Disability and Health Articles

Further Information Regarding Disability

How to Cope with Sudden Illness or Disability
You have got a great family and circle of friends until one day something very unfortunate happens to you. You become ill or have an accident and you can no longer enjoy life as you used to. Suddenly everything seems to be falling apart. All kinds of scenarios may come up; you might no longer be in a position to support your family financially, you could lose your job, simply your dreams are falling apart.

Tips for the Newly Disabled
When a person is newly disabled by accident, illness or genetics, a host of physical, emotional and social changes present themselves. Most of these changes are things no one can truly prepare for. There are suddenly no usual routines and no guidelines in how to proceed with success.

Disability Quotes - Collection of Quotations Regarding Disabilities
"It is a waste of time to be angry about my disability. One has to get on with life and I haven't done badly. People won't have time for you if you are always angry or complaining." - Stephen Hawking. This and other famous and not so famous quotes regarding disability can be found in our collection of quotes regarding disabilities.

Number of Americans with Disability Growing
Nearly 48 million Americans have a disability, an increase of three million from 1999, and arthritis tops the list of most common causes of disability, according to an article published today in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).

Workplace Disability and Health Trends
The escalating rate of workplace disabilities is causing businesses and consumers alike to revisit how they handle stress and health issues. High stress, lack of exercise and other factors exacerbated by an aging U.S. workforce are contributing to an increase in the numbers of individuals receiving long-term disability payments each year, according to a new study from the Council for Disability Awareness.

Rebuild Your Life After Loss or Injury
Today, many are challenged by lost jobs, foreclosed homes, floods, family members away in Iraq, or returning injured. My life was also turned upside-down when I suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) and as a single person, I didn't know what to do.

Disability - A State of Mind
In today's society, with its progressive treatment of people with disabilities and the numerous opportunities available to people with disabilities to become full members of society, it is hard to believe that attitudes such as what I encountered last weekend still persist, but they do.

Defining Disability Today
Officially, there are many ways of defining what a disability is, although the two most commonly used models used for deriving the definitions are known as the 'medical model' and the 'social model'.

Identifying Disability Fraud
Disability fraud is a major problem world wide. There are millions of people receiving disability assistance from social security, insurance companies, and other institutions all around the world.

Focus on Abilities not Disabilities
Most times when people look at others with a disability they only see what they can not do. Why is that? As with anyone else we all have our strengths and weaknesses. You have strengths. You have weaknesses.

President Elect Barack Obamas Plan to Empower Persons with Disabilities
President Elect Barack Obama, in his outline of actions promised to American's with Disabilities located on his campaign website, stated many things that have the potential to enhance the lives of persons with disabilities in our nation. The statement revealed a four-part plan that presents the following focus areas of action, intended to increase access and opportunity for persons with disabilities in America.

Disability RSS News Feeds - Disabled World
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