Disability
From Wikinfo
A person is said to have a disability if they find it difficult or impossible to perform one or more activities of everyday living.
Until recently, little distinction was made between the physical or mental condition of a person and the difficulties they faced. In the past 20 years, the social model of disability has been developed, which alters this perception. It distinguishes between an impairment (some ability is objectively less than average) and a deviation from the average that by itself is not better or worse, but that is a problem due to the attitude of society or the fact that standard facilities are based on the average, and that there is a lack of tools.
For example, as recently as the 1960s, left-handedness was seen as an abnormality. In schools in the Western world, left-handed children were forced to write with their right hand and punished if they did not comply. By the 1980s, left-handedness was accepted as simply a difference, a physical characteristic. Yet if tools such as scissors and corkscrews are only available in their right-handed forms, a left-handed person finds themselves disabled: they are unable to perform certain tasks and must be assisted by another person.
Thus, in the social model of disability, the disability is caused by society and the physical environment. Someone who is unable to walk and needs a wheelchair has an impairment; however, the social exclusion they may experience (lack of accessible transport, no adapted public toilets, buildings which are innaccessible) is caused by their environment, not their physical condition.
The term accessibility, apart from having its general meaning, is in particular used to describe facilities or amenities to assist people with disabilities.
Discrimination of those disabled is sometimes termed ableism.
The term handicapped, in its origin, meant hand in cap, and had its origins in sport and gambling.
Some disabled persons apply the term tab for the "nondisabled", meaning "temporarily able-bodied".
Various attributive forms, such as "the disabled", "the blind", "the deaf", etc. -- rather than "disabled persons", "blind persons", "deaf persons", etc. -- are considered objectionable by many persons, because the former labeling seems to characterize a person by a single attribute. Others use the terms "the Blind," "the Deaf," and "the Disabled" as markers of pride in their identity, much like other non-dominant groups, e.g., Women, Gay, Black. Still others prefer the term "differently abled," while others see it as an example of political correctness gone too far.
Many famous, creative and inspirational persons have lived with one or more disabilities while accomplishing remarkable things, including American president Franklin Roosevelt (impaired movement as the result of polio), classical composer 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), and many others.
See also
- List of disabilities
- Disability etiquette
- Architectonic barrier
- Disability Discrimination Act
- Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
- Learning disability
Further reading
- "U. S. Counts One in 12 Children as Disabled", Washington Post, July 5, 2002
References
- Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Disability" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disability, used under the GNU Free Documentation License
