page_title: Disability
section_title: Political issues
hierarchical_section_title: Disability / Rights and government policies / Political issues
caption_attribution_description: English: Amal, a disabled 28-year-old woman from Karabilah, Iraq, recently sought assistance from U.S. Marines in Al Qa'im near the Iraqi-Syrian border, for medical assistance to help her �to one day be able to walk again.� Amal lost both of her legs during combat operations conducted by Coalition Forces against insurgents last year in her hometown near the Iraq-Syria border. Marines here from the 3rd Civil Affairs Group - a U.S. military unit responsible for assisting Iraqi communities with rebuilding local government infrastructure, commerce and economies � are jumpstarting the lengthy process of finding more advanced medical aid for the woman by working with Iraqi doctors at provincial-level medical facilities where resources for military doctors conducted a medical evaluation of the woman for an updated prognosis of her condition. Here, Amal waits for the results of the evaluation with a family member. U.S. military doctors also evaluated two Iraqi children, a five-year-old boy and a four-year-old girl, with genetic diseases. �Once we establish what's wrong physically, we can engage with the Iraqi health system and government agencies to see if we can get help,� said Lt. Col. Larry L. White, the civil military operations center director for the Al Qa'im region.
context_page_description: A disability is any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or interact with the world around them. These conditions, or impairments, may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, sensory, or a combination of multiple factors. Impairments causing disability may be present from birth or occur during a person's lifetime. The World Health Organization proposes the following definition of disabilities:
  "Disabilities is an umbrella term, covering impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions. An impairment is a problem in body function or structure; an activity limitation is a difficulty encountered by an individual in executing a task or action; while a participation restriction is a problem experienced by an individual in involvement in life situations. Disability is thus not just a health problem. It is a complex phenomenon, reflecting the interaction between features of a person’s body and features of the society in which he or she lives."
  — World Health Organization, Disabilities
  Disability is a contested concept, with different meanings in different communities.
context_section_description: Political rights, social inclusion and citizenship have come to the fore in developed and some developing countries. The debate has moved beyond a concern about the perceived cost of maintaining dependent disabled people to finding effective ways to ensure that disabled people can participate in and contribute to society in all spheres of life.
  In developing nations, where the vast bulk of the estimated 650 million disabled people reside, a great deal of work is needed to address concerns ranging from accessibility and education to self-empowerment, self-supporting employment, and beyond.
  In the past few years, disability rights activists have focused on obtaining full citizenship for the disabled.
  There are obstacles in some countries in getting full employment; public perception of disabled people may vary.
caption: A 28-year-old Iraqi woman who lost both of her legs during the Iraq War in 2005
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