Disability

A disability is a condition that a person has which limits them in some way.DePoy, Elizabeth; Gilson & Stephen French 2004. Rethinking disability: principles for professional and social change. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks Cole. ISBN 978-0-534-54929-9 These conditions may be congenital (present at birth), cognitive (associated with the brain), developmental (appears as the person develops) and physical, which can be caused by an accident or infection.

Introduction
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities defines disability in Article 1 as:

Invisible disabilities, or hidden disabilities, are disabilities that may not be immediately obvious, such as intellectual disabilities, autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), mental disorders, asthma, epilepsy, allergies, migraines, arthritis and chronic fatigue syndrome.
Assistive Technology
People with disabilities may use special equipment, often called assistive technology, that can help them. These can include: 

 Mobility aids, such as canes (walking sticks), crutches, and walkers, that help someone walk
 Wheelchairs, another kind of mobility aid, for someone who can't walk. Some people who use wheelchairs cannot walk at all. Others are able to walk a bit; they use a wheelchair because they cannot walk for far or without pain.
 Someone who uses a wheelchair cannot walk up or down stairs in a building. They need to use ramps and elevators going into and moving around in a building.
 Glasses or contact lenses to help someone see
 Screen readers that relay information on a computer to someone who cannot see. 
 These can include text-to-speech software that read contents of a screen out loud, or hardware that translates text on a screen into Braille. 
 Hearing aids to help someone hear
 Teletypewriters (TTY), speech-generating devices, and communication boards, that help someone communicate in other ways if they cannot talk
 Special grips for holding writing utensils, silverware, tools, art supplies, and more; to help people who have poor dexterity (fine motor skills), weak muscles, or a tremor. 
 Prosthetic limbs that replace a missing body part. Some people may have had the body part amputated (removed). Others may have just been born without it.

Wide doorways and accessible toilets also make it easier for people with physical disabilities to use.

Discrimination
Hatred of the disabled is widespread, ranging from the far left 



  to far right, 



  which is called ableism. People biased against the disabled are called ableists.Goodley, Dan, and Katherine Runswick‐Cole. 2011. The violence of disablism. in Sociology of health & illness 33.4: 602-617.

Categories
 A Physical disability limits the way a human body works
 A visual impairment impacts on the eyesight of a person, e.g. blindness
 A hearing impairment prevents a person from hearing normally, e.g. deafness
 A developmental disability limits how a person processes information, and as a result they may learn and grow at a slower rate than their peers
 An intellectual disability limits the brain functions of a person and prevents the person from functioning at the same "level" as their peers

Related pages
 Equity
 Equality
 Civil rights
 Accessibility
 Human rights
 Neurodiversity
 Women's rights
 Children's rights
 Autism rights movement
 United Nations Human Rights Council
 United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights
 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
 United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

References


Category:Social concepts