Sociology of
Disability
Definitions of Disability
ADA Definition of "disability”
• The ADA has a three-part
definition of "disability." This
definition, based on the definition
under the Rehabilitation Act,
reflects the specific types of
discrimination experienced by
people with disabilities.
ADA-Definition
• it is not the same as the definition of disability in other laws,
such as state workers' compensation laws or other federal or
state laws that provide benefits for people with disabilities
and disabled veterans.
• Specifically a legal definition relating to this specific federal
law
ADA Definition of "disability”
• Under the ADA, an individual with a disability is a person who:
• 1. Has a physical or mental impairment that substantially
limits one or more major life activities
• 2. Has a record of such an impairment
• 3. Is regarded as having such an impairment.
The World Health Organization
definition:
• "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. Thus
disability is a complex phenomenon,
reflecting an interaction between
features of a person’s body and features
of the society in which he or she lives.“
International Classification of Impairments,
Disabilities and Handicaps (ICIDH)
• Three dimensions of disability
• #1
• Impairment: In the context of health experience an
impairment is any loss or abnormality of psychological,
physiological or anatomical structure or function. Impairment
is considered to occur at the level of organ or system function.
Disability is concerned with functional performance or activity,
affecting the whole person.
Three dimensions of disabilityICIDH
• #2
• Disability: In the context of health experience
a disability is any restriction or lack (resulting
from an impairment) of ability to perform an
activity in the manner or within the range
considered normal for a human being.
•
Three dimensions of disabilityICIDH
• #3
• Handicap: In the context of health experience a
handicap is a disadvantage for a given individual, resulting
from an impairment or a disability, that limits or prevents the
fulfillment of a role that is normal (depending on age, sex, and
social and cultural factors) for that individual.
Defining Disability
• 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'.
The medical model
• The World Health Organization (WHO) created the medical
model in the early 1980's and the definitions within were
biased toward the convenience of medical personnel.
• The medical model breaks disability down into three key
definition areas:
• Impairment - which means the loss or abnormality in
structure or function;
• Disability - which refers to the inability to perform an
activity within the normal range of a human being because
of said impairment;
• Handicap - The inability to carry out normal social roles
because of an impairment/disability
the social model
• the preferred construct of advocates for
getting to the true effects of a disability or
impairment.
• The social model specifically looks at the
way in which the lives of people with
disabilities are affected by the barriers that
society imposes.
• The social model effectively emphasizes
the social, economical and environmental
restrictions rather than the physical or
mental restrictions of the impairment.
The social model (cont.)
• The causes of disabilities are many
and varied, and affect people of all
cultural and social backgrounds.
Living and environmental
conditions as well as financial
circumstances affect how people
are able to manage their
disabilities.
• Importance of access to resources
citations
• Citation: Disabled World News (2009-12-23) - Definitions of
Disability a word used in daily conversations that holds
different meanings for different people: http://www.disabledworld.com/definitions/disabilitydefinitions.php#ixzz2IFZex71H