Disability is any type of loss or abnormality that limits a person's physical, sensory or intellectual functions.
In general, the term is related to a high degree of dysfunction of psychological functions, physiological or anatomical of the human being, since we can all suffer some kind of deficiency in the body.
In medical terms, it represents the exteriorization of a pathological state that reflects the absence or failure in the functioning of an organ or member, such as when a person is left without a leg. She may not have the same mobility and mobility as someone who has both legs.
In cases such as sensory loss, such as Visual impairment, the individual who has it presents some difficulties in their daily life, such as seeing completely, in the case of loss of vision. already the intellectual disability it is an impediment affecting a person's mental faculties.
Disability can also refer to the loss or lack of resources to carry out a certain action.
Example:"The hospital's work just didn't go ahead because of the lack of materials".
The word, which originates from the Latin handicap, oh and means "lack, weakening", can also be replaced by synonyms such as: lack, scarcity, shortness, shortage, gap, deprivation, lack, incapacity, insufficiency, deficit, deficit, among others.
Types of disability
Disability can present itself in different forms and types, which can be:
Hearing deficiency
It is the partial or total loss of hearing in one or both ears. It can be classified into different levels: mild, moderate, severe, severe, profound and total hearing loss.
In some of these cases, losses can be helped by wearing hearing aids.
Visual impairment
This is the partial or total reduction of vision in one or both eyes, which cannot be improved with the help of lenses, medical or surgical treatment.
There are two main groups that characterize visual impairment, which are:
- Low vision or low vision group, when the loss is mild, moderate, severe or profound and causes a decrease in visual responses, even after treatment and/or optical correction;
- blindness group, when there is a total absence of the visual response.
Learn more about Visual impairment.
Physical/Motor Disability
This type of disability is characterized by the complete or partial alteration of one or more parts of the human body that lead to a reduction or loss of motor functions and/or speech. These deficiencies can result from malformations, neurological injuries and neuromuscular injuries.
The most common types of motor impairment are: Cerebral palsy, Hemiplegia, Tetraplegia, Paraplegia, Paraparesis, Monoplegia, Monoparesis, Tetraparesis, Triplegia, Hemiplegia, Hemiparesis, Degenerative pathologies of the central nervous system and Amputations, among others.
mental/intellectual disability
This is the deficiency that causes an alteration in psychoneuromotor and intellectual functioning, which may have limitations associated with different areas such as: communication, personal care, social, work and academic skills, among others.
These deficiencies can be classified as mild, moderate, severe and profound, taking into account the function of intellectual capacity and other impairments in the individual's behavior.
The most common are: Autism, Down Syndrome, Angelman Syndrome, Tourette Syndrome, Asperger Syndrome, among others.
know more about intellectual disability.
People with disabilities (PwD)
According to the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, a person with a disability, also identified by the acronym PwD, is one that has long-term impairments, whether physical, mental, intellectual or sensory, which impair their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with other people.
However, the convention considers that the disability is not in the person's physical limitation, but in the relationship that she has with the environment in which she lives, which may prevent her full participation in the society.
In this way, she proposes a social model based on the international classification of functionality, disability and health (ICF) of the World Health Organization (WHO), which describes situations related to the functionality and accessibility of the human being.
In Brazil, there is the Law of Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities (Law No. 13.146/2015), which determines among others things, the Statute of Persons with Disabilities, which guarantees rights to these people in basic activities of the life.
See also the meaning of Accessibility and learn more about PwD.