Physical Disability Types

Disability is a physical or mental impairment that limits an individual's activities of life. A person can be born disabled or acquire it during his or her lifetime. There are various types of disability: physical, sensory, learning, communication, acquired brain injury, developmental delayed learner, psychological and others. Psychiatric disorders and various chronic diseases like diabetes or heart disease can also be termed disabilities. Among the physical disabilities are included blindness, hearing impairment, mobility and orthopedic impairment. Blindness and hearing impairment can be either total or partial. Mobility and orthopedic impairment denotes a serious kind of limitation in locomotion or motor functions.

People with absolutely no vision or some functional vision are those who are visually impaired. Individuals suffering from color blindness or developing eyesight problems due to old age also fall under this category. People who are completely deaf or can hear partially in one or both the ears with the help of a hearing aid fall under the category of hearing impaired.

A wide range of people come under the category of mobility impairment. Some suffer from problems in upper limb mobility, manual dexterity and co-ordination. A person can be born with such a disability or can develop it due to certain illness like multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease or a stroke. When the muscle fibers in the body gradually weaken, muscular dystrophy sets in. There are different types of muscular dystrophy among which the most common is Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Trauma during birth can result in cerebral palsy. It is caused due to damage to those parts of the brain which control movements when a child is developing. Brain injuries in early infancy like lack of oxygen due to near-drowning, meningitis or head injury can also lead to cerebral palsy. Children suffering from cerebral palsy have difficulties with postures. They cannot keep the body in a chosen position. Such children have difficulty in moving the body or body parts, while talking or eating and while coordinating or balancing. They experience muscle weakness and spasms or involuntary muscle movements. Among the different types of cerebral palsy are hemiplegia (weakness on one side of the body), diplegia (weakness in the lower part of the body), quadriplegia (weakness in both arms and both legs) and ataxia (problems with balance and coordination).

Sometimes, a baby's spinal cord may not develop properly during pregnancy. There remains no sensation below the place where the defect occurs in the spinal cord. This problem is termed spina bifida. Movements which are controlled by the spinal cord become impaired. The level of the disability depends on the severity of the defect in the spinal cord. An individual can have partial or full paralysis of the legs or difficulty in controlling bowel and bladder. He or she can also have a bent spine, deformities in bones and joints and hydrocephalus.

Cystic fibrosis is an inherited disease which affects the gastrointestinal and pulmonary systems and results in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Down's syndrome is a congenital birth defect which results in moderate or severe mental retardation. Depending on how the individual is affected, Down's syndrome gets classified as a developmental disability or a physical disability.

• John Palsson
• 11/06/2009, 6:59 AM
• 0 Comments