Disability
What do we mean by Disability?
An individual classified as having a disability would have a condition(s) that has a significant and long term effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. Disabilities may come to people during their life or people may be born disabled.
Statistics
In Northern Ireland today, one fifth (20%) of the population have a disability. Facts about the Northern Ireland Population including disability:
- An estimated 1.7 million people live in Northern Ireland today
- An estimated 340,000 people have a disability
- Out of the estimated 340,000 people with a disability, 46.4% are at the age of 65 or over
- Out of the estimated 340,000 people with a disability, 3% are born with it
Did you know there are five types of disabilities? Examples of each type of disability:
Sensory – Deafness, and Visual Impaired
Physical – Arthritis, Brittle Bones, Cerebral Palsy, Muscular Dystrophy, Multiple Sclerosis, Myasthenia Gravis, and Spinal Bifida
Mental – Antisocial personality , obsessive-compulsive personality, or any other severe personality disorder, Alzheimer’s disease or another type of senile disorder, other mental or emotional disorders that seriously interfered with ability to work, attend school, or manage day-today activities.
Learning/Intellectual – Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia, Auditory and Visual Processing Disorders, Nonverbal Learning Disabilities, and Down Syndrome
Hidden – Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autism (Autism Spectrum Disorder), Asperger Syndrome, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Auditory Attention Problem, Pathological Demand Avoidance Syndrome (PDA), Dypraxia, Dyslexia (Specific Learning Difficulties), SEN (Special Educational Needs), LD (Learning Difficulties), Depression, Heart Condition, ME (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome), Renal Failure, and Tourette Syndrome
Medical Model of Disability vs Social Model of Disability
The medical model of disability looks at the person with a disability as ‘the problem’. A disabled person could be seen as ‘a person who has ‘to adapt to fit into the world’, and would be best placed in an institution or isolated at home, where their basic needs are met.
The model revolves around identifying the disability, finding out what it is, understanding it, learning how to deal with it, learning how to improve it, and attempting to cure it, or expand or improve the functionality of the disability. This lies with the medical profession who would be deemed as having central core of this responsibility.
This is viewed by those who stereotype disability, and look at ‘the problem’, and not the social needs of the person.
The social model of disability looks at the person with a disability as a human being, a person with human rights who has a right to full participation in all walks of life.
This model is supported by disabled people today, and they believe the ‘cure’ to the problem of disability lies in the restructuring of society, for example according to the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, service providers, or employers are required to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to their policies or practices, or physical aspects of their premises, are actually removing the barriers that disable. According to the Social Model of Disability, this means they are effectively removing the person’s disability.
