Disabilities

What is a disability?

Disabilities result from accidents, illness or genetic disorders. Many students have more than one disability. For example, a person who uses a wheelchair may also have a vision or hearing impairment. The following are brief descriptions of some major disability groups.

What is a physical disability?

A physical disability is one that affects a person’s mobility and or dexterity. Physical disabilities fall under the following headings:

Limited control of some or all voluntary muscles;
Underdeveloped skeletal structure; and
Dysfunctional joints

Each person will have different causes, symptoms and management strategies making it difficult to generalise physical disabilities.

A physical disability may have existed since birth or it could be the result of an accident, illness, infection, disease, degeneration, medical condition or the result of congenital factors. A person with a physical disability may require some assistance or the use of some sort of equipment to aid with mobility.

What is a learning disability?

A learning disability refers to a variety of conditions. These conditions can affect the way in which a person takes in, remembers, understands and expresses information.

Learning disabilities range in severity and invariably interfere with the acquisition and use of one or more of the following important skills:

Oral language (e.g. listening, speaking)
Reading (e.g. comprehension)
Writing (e.g. spelling, written expression)
Mathematics (e.g. problem solving, concepts)

People with a learning disability are intelligent and have abilities to learn despite difficulties in processing information.

The exact cause of learning disabilities is not known, in some cases it may be due to genetic, other congenital and/or acquired neuro-biological factors. Learning disabilities may co-exist with other conditions including attentional, behavioural and emotional disorders, sensory impairments or other medical conditions.

What is acquired brain injury (ABI)?

Acquired brain injury (ABI) refers to a type of injury to the brain that results in deterioration of cognitive, physical, emotional or independent functioning that happens after birth.

ABI can occur as the result of trauma to the brain from motor vehicle accidents, falls and assaults, or from non-traumatic (internal) causes such as stroke, tumours, aneurysms, infection, poisoning and other situations when the brain does not get enough blood or oxygen.

People who have an ABI may be affected in a variety of ways, including:

Cognitive
Sensory
Physical
Behavioural or personality changes.

Individual responses vary greatly, only specific skills or abilities will be affected and other intellectual abilities remain intact.

What are autism spectrum disorders?

Autism spectrum disorders (commonly referred to as autism) describes a group of developmental disabilities which includes:

Autistic disorder (sometimes called infantile autism or childhood autism)
Asperger's disorder
Atypical autism

The word 'spectrum' is used to describe the fact that no two people with an autism spectrum disorder behave the same. People with autism spectrum disorders display a range of possible characteristics and behaviours across the three main areas of social interaction, communication and behaviour.

The characteristics that can be associated with autistic conditions are engagement in repetitive activities, stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines, and unusual response to sensory experiences. They may also experience sensory sensitivities, i.e. over- or under-sensitivity to sight, touch, taste, smell, sound, temperature or pain.

Autism spectrum disorders are lifelong disabilities that usually appear during the first three years of life. The causes are still unknown, though recent research has indicated that there may be a genetic factor for many people, while for others it may be a result of damage or abnormal development in the brain and parts of the central nervous system before, during or soon after birth.

People with an autism spectrum disorder may have difficulties with social interaction and communication. For some individuals this is the result of not being able to process information or understand the meaning of body language or the spoken/written word.

What is deaf or hearing loss?

People who are deaf or have hearing loss are those who cannot hear at normal levels because of a variety of factors. Deafness and hearing loss can be hereditary or may be caused by any of a range of factors, including physical damage, birth defects, disease, exposure to very loud noises or natural ageing.

People who are deaf and identify with the deaf community see themselves as a language minority not a disability group and may use a visual sign language to communicate.

In Australia, Auslan is the sign language used among signing deaf people to communicate with each other. For further information visit the Auslan Sign Language - Signbank at www.auslan.org.au.

Hearing loss may range from mild to moderate to severe to profound. A person with a mild hearing loss may not even be aware of their inability to hear certain sounds. A moderate hearing loss may cause some difficulty in hearing, for example in background noise, but not in every situation.

A person with a severe hearing loss will have considerable difficulty in following speech and in hearing other environmental sounds. However, their own speech may not be affected by their hearing disability.

Profound hearing loss implies that the person's range of hearing is extremely limited.

There is a wide range of assistive technology, i.e. TTY (telephone typewriter), FM system (amplify sounds), Mobile SMS text, fax and email available to assist in communicating with people who are deaf or have hearing loss.

What is an intellectual disability?

People with an intellectual disability are those who have substantial limitations in intellectual function when compared to individuals of a similar age. These individuals may also demonstrate difficulties with personal skills needed for everyday living.

Intellectual disability is a lifelong disability that can affect many different areas of a person’s life. People with an intellectual disability may have difficulties with thought processes, learning, communicating, remembering information and using it appropriately, making judgments, and problem solving.

The range of intellectual disability varies greatly from mild intellectual disability requiring low support, through to severe intellectual disability requiring complex support.

There are many causes of intellectual disability, but in the majority of cases, the reasons are still unknown. Known causes include:

Brain injury or infection before, during or after birth
Growth or nutrition problems
Abnormalities of chromosomes and genes
Babies born long before the expected birth date
Drug misuse during pregnancy, including excessive drug or alcohol intake and smoking.

What is mental illness?

Mental illness is a term used to describe a wide range of disorders. These disorders are considered to be related to the mind or brain in some way. There are many different categories of mental illnesses or disorders that can now be identified, diagnosed and treated.

Mental illness refers to conditions resulting in disorders of thought, emotion, perception and judgment. These may include:

Schizophrenia
Bi-polar disorder
Depression
Anxiety
Personality disorder
Obsessive compulsive disorder
Panic attacks

Mental illnesses may fall into two categories:

Non-psychotic
Psychotic

The common non-psychotic illnesses include depression and anxiety which involve exaggerated feelings of depression, sadness, tension or fear. Mental health issues may occur at different times and can cause changes to a person’s thinking, perception, feeling and emotional state.

Although it is considered there is no cure for some mental illnesses, such as Alzheimer's Disease and chronic schizophrenia, the ability to access medication, counselling and support can assist to treat or manage the symptoms of most mental illnesses.

What is a neurological disability?

Neurological disabilities are caused by damage to the nervous system (including the brain and spinal cord) that results in the loss of some bodily or mental functions.

Heart attacks, infections, genetic disorders, and lack of oxygen to the brain may also result in a neurological disability.

There are hundreds of categories of neuromuscular disease. Acquired brain injury (ABI) and epilepsy are two of the most common neurological disabilities.

Neurological disabilities may affect a person's capacity to move and manipulate things. A way a person acts, the way in which they process information or how they tolerate and express feelings may also be significantly changed.

The effects of many neurological conditions can vary greatly from person to person as well as from time to time for the same person.

What is blindness or low vision?

There are many causes of blindness and low vision and each individual is affected differently. An individual is considered legally blind when they cannot see at six meters what someone with normal vision can see at 60 meters. An individual is also considered legally blind if their field of vision is less than 20 degrees in diameter rather than 180 degrees for a normal sighted person. To be considered to be legally blind there must also be no possibility of correcting a person's vision through treatment.

The term ‘low vision’ simply means an individual has some degree of sight loss. Some forms of low vision can be corrected through the use of glasses or contact lenses. Other forms of low vision can be treated.

The four main eye conditions that lead to low vision include:

Age-related macular degeneration
Glaucoma
Cataracts
Diabetic retinopathy

No two people have the same vision loss. People with the same eye condition, may possibly have different levels of vision impairment.

With information, support and aids a person who is blind or has low vision may continue to lead active and independent lives in their own community.

Resource and acknowledgement: 'disAbility Aware CD resource'; TAFE NSW Illawarra Institute and the Department of Education, Science and Training, 2007