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Definition of Disability:
A disability is a physical or mental condition that makes an individual have more difficulty in performing activities or interacting with the world around them. According to the World Health Organization (WHO)’s definition of disability, it can be divided into three major sectors: Impairments, Activity Limitation and Participation restrictions. Something is considered a disability if it falls under any of these 3 categories.
Impairments: An impairment is the loss or significant difference of a body structure or function, or mental functioning. An example of this is amputation.
Activity Limitation: This consists in the limitation of an individual in performing activities, such as listening or problem solving.
Participation restrictions: The difficulty of participating in daily activities such as working, engaging in social conversations, etc.
Remember, a disability isn’t determined by the condition in itself, but rather by the effect that it has on the individual’s life, as well as it’s time-span. While most can be traced down to genetics, accidents/ injuries or derive from another condition, what makes them a disability is their effect and not how they came to be.
It is also important to note the difference between Participation Restrictions and Activity Limitations. Activity Limitations are disabilities that prevent or difficult you from performing certain activities, while participation restrictions are disabilities that difficult your daily life.
Types of Disabilities:
Depending on what they affect and how they affect it, disabilities can be divided in 5 domains: Physical, Intellectual, Sensorial, Visceral and Multiple
Physical Disabilities: Any physical condition that limits the movement, stamina or activities of someone. It needs to be a long-term or permanent condition in order to classify as a physical disability.
There are two types of physical disabilities: musculoskeletal and neuromusculoskeletal.
A musculoskeletal disability affects the body's joints, muscular tissues or bones, while the neuromusculoskeletal disability affects the nervous system, which in term can cause a physical disability indirectly. One last thing to point out is that a disability isn't physical by what it affects, but rather HOW it affects the body and individual. If the disability in question is long-term and limits the person’s movements, stamina or how they perform activities, then it is a physical disability.
Intellectual Disabilities: These conditions affect the individual’s cognitive abilities like the intellectual and adapting functions, such as problem solving, perception and memory.
The Intellectual functions, also known as IQ, are an individual’s capabilities to learn, reason and establish analogies. The Adapting functions are the skills necessary for one to take care of themselves and interact with others effectively.
Sensorial Disabilities: Loss or alteration of an individual’s senses, resulting in a lower reception of information from their surroundings, some of these examples include hearing and visual loss.
Visceral Disabilities: Disabilities that affect someone’s body systems, like the digestive, respiratory and cardiovascular systems.
Multiple Disabilities: The name given to someone who has more than one disability, they can have different intensities
Examples of Disabilities (Physical):
Paraplegia and Paraparesis:
According to our research, as well as the data we gathered with our inquiry, the most common physical disability is paraplegia/paraparesis. Now this information must be taken with a pinch of salt, as the pool of people we shared inquiry with was very small and selective. Needless to say, out of the 36 participants who answered "Yes" to the question "Do you have any kind of physical disability?", 13 responded that they have Paraplegia or Paraparesis. But what is Paraplegia?
This disability is characterized by the total or partial loss of the lower half's body functions and sensibility, manly the legs. This results from an interruption on the spinal cord's neurotransmitters, usually at a lumbar or thoracic level, as these are the ones that guide the stimulus to the legs. As with other paralysis, there are various degrees of paraplegia. Flaccid shrinks your muscles, making them weak. Spastic makes your muscles hard and twitch uncontrollably. Reversible and Irreversible, depending on the gravity of the interruption. The main difference between a paraplegia and a paraparesis, as it with all other paralysis, is that "plegia" suffix means total, representing the total loss of the a part of the body's functions, while the "paresis" represents the partial loss, meaning that someone with paraparesis might be to feel and even walk with without problem, but still lack some of the legs physical functionalities and sensibility.
Monoplegia; Tetraplegia and Hemiplegia:
These are the other paralysis we included as an option in our inquiry. None of them got as many responses as paraplegia, but all of them got at least one representative. Monoplegia is the loss of function and sensibility of one limb of our body. Hemiplegia has to do with our hemispheres (left and right sides), representing the loss of one of those sides' functionalities. Lastly, tetraplegia is the loss of all limbs functions and sensitivity.
Amputation:
Amputation is the last option we gave. It is the total or partial removal and loss of a limb due to trauma/injury, medical condition/disease or surgery.
Spina Bifida:
When making this poll, one response stood out a lot, which was Spina Bifida, something we'd never heard about. When making our research, we realised that this was a condition in the spine that usually happens at birth, where the neural tube of the spine doesn't close all the way, which doesn't allow its backbone to form (it's the bone that protects the spine). This can lead to deformations in the spinal cord and its nerves and, depending on the degree and where its located, can not only originate physical, but as well as intellectual disabilities. Let's look at the three major types of spina bifida:
1. Spina Bifida Occulta
The mildest type of Spina Bifida. It is characterized by having a small gap in the spine, but no opening or sack. The "Hidden" Spina Bifida is the only type that does not originate from physical disabilities, as it does not damage the spine nor its nerves.
2. Meningocele
This type of Spina Bifida originates from a sack in the baby's back, but it does not damage the nerves significantly. Still, it can originate some minor disabilities
3.Myelomeningocele
The most common type of Spina Bifida. In it, the sack formed from Meningocele contains a fluid, where part of the spine as the nerves go to, damaging them. This can result in moderate to severe disabilities, like lack of sensitivity in the legs.
Polio/Poliomyelitis:
Polio is an easily transmitted virus that can cause paralysis in the body. There are 3 strains of poliovirus. One of them (Type 2) was eradicated in 1999, the type 3 was considered eradicated as well, as the last case was encountered in Nigeria, 2012. Currently, only 2 countries are affected by Polio type 1, those being Pakistan and Afghanistan.
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