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Date: 15th May 2016

Disabilities
According to the World Health Organization, one billon people around the world experience
a disability: the state of not being able to use a part of the body completely or easily or the state of
not being able to learn easily (Oxford Dictionary, 2008). Disabilities can affect organs or body
parts and there may be effects on a persons life, like a reduction of a persons ability to carry out
his daily activities. There are different kinds of disabilities, which can be classify in three main
groups; physical, sensory and intellectual disability. (Disability Definition, 2016)
One of the main kinds of disability is physical; it may affect either temporarily or
permanently a persons physical capacity and or mobility. In an article in the 2015 in the website
Physical disability, this condition may be the result of birth defects, disease, age or accidents.
This kind of disability may involve illnesses such as spinal cord injury, muscular dystrophy, the
inability to use legs or arms, epilepsy or cerebral palsy. In an article in the 2016 in the website
Disabled world, is reported that people with mobility and movement impairments may find it
difficult to face social and physical barriers. In addition, people with cerebral palsy have limited
strength and restricted patterns of movement .They may have pains most commonly in the hips,
knees, ankles and lower back too.
Another kind of disablement is sensory disability. It refers to incapacities which affect one
or more of the senses such as sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste or spatial awareness. According to
an article in the 2015 in the website House with no steps, these handicaps can affect how a person
gathers information from the world around them. Examples of these types of disabilities could be:
deafblindess, deafness, blindness or low vision ,which can occur as a result of diseases conditions
such as congenital eye conditions or accidents .Like in the case of Leroy Phillips, a boy who lost his
sight after an accident, where his teacher threw the chalkboard eraser at him. He had to overcome

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difficult situations such as discrimination by his classmates and family. Fortunately he managed to
acquire a job in a radio. He states I like being on the radio, being heard, sharing my experience. I
feel that I can generally participate equally in other areas of life (Leroy Phillips, n.d)
Another kind of inability is intellectual disability, it involves difficulty in communication,
learning and retaining information. They may be caused by genetic conditions, problems during
pregnancy, health problems or illnesses. They are characterised by an IQ below 70 and difficulty
with daily living such as self care, safety, communication and socialisation. Common Intellectual
disabilities are: Down syndrome, fragile x syndrome and developmental delays. According to an
article in the 2016 in the website My Child Without Limits RSS, in the US 17% of children have
a developmental disability, these kids experience higher rates of emotional and behavioural
difficulties than other children.
Around the world there are millions of people who experience a disability, these inabilities
can be classify in three main groups: physically, sensory and intellectual disability. They can affect
people lives in different ways; physically and emotionally .In addition they may make their lives
difficult to carry out because of discrimination or physical pains but this not make impossible to
have a good quality of life and work, like in the case of Leroy Philips ,who could get a job and
overcame their problems.

References
Disability: Definition, Types and Models, Disabled Word, (2016), <http://www.disabledworld.com/disability/types/>
Types of disabilities, House with no steps, (2015), <http://www.hwns.com.au/Resourcecentre/Types-of-disabilities>
Types of disabilities, House with no steps, (2015) http://www.hwns.com.au/Resourcecentre/Types-of-disabilities/sensory-disability
Sally Wehmenier, Colin Mclntosh, Joana Turnbull, Michael Ashby, Oxford Dictionary,
(2008) ,Oxford Dictionary, Disability
Who Does Developmental Delay Affect?, My Child Without Limits RSS,(2016)
<http://www.mychildwithoutlimits.org/understand/developmental-delay/who-doesdevelopmental-delay-affect/>