Impairment, Disability, Or Handicap?

The terms disability, impairment, and handicap have been used

synonymously within the education, counseling, and health
literature. Although, each of these three terminology can be used
when discussing disabling conditions, they convey three
different meanings. To promote the appropriate use of these
terms the World Health Organization (WHO) provided the
following definitions in their International Classification of
Impairment, Disability, and Handicap (1980):

Impairment – any loss or abnormality of psychological,

physiological or anatomical structure or function.

Disability – any restriction or lack of ability to perform an

activity in the manner or within the range considered normal for
a human being.

Handicap – the result when an individual with an impairment

cannot fulfill a normal life role.

2 Based on these definitions, it should be understood a

handicap is not a characteristic of a person, rather a description
of the relationship between the person and the environment.
Consider the following. A person who is born blind (the
impairment) is unable to read printed material, which is how
most information is widely disseminated (the disability). If this
person is prevented from attending school or applying for a job
because of this impairment and disability, this is a handicap.
This person may be able to perform the daily activity (reading)
using some type of assistive technology to overcome this
handicap. By attributing the handicap to the environment as
opposed to an individual, the emphasis is placed on using AT to
produce functional outcomes as opposed to focusing on
functional limitations.
Handicapped vs. Disabled
Diffen › English Language › Grammar › Words
It is possible that a disability is the cause of a handicap. For
example, if a person has a disability that prevents them from
being able to move their legs, it may result in a handicap in
driving.

Disabled people do not have to be handicapped, especially if

they can find a way around their disability. For example, braille
for the visually impaired or wheel chairs for those who cannot
walk.

Comparison chart

Disability versus Handicap comparison chart

Edit this comparison chart DisabilityHandicap
Introduction (from Wikipedia) Disability is the consequence
of an impairment that may be physical, cognitive, mental,
sensory, emotional, developmental, or some combination of
these. A disability may be present from birth, or occur during a
person's lifetime. any physical or mental defect, congenital or
acquired, preventing or restricting a person from participating in
normal life or limiting their capacity to work.

Contents: Handicapped vs Disabled

1 Definitions
2 The Relationship Between Disability and Handicap
2.1 Sensory, Intellectual or other Neurological Differences
3 What is politically correct to say?
4 References
Definitions
A disability is an inability to execute some class of movements,
or pick up sensory information of some sort, or perform some
cognitive function, that typical unimpaired humans are able to
execute or pick up or perform. A disability may be physical,
cognitive, mental, sensory, emotional, developmental or some
combination of these.

A handicap is an inability to accomplish something one might

want to do, that most others around one are able to accomplish.
For example, reading, walking, catching a ball, or
communicating.

The Relationship Between Disability and Handicap

The view of disability as a social construct holds that society
assumes that everyone is a fully functioning, able-bodied person,
which prevents the disabled from fully functioning in society,
thereby creating disability.

When systems are designed thoughtfully to accommodate the

needs, challenges and varying degrees of ability of different
people in society, people with disabilities can fully participate in
(or use) these systems. One of the major goals of the disability
rights movement is to raise awareness of how systems can (and
should) be designed to serve all people, not just the majority of
people who happen to have no significant impairments.
For example, buildings and sidewalks that are designed to be
wheelchair-accessible eliminate any handicap for people with
physical disabilities (whether permanent or temporary). Closed
captioning on TV lets people with hearing impairments to enjoy
video programming.

Sensory, Intellectual or other Neurological Differences

While physical disabilities are easy to identify and appreciate,
mental disabilities require the same level of thought when
designing systems. Examples include sensory processing
challenges that make it hard for some people to stay in very
noisy environments or areas with flashing or fluorescent lights.
Some kids may have attention, communication or cognitive
challenges that can be mitigated by providing extra time for
taking their tests. These are all examples of ways in which
systems can be designed to let people overcome their disability
so it does not become a handicap.