Impairment + barrier = disability

The definition of disability has shifted over recent decades.

Disability was traditionally understood as an individual’s impairment - medical problem or health condition - which needed treatment.

This left the problem with the individual. For example, if a person had a hearing impairment, this was a disability that needed to be 'fixed' and the attitudes to that person were often ones of pity or a need for charity.

It is now recognised that disability is just as much or more about how society puts up barriers that exclude and disadvantage people with impairments by not recognising their rights and needs.

This means that the problem is with all of society and we all have a role in minimising disability.

In the example of the person with a hearing impairment, they may be disabled by people’s attitudes. An attitude that they need to be fixed rather than people finding ways to include them, such as by using other ways to communicate.

Facts about disability

• Around 10% of the world’s population, or 650 million people, live with a disability. They are the world’s largest minority.
• 80% of persons with disabilities live in developing countries, according to the UN Development Programme.
• Only 1-2% of children with disabilities in developing countries receive a formal education.
• 80% of people with disabilities are unemployed.
• Only 2% of people with disabilities in developing countries have access to rehabilitation and appropriate basic services.
• For every child killed during conflict, three more are permanently disabled.
• Mortality of children with disabilities can be as high as 80%.
• 20 million women are disabled as a consequence of pregnancy and childbirth per year.