2.8 People with disability

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Three young para-athletes. A male rugby player in a wheelchair. A female amputee swimmer who is using a crutch for support. A female golfer with a prosthetic leg.

’Disability’ is used to cover a range of health conditions and impairments. Some conditions are visible and obvious (e.g. people who use a wheelchair) while others are non-visible (e.g. people with autism). The different conditions can be grouped into several broad categories:

• Physical – an impairment which impacts on someone’s mobility or range of movement, for example, people with an amputation or cerebral palsy.
• Sensory – one or more of the senses are affected, such as the degree to which a person can hear or see clearly.
• Intellectual – these impairments vary between mild, moderate, and severe. They are sometimes referred to as learning difficulties or learning disabilities.
• Interaction and communication difficulties – for example, Autistic Spectrum Disorder, which is used to describe a wide range of disorders that impact on a person’s communication style and social interaction.
• A combination – for example, a person with cerebral palsy may have both a physical impairment which impacts on their mobility as well as speech and language difficulties.

Simply naming an impairment will never provide a meaningful picture. Avoid making assumptions about a person based on a general knowledge of a disability category.