What is disability?

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What is disability?

• Ros Madden

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UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities

• Persons with disabilities include those who
  have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or
  sensory impairments which in interaction with
  various barriers may hinder their full and
  effective participation in society on an equal
  basis with others.
• Article 1

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ICF Interaction of concepts
Health Condition (disorder/disease)
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Functioning and disability

• Functioning encompasses all human functions at
  the level of the body, the individual and society
• Functioning and disability multi-dimensional
  experiences resulting from the interaction
  between peoples health conditions and their
  physical, social and attitudinal environment
• ICF-CY 2007 derived classification for children
  and youth (additional text and examples)

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How do health conditions play out in the context
of childrens lives?

• Examples
• A school child with quadriplegia
• A child with cerebral palsy
• So
• Diagnosis tells only part of the story
• Functioning reflects how people live

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In 2003

• About 1 in 12 children (317,900) aged 14 and
  under in Australia had a disability
• And about half of these needed additional
  assistance with self care, mobility and/or
  communication
• AIHW 2005

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Children with disabilities, Australia 2003 (AIHW
2005)
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In developing countries

• Between 14 and 35 of children screened positive
  in most participating countries.
• UNICEF MICS results
• more than 200 million children under 5 years
  fail to reach their potential in cognitive
  development because of poverty, poor health and
  nutrition, and deficient care Most of these
  children live in south Asia or sub-Saharan
  Africa
• Grantham-McGregor et al 2007

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References and links

• UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with
  Disabilities
• http//www.un.org/disabilities/convention/about.sh
  tml
• WHO 2001 International Classification of
  Functioning, Disability and Health
• http//www.who.int
• http//www.aihw.gov.au/disability/icf/index.cfm
• Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW)
  2005. Disability updates Children with
  disabilities. Bulletin 42. AIHW Cat No. AUS 19.
  Canberra AIHW
• http//www.aihw.gov.au/publications/aus/bulletin42
  /bulletin42.pdf
• Grantham McGregor S, Cheung YB, Glewwe P, Richter
  L, Strupp B, International Child Development
  Steering Group. 2007 Developmental potential in
  the first 5 years for children in developing
  countries. Lancet 200736960-70

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