International Day of Disability is celebrated on 3rd of December with a different theme and a motto of treating everyone equal all around the world. This creates a sense of responsibility and awareness. Disability is a special ability in a human process. In medical terms many like orthopaedic surgeons think that it can be treated with some assistance but there are disabilities which are left unnoticed for ages. Awareness is the key solution. This will start right from the beginning, that is childhood or schools. Disable people don’t need special attention but they need acceptance as a human being.
Understanding Disability
Disability is an impairment that can be mental, physical, sensory or some combination of all the above. But many people and intellectuals consider it as a special ability that we in society have to accept. This can be a serious condition which hampers your life and affects the overall life expectations. International Day of Disability is the need of the hour as there is still a lot of social stigma around the people with special disabilities. It may be present from birth or occur during a person’s lifetime . Disability is an umbrella term covering impairments, activity limitations and participation restrictions. An impairment is a problem in body functions or structure. An activity limitation is defined as difficulty encountered by an individual executing a task or action while a participation restriction is a problem experienced by an individual in life situations. Disability is not a health problem but is a complex phenomenon reflecting the interaction between the features of a person’s body and features of the society in which he or she lives. In fact disability is a contested concept with different meanings in different communities. This is the reason for celebrating International Day of Disability to bring all the communities together under one umbrella. It may be used to refer to some attributes that might be physical or mental and that some institutions think particularly of medicine as needing to be fixed. It may also refer to limitations imposed on people by society in general. The physiological functional capacity as a related term that describes an individual’s performance level. It gauges one’s ability to perform the physical tasks of daily life and the ease with which tasks are performed. There are still debates about the proper definition of Disability.
International Day of Disability is a need of hour because this system provides a reliable and complete realisation of the human rights of all persons with disabilities is an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of human rights and fundamental freedom. The International Day of Disability is celebrated world wide on December 3. International Days and weeks are there to educate people around the important problems that can be better for people and humanity in general. This will create enough awareness on disability. Every year the United Nations decides a theme and works on it throughout the year. The theme this year is “Transformation solutions for inclusive development: the role of innovation in fuelling an accessible and equitable world.’’ The theme is very clear and indicates towards the upliftment of humanity. This will provide new reinforcement and increase the Human Resource. Inclusive developments clearly indicate that when average achievements improve and inequalities fall. The 80 percent population is in developing countries and the reason is very simple : lack of awareness. People around us are too aware of the same. Celebrating International Day of Disability will ensure that new laws and systems are made around the globe. This process will uplift the society and will create equality. Orthopaedic Surgeon, psychologist and other healthcare providers believe in treatment of the disorder or partially treat the symptoms.
Types Disabilities
There are majorly four types of disabilities: intellectual, physical, mental illness and sensory disabilities.
Types of Intellectual Disabilities
Intellectual disabilities have a criteria which is characterised by someone having an IQ below 70( the median IQ is 100). The low IQ can lead to significant difficulty in communication and self care. They will process the information slowly and will also have difficulty with abstract concepts such as money and time. In some cases it is difficult to diagnose. Book an online consultation if your child is suffering from doing daily chores. The various types include genetic changes and the effect of foreign particles on growing foetuses. Down Syndrome is a disease which is caused by partial or extra copy of chromosome 21 in the DNA. The other example of intellectual disabilities includes developmental delay. This includes delay in the activity like communication etc. Effect of alcohol is also an important factor. If the unborn foetus is under the influence of alcohol it can lead to characteristic changes in face, kidneys, poor memory and poor social skills.
Types of Physical Disabilities
Physical disabilities can either affect temporarily or permanently a person’s physical capacity or mobility. These are generally related to spinal cord injuries which lead to permanent complications. Visit your orthopaedic surgeon and know the real cause of the deformity. Spina bifida patients experience a wide range of disabilities including paralysis or weakness in the legs. This can be treated with knee surgery. Spinal cord injury leads to quadriplegia which means loss of function below the neck. Knee replacement can be a treatment for the defects in the knee.
Orthopaedic surgeon is the best person to treat or reduce the effect of the disease.
Types of Mental illness
This affects the person’s mental condition. This includes a person’s thinking, emotions and behaviour. The type of mental disorder includes bipolar disorder, depression and anxiety disorder. Obsessive compulsive disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder are among other traumatic events.
Types of Sensory Disabilities
Sensory disabilities include impairment in the function of sight, smell, touch, hearing and taste. Autism disorder is the most common type of disorder that occurs in the patients with sensory disorder.
Let’s Normalise Disability!
“I’m in a wheelchair and I have a very visible and obvious disability but that is not the case for most of the disabilities. When I started college, I was completely able-bodied. My first encounter with another student with a disability and received extra time on a test. I didn’t understand why he use to get extra time on text?’’
Yes, it’s true that some disabilities are very obvious because they are visible but what about the disabilities that just go unnoticed? The answer to all these questions is “awareness’’ that begins right from the school. According to stats there are almost 14 percent of students that are in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade have a disability. That means one out of every seven students require academic accommodation. Out of this, 37 percent of students don’t even identify themselves as disable because of the fact that their signs are not even visible. Certainly there is a lack of representation of these people in society but acceptance is really important. The very general way of thinking is that these people don’t deserve representation. Certainly there are projects undertaken by the people to represent them but still the difference has to be within us. The way we think and we accept people. The mindset towards people has to change because they don’t need sympathy, they need empathy. These learning have to be made right from the beginning, that is schools. The awareness about disabilities and how to treat them are two different scenarios. This has to be inculcated right from the beginning and that is childhood. This is the way we can treat each other better. International day on Disability is a way to work through all the pillars in society and raise this issue in every corner around the world.
