Did you know that one out of every 10 persons on Earth has a disability?  The World Health Organization defines a disability in three forms:

1. Impairments – problems in body function or structure
2. Activity Limitations – difficulty encountered by an individual in executing a task or action
3. Participation Restrictions – problems experienced by an individual in involvement in life’s situations

ILO Video featuring actress Marlee Matlin, shown this day, 1997

Out of the estimated 500 million disabled persons in the world, over 350 million of them live where they are not provided any assistance with overcoming theirdisability.  Many disabled persons deal with continued and pervasive cultural and social barriers to their participating in a full life. For women in these countries, the problem is magnified, due to the lack of access to health care, education or training.

In impoverished nations, children with disabilities are often neglected at home, and rejected by peers during the critical years of personality and self-image growth.  Many disabled men and women are denied an equal opportunity to earn a living, as scraping-by employers are unwilling to spend the money needed to provided accommodations.  The elderly are rapidly becoming the largest percentage of disabled peoples, at a time when international healthcare systems are pinching pennies.

Forms of disability

• Physical – orthopedic, neuromuscular, cardiovascular and pulmonary disorders. May be congentical or as a result of injury or disease.
• Sensory - related to inability to sense one’s surroundings completely, including disabilities related sight, sound, smell, touch and hearing.
• Intellectual - having a significantly below average score on an intellectual quotient (IQ) test, have a lessened ability to socialize with others, or care for oneself.
• Psychiatric - having a mental illness that keeps one from learning, communicating or socializing.  Includes anxiety, mood or schizophrenic disorders.
• Psychosocial - mental illness caused or influenced by life experiences, as well as having cognitive and behavioral processes that were “maladjusted.”
• Chronic Disease-related – disabilities that exist because of an illness keeping a person bedridden, weak, or unable to function in society.

Interacting with a disabled person

Individuals requiring wheelchairs:

• If a conversation with someone in a wheelchair goes on for more than a minute or two, you may want to sit down if possible, in order to talk in a physical position denoting equals.
• A wheelchair is part of someone’s personal space.  Don’t lean on it like an armrest, unless your relationship welcomes this behavior by the owner of the chair.
• People in wheelchairs are not “confined” to them.  They use them for enhanced mobility or to conserve limited energy.  Some wheelchair users can transfer to other chairs, cars, buses, etc.  They may use canes, braces or walkers to do so.

Hearing Impaired individuals:

• Remember with deaf and hard of hearing individuals to give time for them to meet your gaze when communicating.  If you point around, they will likely follow your hands.
• Only 25-30% of spoken English is lip-readable, so make sure you enunciate with your mouth.
• If ASL is used to communicate, remember that they are using a different language to communicate, and the inability to manually express a somewhat commonly spoken word is no more a sign of lower intelligence than trying to get an Italian speaker to understand the word “BMX.”  Sometimes further explanation is needed…
• If you are talking to someone who is deaf or has a speech impediment, do not be afraid to ask them to repeat what they say if you misunderstand.

Vision Impaired individuals

• Only a very small minority of people are completely blind. If someone tells you they are legally blind, it means they have between 0-10% normal vision in both eyes, or 20% or less peripheral vision in both eyes.  They see less at 20 feet than you can at 200 feet.
• Announce your presence when entering or leaving a room that has a vision impaired person, and use a normal voice.
• This is such an obvious one, but still bears repeating. You do NOT have to raise your voice when speaking to someone with a vision impairment.
• When giving directions, be specific: straight, left, right, etc.
• If a guide or working dog is used, do not interact with the animal unless you gain permission first.  These animals are working, and should not be distracted.

Speech Impaired individuals

• Encourage the individual to express themselves, but never pressure them to speak if they are uncomfortable.
• Be patient and provide extra time.
• Don’t be afraid to ask the individual to write down what they are trying to say.
• Encourage job-swapping of duties with a coworker with this disability (answering the phone for document retrieval.)

Psychiatric or Psychosocially Impaired persons

• Many people with these forms of disorders deal with a lot of negative, exclusionary responses from others.  Try to mentally “walk in their shoes” before determining how you will act around them.
• Give individuals extra time to perform tasks with you, and be patient with them.
• If behavioral issues in the workplace require you to talk with the boss about a psychosocially disabled co-worker, be ready to accept accommodations in your workplace as the answer, rather than a reprimand.
• Be understanding if they are tired, restless, nauseated or nervous due to medications prescribed them for their disorder.  Often doctors are trying out something new, or determining the proper dosages, and periods of transition time are difficult and sometimes frightening.

In General…

It is okay to talk about running or walking, jumping or swimming, or any other activity you do that a disabled person cannot.  It’s okay to say “look” to someone with vision impairment, or “hear” to someone who is deaf.  They use those words too…

Acknowledge that the physical disability exists; don’t ignore it, as you are ignoring a part of the disabled person’s very existence.

Be accepting at your workplace and around town to the accommodations made for those with physical disabilities.  They are necessary to allow our fellow citizens the same level of access as those without the same limitations.

Avoid using derogatory, limiting, and/or old-fashioned terminology such as:  handicapped, insane, cripple, deaf mute, deformed, gimp, invalid, paralytic, lame, spastic, retarded, afflicted, withered, stricken, wheelchair-bound or confined to a wheelchair.

Examine how you talk about individuals who do not have a disability.  Do you say words such as “able-bodied” or “normal?”  Think about how that must sound around someone who may not fit the description of who you apply those terms to.

The WHO states that defining the term disabled is very complex because it reflects interactions between our body’s features and the features of the society we live in.   In other words, as the norms of society change, what we define as a disability also changes to reflect.  With the rapid advance and ever-increasing complexity of technology all around us, will we one day also have individuals society considers technologically disabled?  We already have a sub-set of people who need assistance in using the ATM slider in grocery stores, or help with filling out online applications.

If you wish to help or learn more about organizations that work hard to provide help to disabled persons all around the world, a great place to start is here…