Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Impairment, Disability, and Handicap

Although determining whether a person has a disability appears to be straightforward, it is not. The World Health Organization (WHO) distinguishes between an impairment, disability, and handicap as follows:

Impairment: A permanent or transitory psychological, physiological, or anatomical loss or abnormality of structure or function.

Disability: Any restriction or prevention of the performance of an activity, resulting from an impairment, in the manner or within the range considered normal for a human being.

Handicap: A disability that constitutes a disadvantage for a given individual in that it limits or prevents the fulfillment of a role that is normal depending on age, sex, and social and cultural factors for that individual.
(Abeyraine 1995)


*** Quoted from the article John J. Burnett and Heather Bender Baker(2001) p.4

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