Disability and Quality of Life
Heinz Trebbin
What is the definition of disability?
There is no universally agreed definition of disability.
The World Programme of Action for Disabled Persons and the Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities emphasizes that disability is a socially created problem and not an attribute of an individual. Disablement results from a dynamic interaction between health conditions and other personal factors (such as age, sex, personality or level of education) on the one hand, and social and physical environmental factor on the other hand. It, therefore, is important to distinguish between
Impairment: Any loss or abnormality of psychological, physiological, or anatomical structure or function;
Disability: Any restriction or lack {resulting from an impairment) of ability to perform an activity in the manner or within the range considered normal for a human being and;
Handicap: A disadvantage for a given individual, resulting from an impairment or disability, that, limits or prevents the fulfilment of a role that is normal, depending on age, sex, social and cultural factors, for that individual.
This social perspective on disability is reflected in the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), adopted by the World Health Assembly in 2001. The ICF further recognizes that disability is a universal human experience and not a concern to a minority of humanity: every human being can suffer from a decrement in health and, thereby, experience some disability.
Following you can download some documents on disability and quality of life:
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