Types of Disability I

Printable version of the entire Types of Disabilitiy I Unit

In the unit entitled "people first”, we discussed the use of appropriate language when talking about people with disabilities.  In this unit, we are going to talk about some of the underlying conditions that cause or contribute to people having a disability.

Click here to read the directions for the activity you are supposed to do to demonstrate completion of each of the sections linked to this page.  The product, a notebook entry, is the same for every topic. 

The assignment for this overview page is different and is described below.

As an introduction, let's look at the four part scheme that the World Health Organization (International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities, and Handicaps. World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, 1980) uses to discuss individual differences in health, physical ability, intellectual ability, and psychological status.

• "Disease or Disorder: Something abnormal occurs within the individual: this may be present at birth or acquired later... gives rise to changes in the structure or functioning of the body." For example, a student in your school may have a disorder known as autism that may be the result of differences in the way the brain works.
• "Impairment: An abnormality of structure and/or function at the organ level. At this stage, an affected individual becomes aware ... he or she is unhealthy." Because of the autism, the students has trouble communicating the same way other people do.
• "Disability: Restriction or lack of ability to perform an activity in a manner considered normal, a disability is a disturbance manifested in the performance of daily tasks. Disabilities are the functional consequences of impairments." Because autism interferes with communication, the student has a great deal of difficulty being successful in school.
• "Handicap:  A disadvantage resulting from an impairment or a disability, a handicap limits or prevents the fulfillment of a role that is normal (depending on age, sex, and social and cultural factors) for the affected individual...Measured as such, handicaps largely reflect societal attitudes toward people with disabilities." The student with autism has a significant handicap because the school has not provided him with an alternative communication system

In this section, however, you going to focus on the underlying conditions that have led a student to be eligible for special education services.

When we encounter somebody who acts, moves, communicates, or learns differently, we often wonder why is he or she liked that.  That is a legitimate question.  Knowing the underlying condition does not always answer that question, but it does often give us a better understanding of the person. 

Before we proceed, it’s important to point out that there is a difference between a medical diagnosis and an educational disability.  Students do not receive special education based solely on a medical diagnosis.  To begin, there are many more medical conditions that there are categories of special education.  In order to receive special education three things have to be in place student has to have a recognized disability, the disability has to fit into one of the 13 categories of disability defined in Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and that disability has to adversely affect the student educational performance. 

Below is a list of the thirteen categories of disability defined by I.D.E.A.:

Your school almost certainly has some students diagnosed with disabilities who are not receiving special education services.  That is because their disability has not adversely affected their educational performance.  In other words, academically they are doing OK.  This does not mean they are not eligible for some accommodations for their disability.  Requirements in two laws, the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act, require that schools to provide reasonable accommodation for these individuals with the diagnosed disability.  The most obvious difference from special education is that these students do not receive services (specially designed instruction) from a special education teacher.

A publication entitled General Information about Disabilities is available on the NICHCY web site at http://www.nichcy.org/pubs/genresc/gr3.htm.  This document describes the 13 categories of disability in the Individual with Disabilities Education Act.  These categories were intended to take the multitude of possible disabling conditions and group them together in a manageable number of categories to aid communication among educators and assist effective management of special education programs.  Unfortunately, this hope has not always worked out as planned.  For example, the categories of autism and traumatic brain injury were added to the law in 1990 because some students with those conditions were not succeeding in school, but because they did not fit into one of the predefined categories, they did not always receive needed services.

Recently, a number of people have called for the elimination of these 13 categories in favor of the smaller number of categories (3 or 4).  They feel that the current categories do not aid communication among teachers, have actually led to inappropriate labeling students and what is known as “self-fulfilling prophecies.”  They feel that once a teacher hears someone is "mentally retarded" or "autistic" they deal with him or her in a different way, rather than learning about the student.

The process of determining whether a student has an educational disability is outlined in detail the booklet entitled: "Basics for Parents: Your Child's Evaluation" available on it NICHCY web site at http://www.nichcy.org/pubs/basicpar/bp1txt.htm .   Please read this document.

*ACTIVITY* After doing the reading for this section, please write a one page (single-spaced, one-inch margins, 12 point type) position paper on how you would revise the system of evaluation and classification (labeling) in special education.  Make sure that you connect your ideas with the current 13 categories and the evaluation process (In other words, make sure your teacher sees that you read the material!).  Be innovative and creative, but explain your thinking.  In addition, if you think the current system works just fine, you can take that position too.  Just be sure you explain it in your paper.

Now that you know something about the process of identifying educationally relevant disabilities, you are ready to proceed to learning a little bit more about specific diagnoses.  On this web site the emphasis is on the students who are likely to be classified as having a functional mental disability, the people you are encountering in peer tutoring.  Nevertheless, remember the presence of one of these diagnoses does not mean a person automatically has a severe disability.  While anyone described here would clearly have an impairment or disorder, to use the language of the World Health Organization, their actual disability could be mild, severe, or not adversely affect their educational performance.

The point is to always see the person first!

On the links in this unit, you will have the opportunity to find out more about the following conditions:

1. Intellectual Disability
2. Autism
3. Cerebral Palsy
4. Down Syndrome

Direction for Activities:

The structure of each of these topics is similar.  You will review at least the following three types of information:

1)       fact sheets or frequently asked questions lists that present basic information about the condition;
2)      links to at least one major organization concerned with people who have this conditions; and
3)      at least one story about a person who has the condition.

In some cases, there will be other links that you will be asked to examine because of their relevance to the topic.

What are you expected to know when you finish each of these topics?  In other words, what will we be on the quizzes? 

When you finish this unit, we want you to have an accurate understanding of the conditions.  We are not trying to turn you into experts or junior professionals, but that does not mean we do not expect you to remember specific information.  As in so many fields, an accurate understanding of disability requires knowing some facts—it is not all a matter of opinion.

*ACTIVITY*   Your assignment for each of these sections is to keep a notebook in which you will answer the following questions.  When you are done with this unit, show your notebook to your teacher.  You should be ready for the quiz.  The topics in you notebook should be: What are the essential elements in the definition of this condition? (Can you explain this condition to your parents or classmates in a way they would understand it?) How is it different from other conditions?  (What is unique about this condition; for example, how is spina bifida different from cerebral palsy?) Are there different forms of this condition? (What kind of variation will you see in people with this condition—do professionals have names or terms they use to describe this variation?) What do we know about what causes this condition? What are the difficulties a person with this condition is likely to encounter in school and in day-to-day life in the community? What are some supports that will assist a person with this condition?  (How would you answer someone if that person asked you to offer some ideas about things they could do to help a person with this condition? What is at least one major organization that is a good source of information about this condition? Can you list at least three major issues (problems, controversies, etc) related to this condition? Finally, what are the major myths or misconceptions (list at least 3) that people have about people with this condition and what are some things you could do to show others the error of their beliefs?