Physical Education · Ch 4 — Physical Education & Sports for CWSN (Children With Special Needs)
Concept of Disability
Concept of Disability
Disability is an integral part of human life. Almost every one of us has, at some point, faced a temporary or permanent impairment that made some activity difficult. The term disability is a very broad one: it encompasses all kinds of physical impairments, activity limitations and participation restrictions. In simple terms, a disability is a condition that produces a long-term impairment affecting the activities of daily living — such as eating, walking and maintaining personal hygiene.
The scale is enormous. Around 15% of the world's population — over a billion people — live with some form of disability, of whom 2–4% experience significant difficulty in functioning as a result. That number is expected to roughly double, to about 2 billion by 2050. Many of these people rely on assistive technologies such as low-vision devices, wheelchairs or hearing aids.
Disability can take several forms
A disability may be:
- congenital — present from birth;
- acquired — occurring during a person's lifetime;
- invisible (hidden) — not easily noticeable by others; and
- temporary — where recovery is possible.
The underlying conditions, or impairments, may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical or sensory, or a combination of several factors.
Rights and recognition
The international framework for disability rights is the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol, adopted on 13 December 2006. It is a human-rights instrument with a strong social-development dimension, and it reaffirms that persons with all types of disability must enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms. To give effect to this Convention, India's Parliament passed the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 (RPWD Act 2016) on 27 December 2016.
The RPWD Act's own definition is worth knowing precisely: persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which, in interaction with various barriers, may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. Notice how much of the "disability" lies in the interaction with barriers — the gap between what a person wants to do and what the surrounding environment allows.
Barriers can be communicational, cultural, economic, environmental, institutional, political, social, attitudinal or structural. A stereotype (assuming a person with a disability must lead a dull, unhealthy life) is an attitudinal barrier; the lack of Braille materials is a communicational barrier; laws or practices that quietly fail to accommodate people are institutional barriers. Remove the barrier, and much of the "disability" is removed with it — which is exactly why adaptation matters.