Section 1.2: Defining Disability, Part 3
Types of Disabilities
The following is a list of types of disabilities. Follow each link for more specific information on each type of disability.
- Learning disability- "A disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations." [ 13
] - Cognitive disability- "Cognitive impairments incorporate a wide variation of Memory, Perception, Problem-solving, and Conceptualizing. They are attributable to a condition such as mental retardation, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, neurological impairment, autism or traumatic brain injury." [ 20, p.1 ]
- Hearing impairment - "The condition of a person who experiences partial or total loss of hearing." [ 17, p.376 ]
- Visual impairment - This area of disability can include those with low vision, color blindness or blindness. People with visual impairments may have partial or limited vision or no useful vision.
- Physical disability - "The condition of a person who experiences partial or total loss of physical ability." [ 17, p.377 ]
- Speech impairment - "The condition a person experiences when he or she is not able to speak." [ 17, p.378 ]
- Situational disability - A special case when conditions result in the "inability to relate with the source of information instead [of] being of physiological or pathological nature." [ 8 ]
