What is Disability?

Disability. What does it mean? What does it really mean? And why do you care?

Disability can be so many things. It can be a physical limitation, a sensory issue, or a cognitive impairment. Limitation… issue…impairment… Sounds like a big problem, doesn’t it? When we see or hear about a person with a disability, we ask, “What’s wrong with them?” Wrong.

Hmmm… What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with you? We all have something wrong. We all have faults, limitations, issues… We’re all different and unique. My husband can tell you the full list of my faults, limitations, issues… But because they all fall within the realm of “normal” and because I can function fine (by who’s standards?), they are not disabilities.

A disability is a difference that interferes with “activities of daily living” (to use the jargon of the disability field). A disability is something that interferes with my being able to care for myself, perform my job, learn at school… you get the idea. It can be a small thing with big ramifications, a big thing with small ramifications, a complex set of lots of things – disability takes many shapes.

Most people think disability happens to someone else, but disability can happen to anyone at any time. Disability is a natural part of the human condition. Statistically, one in 5 Americans has a disability. Disability crosses gender, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic barriers. In fact, disability is the only minority group that we don’t necessarily come to by birth or choice. Any one of us can join the “Disability Club” at a moment’s notice without our consent and without warning. We can join by age, illness, or accident. And so can our loved ones.

Because we are human, we are humane. Because we are humane, we care about all people. Because we care about all people, we care about people who are like us and people who are different. We care about the strong and the weak, the quiet and the vocal. We care about people with disabilities because, as Americans, we believe that all people are valued citizens with rights. We believe that people with disabilities have the same rights as people without disabilities. We believe that – if we had an accident or illness that rendered us disabled right now – we would have the same rights and value that we had the moment before the accident or illness happened. So do you care about disability rights? Sure you do. Because you’re human.