What is a disability? Do I have one? Do you?

WHAT IS A DISABILITY?

It may surprise you to know that not everyone or every agency agrees on what is a disability. So, you may find that you are able to receive services from some agencies and not others.

For children three years of age and older, federal law identifies eight types of disabilities:

• mental retardation,
• Learning Disabilities - obstacles to the learning process that hinder a person’s full ability to be educated. These disabilities still allow the person to learn, he/she just has to find alternate ways to do this.
• emotional/behavioral disorders,
• Physical Disabilities– impairment of movement, speech, vision, and muscle use caused by birth defects, injuries or illnesses.
• visual impairment,
• auditory impairment,
• communication or language disorders,
• and other health impairments - cover a variety of diseases and disorders. This refers to people who have limited strength, energy or alertness that affects their ability to learn in a normal classroom.
  

Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is available only to children with severe disabilities. Severe disability is defined as --

WHAT IS A DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITY?

Not everyone who has a disability has a developmental disability. It is important to know the difference because some services are only available to people with developmental disabilities.

A developmental disability is a SEVERE mental or physical disability that occurs BEFORE age 22 and causes problems with major life activities such as speaking, moving, taking care of oneself and living independently. People with disabilities are expected to need some type of help with daily living for a very long time, often their whole lives. Some examples of developmental disabilities are mental retardation, autism and cerebral palsy.

The government defines a developmental disability as a lifelong disability of someone older than 5 years that:

1.Results from a mental or phsyical problem or a mixture of mental and physical problems
2. Shows itself before the person reaches the age 22
3. Will probably go on continuously. The person will not recover or grow out of it.
4. Puts large limits on three or more of the following areas of major life activity:

• caring for oneself
• speaking or understanding language
• education
• walking or other movement
• self direction
• ability to live by oneself
• ability to sustain oneself financially
  
  

5. Has a need for a combination of types of services, such as speech therapy, special education and counseling. These services will be needed over a long period of time and must be planned for the individual. When you apply this definition to babies and young children this means, those from birth to age 5,they have many developmental delays or certain conditions with a large probability of disabilities if services are not given.

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What is a developmental delay?

Children from age 3 to 5 are diagnosed as having developmental delays. The term developmental delay means that the children are just a bit behind their peers. Special services are granted to these young children in the hopes that services will only be needed for a short while, that the children will soon develop at the same rate as their peers. This means that children may only need services for a short time. For more information on developmental delay, click here.