Definition
Disability types are classification of disability according to its diverse and heterogeneous conditions. There are two major classifications: One classifies disability based on the types of impairments, such as physical, sensory, intellectual, mental disabilities (United Nations 2006); the other is to classify disability based on the ICF framework of the WHO that goes beyond impairments (WHO 2001a, 2010).
Overview
Disability is one of the major adversities in later life. A clear and efficient typology of disabilities helps understand the specific aspects of health disparities within the disabled population and assess the prevalence and severity of each specific disability in a society; hence governments, nongovernment organizations, private sectors, and other social groups can provide appropriate support and services for people with different needs (Horner-Johnson et al. 2013; Reichard et al. 2015...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Banks LM, Kuper H, Polack S (2017) Poverty and disability in low- and middle income countries: a systematic review. PLoS One 12(12):e0189996. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0189996
Barbotte E, Gullemin F, Chau N et al (2001) Prevalence of impairments, disabilities, handicaps and quality of life in the general population: a review of recent literature. Bull World Health Organ 79(11):1047–1055
Bourne RR, Flaxman SR, Braithwaite T et al (2017) Magnitude, temporal trends, and projections of the global prevalence of blindness and distance and near vision impairment: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet Glob Health 5(9):e888–e897. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(17)30293-0
Green S, Davis C, Karshmer E et al (2005) Living stigma: the impact of labeling, stereotyping, separation, status loss, and discrimination in the lives of individuals with disabilities and their families. Sociol Inq 75:197–215. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-682X.2005.00119.x
Grue J (2016) The social meaning of disability: a reflection on categorisation, stigma and identity. Soc Health Illness 38(6):957–964. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.12417
Handicaps Welfare Association (HWA) (2019) Types of physical disabilities. https://hwa.org.sg/general-information-on-physical-disabilities/. Accessed 1 Mar 2019
Hollar D (2005) Risk behaviors for varying categories of disability in NELS: 88. J Sch Health 75(9):350–358. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1746561.2005.tb06695.x
Horner-Johnson W, Dobbertin K, Lee JC et al (2013) Disparities in chronic conditions and health status by type of disability. Disabil Health J 6(4):280–286. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dhjo.2013.04.006
Lutman ME (1991) Hearing disability in the elderly. Acta Otolaryngol 111(Suppl 476):239–248. https://doi.org/10.3109/00016489109127285
Me A, Mbogoni M (2006) Review of practices in less developed countries on the collection of disability data. In: Altman BM, Barnartt SN (eds) International views on disability measures: moving toward comparative measurement, Research in social science and disability, vol 4. Emerald Group Publishing, Bingley, pp 63–87. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1479-3547(05)04006-6
Mont D (2007) Measuring health and disability. Lancet 369(9573):1658–1663. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(07)60752-1
Reichard A, Stransky M, Phillips K et al (2015) Does type of disability matter to public health policy practice? Calif J Health Promot 13(2):25–36. https://doi.org/10.32398/cjhp.v13i2.1821
Schalock RL, Luckasson RA, Shogren KA (2007) The renaming of mental retardation: understanding the change to the term intellectual disability. Intellect Dev Disabil 45(2):116–124. https://doi.org/10.1352/1934-9556(2007)45[116:TROMRU]2.0.CO;2
Scheid TL (2005) Stigma as a barrier to employment: mental disability and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Int J Law Psychiatry 28(6):670–690. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlp.2005.04.003
Smart J (2016) Disability, society, and the individual, 3rd edn. Pro-Ed, Austin
United Nations (2006) Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities and optional protocol (CRPD). United Nations, Geneva
Werner S, Shulman C (2015) Does type of disability make a difference in affiliate stigma among family caregivers of individuals with autism, intellectual disability or physical disability? J Intellect Disabil Res 59(3):272–283. https://doi.org/10.1111/jir.12136
WHO and WB (World Health Organization and the World Bank) (2011) World report on disability. World Health Organization, Geneva
World Health Organization (2001a) International classification of functioning, disability and health: ICF. World Health Organization, Geneva
World Health Organization (2001b) The World Health Report 2001-Mental health: new understanding, new Hope. World Health Organization, Geneva
World Health Organization (2006) Disability and rehabilitation: WHO action plan 2006–2011. World Health Organization, Geneva
World Health Organization (2007) Atlas global resources for persons with intellectual disabilities. World Health Organization, Geneva
World Health Organization (2010) Measuring health and disability manual for WHO disability assessment schedule (WHODAS 2.0). World Health Organization, Geneva
World Health Organization (2013a) Mental health action plan: 2013–2020. World Health Organization, Geneva
World Health Organization (2013b) Spinal cord injury. https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/spinal-cord-injury. Accessed 1 Mar 2019
World Health Organization (2016) International statistical classification of diseases and related health problems 10th revision (ICD-10), volume 1 tabular list, 2016 5th edn. World Health Organization, Geneva
World Health Organization (2017) Depression and other common mental disorders: Global health estimates. World Health Organization, Geneva
World Health Organization (2018a) Blindness and vision impairment. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/blindness-and-visual-impairment. Accessed 1 Mar 2019
World Health Organization (2018b) Deafness and hearing loss. https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/deafness-and-hearing-loss. Accessed 1 Mar 2019
World Health Organization (2018c) Mental disorders. https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-disorders. Accessed 1 Mar 2019
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Huang, L. (2021). Disability Types. In: Gu, D., Dupre, M.E. (eds) Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22009-9_486
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22009-9_486
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-22008-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-22009-9
eBook Packages: Social SciencesReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences