The concept disability and causes of disability and probable solutions will be examined in this post..
Disability is a situation whereby malfunctioning part of the body system serve as an impediment to the extent that special services is required.
According to Mba (1995) Disability is the gross impairment of body function. This could be physical (involving loss or paralysis of limbs) sensory impairment nvolving loss of sense (e.g. hearing loss, visual mpairment) emotional disorders or mental retardation. In the light of this definition, it is obvious that any disabled person would need special assistance, special training and special equipment before they can be very useful to themselves and the society at large.
Disability is present, or a person is disabled, when a set of functions, either desired or required, exists, which cannot be independently performed when attempted in a specific environment. While the desired functions may be specific preferences of the person, the required functions may be totally dictated by the environment.
Disability problems can be characterized by the therapeutic techniques available, or perhaps unavailable.
A disability problem in a particular patient may be one of which a therapeutic technique is immediately available ("on the shelf") and is well-known to be capable of removing the disability problem.
A disability problem may be one for which a therapeutic technique is available, but it is not certain that the technique can indeed remove the disability problem.
A disability problem may be one for which no therapeutic technique is available that is known to be capable of removing the problem, but it is believed that one can be created.
Given these concepts of disability problems and therapeutic techniques, a definition of severe disability can be stated which may be operationally for any particular client or patient.
A minimally or mildly disabled individual may be viewed as one for whom therapeutic techniques, which will remove the disability and complete the rehabilitation, are well known and immediately availaole.
Causes of disabilities
The cases of disability could be divided under three sub themes:
a). Pre-natal causes i.e before birth
b). Peri-natal causes i.e. during birth
c). Post-natal causes - after birth