Gender And Disability : An Umbrella Term Covering Impairments, Activity Limitations, And Participation Restrictions
1271 Words6 Pages
Gender and Disability
WHO describes Disability as an “umbrella term covering impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions”. Impairment is any loss of body structure or function which leads to restriction of the activity of the individual who consequently experience problem in involvement in life situation.
Census 2011 has incorporated various changes in the definition of various types of disabilities leading to inclusion and exclusion of different conditions as ‘Disability’. Also the census 2011 introduces three new categories to the list of various types of disabilities. These new additions are ‘Mental retardation’, ‘Multiple Disability’ and ‘Any other ‘ categories.
Trends, Patterns and Distribution of Disability in India
There are approximately 2.5 crore disabled people in India ( approx.. 1.4 crore males and 1.1 crore females). Although the absolute number of disabled males in higher than disabled females, the decadal growth (from 2001 to 2011) in the number is seen more among females ( 27.1 %) than males (18.9%).
Disability in Indian context
Within Indian cultural context Disability is viewed as a “lack” or“ flaw” leading to diminished capability. Images of disabled are often associated with “Mischief” and “Devilry” as in the case of ‘Dhritarashtra’ and ‘Shakuni’ of the Indian epic ’Mahabharata’ who were shown to be siding the evil. They are often portrayed as suffering the wrath of God for the sins that had committed. Another construct of
Definition :
Disability “is an umbrella term”
covering impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions. Impairment is a problem in body function or structure; an activity limitation is a difficulty encountered by an individual in executing a task or action; while a participation restriction is a problem experienced by an individual in involvement in life situations. “Thus disability is a complex phenomenon, reflecting an interaction between features of a person’s body and features
children with disabilities
Differing combinations of structural factors (such as caste, gender, religion, poverty etc.) intersect with disability resulting in varied individual experiences, but the broad commonalities that shape the lives of people with disabilities in India transcend these divisions. Their lives are largely marked by poverty and marginalisation from mainstream social processes. A recent study by the World Bank (2007), for example, noted that children with disability are five times
CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS OF DISABILITY
The contemporary conception of disability proposed in the WHO International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) views disability as an umbrella term for impairments, activity limitations and participation restrictions. Disability is the interaction between individuals with a health condition (e.g. cerebral palsy, Down syndrome or depression) and personal and environmental factors (e.g. negative attitudes, inaccessible transportation, or