Disability
A disability is legally defined as "a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more major life activity." Approximately 43 million American men, women, and children experience some degree of disability. Whether this disability is congenital or acquired later in life, disability is a part of life for many of us.
Disabilities can range from a permanent condition, such as blindness, quadriplegia, or schizophrenia, to more temporary states such as a broken arm, whiplash injury, or the effects of prescription drugs. Heart disease, diabetes, and muscular incoordination, among other conditions, also limit a person's activities. Aging people may suffer from a multitude of disabling conditions including paralysis, Alzheimer’s, arthritis, and cataracts.
In a broad sense, disability affects us all daily. We all experience temporary impairments of our own ability daily when we have blisters, bruises, or babies in our arms. At those times we learn a little bit more about the nature of disability.
It is not therefore a question of ‘if’ we become disabled, but rather ‘when’. Very likely, every living person on the planet will be disabled either temporarily or permanently at some point in their life.
Disability should not mean exclusion: each and every one of us is a unique and valuable member of our society. We all should be able to go anywhere and to enjoy the full range of experience that our public landscapes have to offer.