Different Types of Disabilities
Based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF), disabilities are broadly classified into groups that include:
- Physical Disability: Encompasses bodily impairments that hinder movement and/or motor skills, restricting activity and participation in everyday activities. Physical disability is, in turn, divided into functional and organic disabilities.
- Functional Disability: This refers to impairments that affect the functioning of the neuromuscular and/or skeletal system, and which hinder or limit movement.
- Organic Disability: Corresponds to that produced by the loss of functionality of some body systems, which are usually related to internal organs or physiological processes, whether congenital or acquired. This is the case of renal diseases (kidney), hepatic diseases (liver), cardiopathies (heart), cystic fibrosis (lungs), Crohn's disease and metabolic diseases (digestive system), peripheral venous diseases (venous system), lymphedema (lymphatic system), hemophilia (blood clotting), lupus (immune system); and headaches, migraines, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, sleep disorders, fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome (central nervous system).
Other Types of Disability
- Sensory Disability
- Intellectual Disability
- Mental Disorder
- Multiple Disabilities (A condition that combines several types of disability).
Definition of Disability
Disability is a condition that broadly encompasses a person's impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions. Although there are disabilities that are linked to well-defined symptoms or manifestations, there are also disabilities that are generically referred to as "invisible", i.e. not visible to the eye. These disabilities are less well known, but nevertheless among the most frequent. They correspond to those limitations in life and participation in the community of people who suffer from functional and structural deficiencies in any of the cardiovascular, lymphatic, hematological, immunological, respiratory, digestive, metabolic, endocrine, and genitourinary systems.
This December 3, International Day of People with Disabilities, we join COCEMFE and its Associative Movement to raise our voices in favor of the right to housing for people with disabilities in our country. More than 1.8 million need help to leave their homes and 100,000 cannot do so. It is now time to do something about it!
