What is disability?

[Kendodd]

Watching the Paralympics made me wonder. Oscar Pistorius for example, how could anyone describe him as disabled, and yet the man has no legs, he couldn't be much more disabled!

Ellie Simmonds, she's another one, I don't know if dwarfism even is a disability, but if I'm ever drowning I hope she happens to be walking by to save me.

Anyway they both seem fitter and more able than I ever have been and yet are classified as disabled. I know they are both extraordinary examples and comparing them to the average disabled person is like comparing me to Jessica Ennis.

I'm not a mad fan of the word disabled, I think I prefer differently abled.

I will keep this short and simple:

Disability is not the physical or learning difficulty, or mental health issue. Those are impairments. Disability is the thing that produces the limiting affect of the impairment. So Oscar has no lower legs or feet, so would have difficulties with steps, ladders, etc. A wheelchair user may have one or lots of impairements but is disabled by the inability to access buildings, things being to high, not enough public transport, etc. In other words it is society that disables not that the disabled are in society.
This definition is explained fully and much better in the social model if people want to google.

Skimming that, it seems the medical model is the commonly used definition though. But it seems to me even that needs rethinking.

I would actually be surprised if Oscar had trouble with ladders etc, he doesn't seem the least bit impaired although I have heard that artificial legs hurt, don't know if this is true though.

I can understand your thinking, as i agree that it is the structure of society that is the reason that people have hardships through being 'different'.

However it is important to have that variation of the paraolympics and the best thing to have ever happened was the Disability Discrimination Act, because people do have different needs and society cannot be restructed overnight.

In a way this goes hand in hand with a person who uses a wheelchair having their benefit removed because they are suddenly 'mobile' and we need the recognition that those with 'disabilities' are disadvantaged in society.

I recognise it as someone who needs help either from a person (or animal) or mechanical device to do the everyday things that able bodies do automatically and without assistance

well imo you cannot judge disability by one person. one person with no legs might be able to become and athlete another wouldn't.
tbh i think this thread kind of proves that people will now judge disabled people on what a few athletes can do

Well, as I said at the start I think comparing them to the average disabled person is like comparing me to Jessica Ennis. But thinking of people like them it doesn't seem right to describe or think of some people, who seem better able as most of us, able bodied or not, as disabled in any way.

I suppose, thinking about it, it's all about how an impairment effects (affects?) you. Oscar is completely unimpaired by his lack of legs and somebody else is bedridden for years by depression.

how do you know what his daily life is like though?

"how do you know what his daily life is like though"

We don't but we need a medical definition of disability and for benefits, it is asked how his day to day life is, if he made a claim.

In terms of the law if he was harrassed because of his adaptations, he needs the protection of it being a 'hate crime', he may not, but most do and that is what the definition has to cover.

Does anyone on here develop horrendous blisters and chafing simply from walking / running ?? The fact they manage to hide the pain they're in is the real miracle.

No I don't, I just really hope he is completely unimpeded by his lack of legs, that technology has enabled him to live, work, run, climb mountains like others can.

I hope engineers are working on other adaptations, wheelchairs that can go up stairs for example. I'm sure they are.

"Does anyone on here develop horrendous blisters and chafing simply from walking / running ?? The fact they manage to hide the pain they're in is the real miracle. "

Is that true then? I had heard they are really painful to walk on. Also I wonder if he would even be allowed to take pain killers because of anti dope rules?

I hope engineers are working on other adaptations, wheelchairs that can go up stairs for example. I'm sure they are.

Do you realise the wheelchairs that are supplied by the NHS are the most basic models and if they break that person is housebound until they are fixed?

It is very few people who get these sorts of things funded, usually by charities.

Sadly yes, it's true.

DDs swimming tutor has only one prosthetic limb (it's a fancy pants one too) and he was saying recently the only time he isn't in some sort of pain is when he's sleeping, he's a very active guy but that's the price he pays.

The last Disability Best Practice course I did told us that generally, "disabled" means having some sort of impairment which means that a person's environment and life throws up real or theoretical difficulties which someone without that impairment wouldn't have. That sounds very clunky, but it's how I understood it.

The way I saw it, in a practical sense, wasn't as one thing, but a complex series of sliding scales and spectra of what people did and didn't have trouble with, some of which overlapped with difficulties faced by people with temporary injuries, and difficulties for non-disabled people, based on various skills they might or might not have. Equally, people with disabilities have different "skill levels" too - just because Oscar P and Jonnie Peacock can run very fast on their legs, it doesn't mean that all leg amputees can. Some will be more or less athletic, and more or less interested in sports.

DDs swimming tutor has only one prosthetic limb (it's a fancy pants one too) and he was saying recently the only time he isn't in some sort of pain is when he's sleeping, he's a very active guy but that's the price he pays.

Oh god that's awful, is it wearing the prosthetic that hurts though or the limb? If it's the prosthetic then they need to get a lot better, and quick.

Disability is either visible or invisible. My son runs, walks (okay he is a tad clumsy), talks the hind leg off of the proverbial and enjoy life. On first meeting he is "normal" but in fact he is autistic and has many challenges in day to day life. As a result he needs the support of another adult in school and at home in order to cope.
Fact is that no matter how much the Paralympians achieve they will all face challenges in day to day life which impact upon them. Everything will cost more, those wheelchairs ar unlikely to be NHS standard issue ones for example.
You cannot compare one disability to another or make any judgements about them. If I was drowning I'd like Jessica Ennis nearby too....fact is that she might not be abe to access the area where I am drowning.

but they won't thank to the cuts,
my dd is disabled, she doesn't have an "impairment" she is disabled.
you can no more compare her to an athlete with CP than you can me to Kate Moss.
so tbh the whole idea that you can ask the question "what is disability" because you have watched the Paralympics shows what people with disabilities are up against

It's wearing the limb that causes the pain, and his is one of the best money can buy.

It's a lose, lose situation tho because if he used a chair he'd probably develop problems with pressure sores, nice bloke tho, he's known as robocod to the kids !

threesocksmorgan, I'm sticking my neck out here, but I think that attitudes like the one you are showing, shouting "you have no idea!" at someone who has asked a sincere, respectful question and is listening to the answers, is part of the reason why disability is a bit of a taboo subject, which in turn means that there is still so little understanding.

I considered myself disabled when my health conditions prevented me from living my life normally, and I have had to make big changes to how I manage even small tasks.

DLA asks... can you prepare a meal? Well, yes.

But at my worst it's heating something in the microwave for the kids, trying not to vomit and feeling thoroughly sorry for myself. Actually, maybe my worst would actually be me vomiting and my DD calling someone to come round, and them making the microwave meal for her. But that is simply heating through stuff, what I consider to be cooking, chopping vegetables and meat, making rice or pasta, I can't do them without adapting my methods - either buying pre-chopped (more expensive) or having my PA do the chopping, and forget being able to lift a boiled kettle or a pot of boiling water with pasta or rice in it. Even on a good day, not without risking cutting myself or showering myself in boiling water, so I consider myself disabled.

DLA asks... can you walk? Well, yes.

But at my worst we are talking from room to room at home, limping and taking maximum pain relief, sleeping more than usual because I get exhausted and it also helps me to manage pain. Usually I can manage to carefully split my day, and week, so that the very important tasks get done, mostly school runs and food shopping. With use of buses, and by pacing myself, leaving time to sleep afterwards between activities. If I don't, then walking becomes very difficult, I get unsteady on my feet and prone to falls, and sometimes I can faint from being in pain (usually at the school, they're used to seeing me recovering in reception).

If I can carefully manage my life, it can be very normal and fulfilling. I can go to the swimming pool every other day, I can do the usual mum stuff, I can go out on a night out every so often, I could even work. But that doesn't mean I am not disabled. Just that I am managing my disability well.

That's it Rabbits and the thing with the new PiP is that it will be narrowing definitions of disability even more, so there will be less ways on the form to explain how your disability affects you, especially for fluctuating conditions. It will be much more of a ticklist and many, many people will lose their DLA. Terrifying.

I am defined as disabled because I have a chronic degenerative illness that affects my daily life, sometimes much worse than others. People wouldn't know it to look at me, though. The definitions laid down by the DDA cover a wide range of conditions, by no means not only those in wheelchairs etc, and including mental health conditions. Another area that the PiPs will penalise, unfortunately.

TheSmallClanger i am just trying to point out(not well obviously) that you can't compare an atlete with an ordinary person.
whether they are disabled or not.