There are many types of disabilities and many persons throughout our communities that face these challenges in their daily life. The following information is intended to clarify some of the terms and assistive options available.

 

Definition of Disability

Below you will find Statistics Canada’s definitions of disability. These definitions were taken from A Profile of Disability in Canada, 2001, as published by Statistics Canada.

• Hearing–Difficulty hearing what is being said in a conversation with one other person, in a conversation with three or more persons or in a telephone conversation.
• Seeing–Difficulty seeing ordinary newsprint or clearly seeing the face of someone from 4 metres (12 feet).
• Speech–Difficulty speaking and/or being understood.
• Mobility–Difficulty walking up to half a kilometre or up and down a flight of stairs, about 12 steps without resting, moving from one room to another, carrying an object of 5 kilograms (10 pounds) for 10 metres (30 feet) or standing for long periods.
• Agility–Difficulty bending, dressing or undressing oneself, getting into and out of bed, cutting own toenails, using fingers to grasp or handle objects, reaching in any direction (for example, above one’s head) or cutting own food.
• Pain–Limited in the amount or kind of activities that one can do because of a long-term pain that is constant or reoccurs from time to time, for example, recurrent back pain.

Cognitive limitations due to the presence of a developmental disability or disorder, such as Down syndrome, autism or mental impairment caused by a lack of oxygen at birth.

 

Limited in the amount or kind of activities that one can do due to the presence of an emotional, psychological or psychiatric condition, such as phobias, depression, schizophrenia, drinking or drug problems.

 

Limited in the amount or kind of activities that one can do due to frequent periods of confusion or difficulty remembering things. These difficulties may be associated with Alzheimer’s disease, brain injuries or other similar conditions.

 

Difficulty learning because of a condition, such as attention problems, hyperactivity or dyslexia, whether or not the condition was diagnosed by a teacher, doctor or other health professional.

 

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Vocabulary Guide

Language is our primary means of communicating attitudes, thoughts and feelings. When we are speaking with a person with a disability, it is important to refer to them as the individual first and their disability only when needed. We need to eliminate words and expressions that are disrespectful or express a stereotype.

Do Say	Don't Say
Child with a disability	disabled or handicapped child
Person with cerebral palsy	palsied or CP or spastic
Person who has..	afflicted, suffers from, victim
Without speech, non verbal	mute or dumb
Developmental delay	slow
emotional disorder or mental illness	crazy or insane
psychiatric disability	insane
Person who is Deaf or hard of hearing	deaf and dumb
uses a wheelchair	confined to a wheelchair
Person with developmental disability	retarded
with Down syndrome	Mongoloid
has a learning disability	is learning disabled
non-disabled	normal, healthy
has a physical disability	crippled
congenital disability	birth defect
condition	disease (unless it is a disease)
seizures	fits
mobility impaired	lame
medically involved, or chronically ill	sickly
paralyzed	invalid or paralytic
has hemiplegia (paralysis of one side of the body)	hemiplegic
has quadriplegia (paralysis of both arms and legs)	quadriplegic
has paraplegia (loss of function in lower body only)	paraplegic
of short stature	dwarf or midget

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A terminology guide concerning persons with disabilities. A simple descriptive of terms that are more appropriate for addressing persons of different abilities. (Opens in a new window).

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