Module 1: History of Disability

Defining Disability

This table provides a number of definitions regarding disability and their sources. As you read through the definitions, reflect on these questions:

How do they make you feel?
What do you think is the impact of these definitions?
Do any of these definitions look beyond the individual when defining disability?

Disable

"To make useless, to cripple."

Webster's New Dictionary and Thesaurus

Disability

"The state of being disabled."

Webster's New Dictionary and Thesaurus

Disability

"Inability to function normally, physically, or mentally—incapacity. Anything that causes disability. As defined by the federal government: inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to last or has lasted for a continuous period of not less than 12 months."

Dorland's Pocket Medical Dictionary