We have developed this fact sheet to provide background on the current debates and opinions surrounding the definitions of disability.
What is Disability?
Disability is not a straightforward word or concept and your understanding of disability is crucial to how you interact with people with disability.
Many people may be considered by others as a person with disability, however they may not consider themselves in this category. For example someone with a specific learning disability may state that they have difficulty learning new tasks but will insist they do not have a disability. Similarly you will find other people, such as people experiencing mental illness, people with physical conditions, or people who are deaf or hard of hearing, who are seen as having a disability by other people, but the person themselves may acknowledge difficulties but not a disability.
It is likely therefore that among your job seekers with disability there will not be the same use or understanding of 'what is disability?'.
We are all people first
Although this may all sound like semantics, we are all people first with varying abilities and limitations that develop or change over our lifetimes.
There are those who argue that the ideal would be to do away altogether with the labels of 'able' and 'disabled'. However it would seem most likely that these terms will continue for the time being.
It pays to be aware of the various debates and issues surrounding the language of disability so that you can interact respectfully with all people (job seekers with disability included), avoiding labels and recognising the diverse ways that people choose to see or define themselves. It also serves to aid in understanding the ongoing need for flexibility in workplace practices, tolerance of difference and assisting with accessibility.
Formal definitions of disability
One of the most common definitions of disability used is found in the Commonwealth Disability Discrimination Act 1992.
The Disability Discrimination Act definition of disability includes physical, intellectual, psychiatric, sensory, neurological and learning disability as well as physical disfigurements and the presence in the body of disease causing organisms. The Disability Discrimination Act covers a disability which people have now, had in the past, may have in the future or are believed to have. It also covers people with a disability who may be discriminated against because they are accompanied by an assistant, interpreter, reader, trained animal, or use special equipment or aids.
Furthermore the Disability Discrimination Act protects people who have some form of personal connection with a person with disability such as relatives, friends, carers or co-workers if they are discriminated against because of that connection or relationship.
The broad definition of disability within the Disability Discrimination Act highlights the large range of potential areas of disability in terms of differing degrees of severity, the existence of invisible or episodic conditions, the various impacts of the disability on individuals and their specific needs.
Other definitions of disability
There has always been other ways of describing disability. This includes:
- using words that alienate people with disability as separate to general society
- using medical definitions or the technical medical jargon.
The Macquarie dictionary (1998) defines disability as 'lack of competent power, strength or physical or mental ability; incapacity'. This is often seen as labelling a person for what they cannot do rather than acknowledging what they can do.
So what language do we use?
The language of disability
Different countries have developed different conventions about how people with impairments or chronic illnesses should be described or spoken about.
There are those who prefer ‘people first’ language and indeed in Australia and the United States the common term accepted by most service providers, academics and government officials as well as many people with impairments or illnesses is ‘people with disability’. You may notice that it appears that grammatically the term is missing an ‘a’—this is deliberate and is inclusive of people with multiple disability or single disability.
The preferred term in the United Kingdom is ‘disabled people’. The reason being that it is felt that it removes the focus on the individual.
Others, particularly in New Zealand, have developed the term ‘people who experience disability’ claiming that it acknowledges what happens for the person with disability.
What do we learn from all this?
When working with a job seeker do not presume from your observations that the person acknowledges that they belong to the group of people with disability. They may not see themselves in this way. This is why many Australian Government employment service providers, particularly Disability Employment Services providers will rarely talk about disability alone but will stipulate that they work with people with disability, injuries and conditions. Most people who use these or similar services, including your job seekers, will feel happy to acknowledge that they fall into one of these groups of people who need extra help to get or keep a job.
References
Office of Legislative Drafting, Attorney-General's Department 2006, Disability Discrimination Act 1992, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, viewed 16 April 2007, <http://www.comlaw.gov.au/ComLaw/Legislation/ActCompilation1.nsf/0/FC69105BAF504384CA2571400006FD7F?OpenDocument>.