Types of physical disability (and characteristics)

We review the distinguishing features between the various categories of physical disability.

Look around you. The entrance to your house or a public building, the streets, public transport such as buses and subways... all of these have been designed for a majority of the population that is able to move around, perceive and interact with the environment.and interact with the environment in a normative way.

However, there is a part of the population that for various reasons does not have the same capabilities, being their options reduced. This part corresponds to those who suffer from some kind of physical, mental or sensory disability. Disability is a barrier for many people, whose lives are limited.

In the case of physical disability, these barriers are sometimes literal, with freedom of movement being highly restricted. That is why exploring the different types of physical disabilities can be a way to understand the needs of people who have them and to make it easier for them to adapt to the environment. and to make it easier for them to adapt to their environment.

Impairment and disability: distinguishing between concepts

There is a wide diversity in the capacities and abilities of the different individuals who make up society. We can be taller or shorter, have light or brown eyes or a different skin color. There are also people with more artistic sensitivity than others, or with greater mathematical abilities.

There are people who see very well at long distances while others have a much more developed sense of hearing than the rest. These differences among us do not prevent us from enjoying a more or less similar life, having or should have the same opportunities to develop ourselves and seek happiness for ourselves and others as we thrive and participate in the world.

However, for some people this is much more complicated due to the existence of some deficiency. Some of them present a physical or psychic configuration different from the usual, being a part of them affected or affected by a disability.Some of them have a different physical or psychological configuration than usual, with a part of them being affected or not functioning to the same degree as is usual for the individual or in relation to the rest.

These impairments can cause the subject suffering from them to suffer a disability, if the characteristics of their condition limit or prevent the person from carrying out one or more daily activities in a normative manner. This does not mean that they will not be able to do the same things, but it does mean that they will need support or access routes that take into account their difficulties.

Thus, while an impairment is an organ or aspect that does not function properly, while an impairment is an organ or aspect that does not function properly, a disability is something that cannot or is more difficult to do due to this malfunction.. In the present case, physical disability, the affected functionality is movement.

Concept of physical disability

We understand physical disability as that situation or state in which there is a circumstance that prevents or hinders to a great extent that the person who suffers from it can move freely and in a way in which he/she has full functionality. This type of disability affects the locomotor apparatus, being especially visible in the case of the extremities, although it can affect the skeletal musculature in such a way that it cannot be moved voluntarily.

The limitations present in people with physical disabilities make it difficult for them to lead a normal life unless they have certain external aids. These limitations can be permanent or temporary, depending on whether the impairment that causes them is treated or the that causes them or sufficient aids are provided so that there is no reduction in functionality.

Most common causes

There are a variety of reasons why a person may have a physical disability. However, as a general rule we can consider that the impairments that cause disability are usually due to a problem or damage either in the muscles or in the nervous system (either at the level of the nerves that innervate the areas in question, in the spinal cord or at some point of the motor cortex).

Some of the causes of these lesions can be found in the suffering of diseases such as multiple sclerosis, multiple sclerosis such as multiple sclerosis, tumors, infections or inflammations of the muscular or nervous tissues or traumas of different types. Some congenital malformations, such as spina bifida, also cause physical disability.

Classification of physical disability

As we have said, the reasons for which a person may present a physical disability are many and varied. When classifying the different types of physical disability, either these causes or the areas in which movement is impeded or limited or their causes are usually taken into account.

Thus, we can find that in general the types of physical disability will be as follows.

Types according to their cause

• Motor with or without cerebral affectation

• Due to disease

• Mixed

Types according to the affected area

• Motor disability of the lower extremities

• Motor disability of the upper limbs, trunk, neck and face

• Other motor disabilities

Some of the main types of physical disabilities

Getting down to business, the different types of physical disability or handicap are as follows.

1. Monoplegia

Paralysis of a single limbusually caused by damage to the nerve supplying the area in question.

2. Paraplegia

This condition due to a spinal cord injury in the dorsal area involves paralysis or inability to move the lower half of the body. It basically affects legs and feet.. The subject loses the ability to walk. It may or may not affect sexual responsiveness.

3. Tetraplegia

Alteration due to a cervical spinal cord lesion whose repercussion is observed in the total loss of the total loss of the capacity of movement of the lower extremities and in the total or partial loss of the capacity of movement of the upper limbs..

Depending on the position of the lesion, the difficulties will be greater or lesser, generally involving a greater affectation and associated disability those damages in the vertebrae closer to the skull. In fact, it may even lead to the need to use artificial ventilators in order to maintain the patient's breathing.

4. Hemiplegia

It is an alteration or lesion in the nervous system that produces paralysis of the opposite or contralateral paralysis of the opposite or contralateral part to the damaged one.. It is usually due to cerebrovascular accidents or cranioencephalic trauma.

4. Spina bifida

This is a type of congenital malformation in which the neural tube and the spinal column do not close completely during the formation of the fetus, resulting in damage to the nerves and spinal cord that may prevent or hinder movement of the spinal cord. may prevent or hinder the person's movement..

5. Muscular dystrophy

The group of disorders encompassed within muscular dystrophy cause the presence of a weak muscular tone that is losing tissue with timemaking movement difficult and causing disability. It is one of the most frequent types of physical disability.

6. Cerebral palsy

Cerebral palsy is a chronic medical condition due to problems during the brain development of the fetus or child, which severe effects on motor skills.. These effects can range from difficulty and slowness of movement, stiffness, agitation, seizures or even complete paralysis of the voluntary musculature.

7. Amputation

The loss of limbs or parts of the body can result in physical can lead to physical disability by limiting the person's usual functioning..