Who are disabled people?
This is a deceptively simple question. There are many definitions of what constitutes the group of `disabled people’. Different definitions apply, for example, to special educational needs provision, eligibility for disability living allowance or incapacity benefit. Widest of all is the definition of those considered disabled for the purposes of the DDA. The Act protects disabled people from unfair discrimination. This includes people who have, or had in the past, a wide range of impairments and long-term health conditions. These conditions include everything from asthma to depression, Down’s syndrome to hearing impairment, multiple sclerosis and schizophrenia. All of these people can face disadvantage, limited life chances or discrimination. This group is estimated to number around one in five of the population. Many of them would not meet the common sense notion of who a disabled person is. Many would not describe themselves as disabled people. Nevertheless, they are disabled for the
