Disability Definitions
ADHD
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurobehavioral disorder marked by trouble controlling impulsive behavior, difficulty paying attention or overactivity. It is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders of childhood. ADHD interferes with a person’s ability to stay on a task and maintain focus. The person may act without thinking or have difficulty with self-control.
Amulatory Disabilities (Physical Disabilities, Mobility Disabilities)
A condition that substantially limits one or more basic physical activities such as walking, climbing stairs, reaching, lifting or carrying.
Auditory Diasbilities (Hearing Impairment)
Hearing impairment means an impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance but that is not included under the definition of deafness in this section.
Autism
Autism means a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age three, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. Other characteristics often associated with autism are engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines and unusual responses to sensory experiences. Autism does not apply if a child’s educational performance is adversely affected primarily because the child has an emotional disturbance
Cerebral Palsy
Cerebral palsy (CP) refers to a group of neurological disorders that appear in infancy or early childhood and permanently affect body movement and muscle coordination. CP is caused by damage to or abnormalities inside the developing brain that disrupt the brain’s ability to control movement and maintain posture and balance. The term cerebral refers to the brain; palsy refers to the loss or impairment of motor function.
Cognitive Disabilities (Intellectual Disabilities)
Intellectual disability means significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning, existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. The term “intellectual disability” was formerly termed “mental retardation.”
Deaf (Hearing Impairment)
Hearing impairment means an impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance but that is not included under the definition of deafness in this section.
Developmental Disabilities
Developmental disabilities are a group of conditions due to an impairment in physical, learning, language or behavior areas. These conditions begin during the child’s developmental period and may impact day-to-day functioning and usually last throughout a person’s lifetime. Most developmental disabilities begin before a baby is born, but some can happen after birth because of injury, infection or other factors.
Emotional Disturbance (Emotional and Behavioral Disabilities)
Emotional disturbance means a condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects a child’s educational performance: (a) an inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors; (b) an inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers; (c) inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances; (d) a general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression; (e) a tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems. Emotional disturbance includes schizophrenia. The term does not apply to children who are socially maladjusted.
Intellectual Disabilities (Cognitive Disabilities)
Intellectual disability means significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning, existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. The term “intellectual disability” was formerly termed “mental retardation.”
Learning Disabilities
Specific learning disability means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell or to do mathematical calculations, including conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia and developmental aphasia. Specific learning disability does not include learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, of intellectual disability, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural or economic disadvantage.
Medical Disabilities
The ADA defines a person with a medical disability as someone who (a) has a physical impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, (b) has a history or record of an impairment and (c) is regarded as having such an impairment by others even if the individual does not actually have a disability (such as a person who has scars from a severe burn that does not limit any major life activity).
Mental Health
Mental health includes emotional, psychological and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others and make healthy choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood.
Mental Illness
Any Mental illness (AMI) is defined as a mental, behavioral or emotional disorder. AMI can vary in impact, ranging from no impairment to mild, moderate or severe. Serious mental illness (SMI) is defined as a mental, behavioral or emotional disorder resulting in serious functional impairment, which substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities.
Mobility Disabilities (Physical Disabilities)
A condition that substantially limits one or more basic physical activities such as walking, climbing stairs, reaching, lifting or carrying.
Neurological Disabilities (Neurological Disorders)
Neurological disorders are conditions that target how your nervous system (brain, spinal cord and nerves) functions. There are hundreds of neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis and meningitis, for example. They cause symptoms that affect how you move, think and feel.
Physical Disabilities (Mobility Disabilities)
A condition that substantially limits one or more basic physical activities such as walking, climbing stairs, reaching, lifting or carrying.
Speech/Language Disabilities (Speech/Language Impairment)
articulation, a language impairment or a voice impairment that adversely affects a child’s educational performance.
Traumatic Brain Injury
Traumatic brain injury means an acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force, resulting in total or partial functional disability or psychosocial impairment or both, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. Traumatic brain injury applies to open or closed head injuries resulting in impairments in one or more areas such as cognition; language; memory; attention; reasoning; abstract thinking; judgment; problem-solving; sensory, perceptual and motor abilities; psychosocial behavior; physical functions; information processing; and speech. Traumatic brain injury does not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative or to brain injuries induced by birth trauma.
Visual Disabilities (Visual Impairment)
Visual impairment including blindness means an impairment in vision that, even with correction, adversely affects a child’s educational performance. The term includes both partial sight and blindness.