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COMMON DISABILITIES (page 1 of 2)

Impairment: A reduction in physical or mental function as result of a medical condition. The medical condition could becaused by an injury, disease or other disorder.

 Adapted from The MCSS eLearning Course: May I 

 Help You? Welcoming Customers With Disabilities.

Barrier: Anything that stops a person with a disability from accessing a service or standard of service available to others or anything that makes it difficult for them to take part in society.

Disability: The restriction in a person’s functional capacity that results from an impairment,i.e., functional limitations.

Some commondisabilities include;

Developmental/Intellectual, Hearing,

Learning, Mental Health,Physical/Mobility, and

Visual.

HEARINGVISUALPHYSICAL/MOBILITY

People who are deaf, deafened, deaf-blind orhard of hearing have varying degrees of 

hearing loss, and are sometimes referred to

as having a non-visible disability.

Deaf : used to describe individuals with a

severe to profound hearing loss, with little or

no residual hearing. Some deaf people use

American Sign Language (ASL) or langue des

signes québécoise (LSQ) to communicate,

while others use speech from residual

hearing and a hearing aid, technical devices

or cochlear implants, and/or speech-reading

to communicate.

Deafened: an individual who was born with

full hearing, but lost it gradually or suddenly.

Hard of Hearing: used to describe

individuals who use spoken language to

communicate. Most of these individuals can

understand speech sounds with or without

hearing aids and technical devices. Some

hard of hearing persons may communicate

through speech-reading, while others may

use sign language, finger spelling, writing or

a combination of two or more techniques.

Deaf-Blind: a condition where there is a

combined hearing and vision disability that

results in significant difficulties in accessing

information and activities of daily living.

Communication is usually through an

intervener who is used as help for the

customer.

Visual impairments reduce one’sability to see or see clearly. Very few

people are totally blind. Many have

limited/low vision such as tunnel

vision, where a person has a loss of 

peripheral or side vision, or a lack of 

central vision, which means they

can’t see straight ahead but they can

see peripherally. Some can see the

outline of objects while others can

only see the direction of light.

Impaired vision can restrict a

customer’s ability to read signs,locate landmarks or see hazards. It is

estimated that one million Canadians

have some kind of disability that

makes it difficult or impossible for

them to read conventional print. Our

aging population means an increasing

number of people are becoming part

of this group.

In some cases, it may be difficult to

tell if a person has a visual disability.

Others may use a magnifier, guide

dog or white cane.

Basically, a person with a physicaldisability has difficulty moving,

standing, sitting or physically

communicating. It sometimes may

be difficult to identify a person with

a physical disability.

While we most often associate

people with a physical disability as

using a wheelchair, physical

disabilities are much broader than

 ‘mobility’. There are many types

and degrees of physical disabilities.

Some people with mobility-relateddisabilities use wheelchairs, but

others use devices, such as

walkers, crutches, scooters, canes,

orthotic braces and prosthetic

limbs.

People who have limited use of 

their arms or hands, who have

difficulty with speech, who have

arthritis, heart or lung conditions or

amputations - are also considered

to have physical disabilities.

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COMMON DISABILITIES (page 2 of 2)

Impairment: A reduction in physical or mental function as result of a medical condition. The medical condition could becaused by an injury, disease or other disorder.

 Adapted from The MCSS eLearning Course: May I 

 Help You? Welcoming Customers With Disabilities.

Barrier: Anything that stops a person with a disability from accessing a service or standard of service available to others or anything that makes it difficult for them to take part in society.

Disability: The restriction in a person’s functional capacity that results from an impairment,i.e., functional limitations.

Some commondisabilities include;

Developmental/Intellectual, Hearing,

Learning, Mental Health,Physical/Mobility, and

Visual.

LEARNINGMENTAL HEALTHDEVELOPMENTAL/INTELLECTUAL

The term “learning disability” is used todescribe a wide range of information

processing disorders that may affect

visual, auditory and organizational

abilities. Some examples of learning

disabilities include dyslexia (problems

in reading and related language-based

learning), dyscalculia (problems in

mathematics), and dysgraphia

(problems in writing).

Because learning disabilities are non-

visible disabilities and have wide-

ranging manifestations, they remain aconfusing area. People with learning

disabilities are not “incompetent,

clumsy or lazy”. They possess average

to above-average intelligence, but they

may be facing barriers in specific areas

of performance.

Mental health disabilities includeanxiety disorders (i.e. phobias, panic

disorders, obsessive-compulsive

disorders) and mood disorders (i.e.

depression, bi-polar), as well as

schizophrenia. The numerous

psychiatric and psychological disorders

that fall under this heading may lead to

limitations in several areas: cognitive,

emotional, social functioning and even

physical functioning. As with other

disabilities, the degree of impairment

may vary from mild to severe.

People with mental health disabilities

look like anyone else. You likely won’t

likely know that your customer has a

mental health disability unless you are

informed of it. And, usually it will not

affect your customer service interaction

at all. However, in some cases, it may,

and you should be prepared for this

possibility.

A developmental disability, also calledan intellectual disability, includes

intellectual growth and capacity that

are significantly below average. It

involves a permanent limitation in a

person's ability to learn, with effects

ranging from mild to profound.

People with a

developmental/intellectual disability

may have difficulty doing many things

others may take for granted. For

example, people with

intellectual/developmental disabilitiesmay have limitations in

communications, social interactions,

daily living, or movement skills.

Some people who have a

developmental/intellectual disability

were born without the disability, but

developed it later in life due to an

illness or accident. Treat all your

customers with respect and dignity.

Likely, they have more awareness and

understanding than you may realize.

 A key point: Some people think that disabilities are the barrier, but actually it is the environment that 

 presents certain physical, sociological and attitudinal circumstances that create barriers. These

circumstances are based on a stereotypical view of what the human experience should be like. So remember 

“circumstances in the environment” create barriers for people with disabilities – their disabilities don’t.