Jargon Buster - Disability Category

Any cognitive impairment that develops after birth, including traumatic brain injury, stroke, and neurodegenerative conditions such as dementia.

Categories

• Disability

An impairment that a person is not born with but is caused, or develops during their life, by an injury or illness.

Categories

• Disability

Related Jargon

• Congenital disorder
• Impairment

Alternative and augmentative communication systems are a variety of methods (for example, signing, use of visual symbols and eye gaze technology) that can be used to help disabled people to communicate. These systems or methods of communication can be used as an alternative to speech or to supplement it.

Categories

• Communication
• Disability

An NHS initiative for everyone over the age of 14, who is on their doctor’s learning disability register, to have a health check once a year.

Categories

• Disability
• Health and health care

Care (education) and treatment reviews (C(E)TRs) are for people who have been admitted to a mental health hospital or for people who are at risk of admission. Their purpose is to make sure that people are only admitted to hospital when absolutely necessary and for the minimum amount of time possible.

Care and treatment reviews (CTRs) are for adults and care (education) and treatment reviews (CETRs) are for children and young people.

Care (education) and treatment reviews (C(E)TRs) are part of NHS England’s commitment to transforming services for people of all ages with a learning disability and autistic people.

Categories

• Disability
• Hospital
• Mental health

The charity model of disability views disabled people as objects of pity who require sympathy, help and looking after. This model views people as ‘brave’, ‘inspirational’, ‘special’, ‘suffering’ and ‘victims’.

Other models include the medical model of disability, social model of disability, and human rights model of disability

Categories

• Disability

Related Jargon

• Human rights model of disability
• Medical model of disability
• Social model of disability

A difference in a person’s brain that may make it difficult for them to remember things, solve problems, learn new things or make decisions. It may be mild or severe, and may be something they are born with or caused by an illness or injury.

Categories

• Disability

A specialist health service for people with a learning disability and the people who support them. The team is made up of different workers including therapists, nurses and psychologists. It provides physical and mental health advice and support to people and families.

Categories

• Disability
• Health and health care

A condition that a person is born with rather than something they develop during their life.

Categories

• Disability
• Health and health care

When a person is disabled or has a particular health condition, and doctors think this is the reason for any health problems or symptoms they have. It often affects people with a learning disability or people who require support with their mental health, and can mean that illnesses are missed or not treated properly.

Categories

• Disability
• Health and health care

The Equality Act 2010 definition of disability says that a person is disabled if they have a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.

The Act requires public bodies to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to make things like information, buildings and policies accessible to disabled people.

Categories

• Disability

Related Jargon

• Impairment
• Reasonable adjustments

Money that disabled people have to spend on things that non-disabled people don’t pay for, like extra laundry, high heating bills or special clothes.

The law says that local councils should look at these expenses when completing financial assessments, to work out how much people can afford to pay towards the cost of care and support.

Categories

• Disability
• Money

Related Jargon

• Financial assessment

The human rights model of disability is based on basic human rights principles. It recognises that disability is a natural part of human diversity, and that physical or mental impairments must not be used as an excuse to deny or restrict people’s rights. This model puts the person at the centre of all conversations and decisions about them. Like the social model, it locates the ‘problem’ outside the person and within society, emphasising the responsibility of the state to remove barriers and ensure full respect for the dignity and human rights of all people.

Other models include the medical model, charity model and social model.

Categories

• Disability
• Equality, diversity and inclusion

Related Jargon

• Charity model of disability
• Medical model of disability
• Social model of disability

Identity first language refers to disability, diagnosis, or health condition first. For example, ‘disabled people’, ‘autistic people’, ‘deaf people’.

The thinking behind this language is to recognise that these are defining characteristics of the person and part of their identity, describing who the person ‘is’ rather than what the person ‘has’. This language fits with the social model of disability.

Categories

• Communication
• Disability

Related Jargon

• Person first language
• Social model of disability

A physical or mental characteristic of a person that they may have been born with, or that may have been caused by injury or illness.

The Equality Act 2010 definition of disability says that a person is disabled if they have a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.

Categories

• Disability

Related Jargon

• Disability

When a person has choice and control over their life, and access to the support they require to live the life they choose to lead.

Article 19 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) recognises the equal right of all disabled people to live independently and be included in the community, with choices equal to non-disabled people. It says that people should be able to choose where they live and who they live with, and should have access to the support their require – including personal assistance – to live independently.

Categories

• Disability
• Equality, diversity and inclusion

Related Jargon

• Independence

A life-long reduced intellectual ability.

Categories

• Disability

The medical model of disability describes disability as something a person has, like an illness, and something that needs to be prevented, cured, treated, or overcome. This model views disability as a problem located within the person. It focuses on what people can’t do and tries to fix the person through medical treatment, operations, or equipment.

Other models include the charity model, social model and human rights model.

Categories

• Disability

Related Jargon

• Charity model of disability
• Human rights model of disability
• Social model of disability

Different ways of thinking and communicating about disability. The main models are the medical, charity, social and human rights models.

Categories

• Disability

Related Jargon

• Charity model of disability
• Human rights model of disability
• Medical model of disability
• Social model of disability

Person first language puts the word ‘person’ or ‘people’ before any reference to disability, diagnosis, or health condition. For example, ‘people with disabilities’, ‘people who have autism’, ‘people who are deaf’.

The thinking behind this language is to promote the idea that disability is ‘just a label’ and not the defining characteristic of the person. It is seen as a way to emphasise the person, and view the diagnosis, health condition, or disability as only one part of the whole person, describing what the person ‘has’ rather than what the person ‘is’.

This language fits with the medical and charity models of disability.

People who don’t like person first language say it suggests the ‘problem’ is with the person rather than with disabling barriers in society.

Categories

• Communication
• Disability

Related Jargon

• Charity model of disability
• Identity first language
• Medical model of disability

When a person has more than one disability, including a profound learning disability. People with profound and multiple learning disabilities often need a lot of health and social care support, including support to communicate.

Categories

• Disability

An impairment relating to a person’s senses, for example a visual impairment, hearing impairment or when a person is deafblind.

Categories

• Disability

Related Jargon

• Impairment

The social model of disability says that disability is something people experience, and that people are disabled by barriers in society, not by their impairment. Disabling barriers include people’s attitudes (e.g. thinking disabled people can’t do certain things, like work, live on their own, have sex or have children), the physical environment (e.g. steps, narrow doorways), and information and communication (e.g. information not available in accessible formats). Removing these barriers creates equality and means that disabled people have more independence, choice, and control.

Other models include the medical model, charity model and human rights model.

Categories

• Disability

Related Jargon

• Charity model of disability
• Human rights model of disability
• Medical model of disability

An impairment or health condition that is immediately apparent or ‘visible’ to other people.

Categories

• Disability

Related Jargon

• Disability
• Hidden disability
• Invisible disability
• Less-visible disability
• Non-visible disability