medicalpicture news

In 1992, at the conclusion of the United Nations Decade of Disabled Persons (1983-1992), the General Assembly proclaimed 3 December as the International Day of Disabled Persons. medicalpicture arranged a feature with text and a wide variety of photographs, illustrations and image series regarding people with disabilities.

Handicapped or disabeld means individual Impairments of humans, those extensively, comparatively heavy and long-term are. The term ‚handicap `is extremely versatile and always means the entire spectrum from the mental handicap to body handicap. The WHO differentiates in substantial 3 categories: Impairment, Disability and Handicap.

‘The questions of the definition of “person with a disability” and how persons with disabilities perceive themselves are knotty and complex. It is no accident that these questions are emerging at the same time that the status of persons with disabilities in society is changing dramatically’,

so Deborah Kaplan, Director of the World Institute on Disability.

Types of Disability
Given that the term disability is fairly broad, a concrete definition becomes difficult. However, generally speaking it is possible to define the following categories:
Physical Disability (68%), Mental Handicap / Retardation (17%). The remaining 15 % include other and insufficiently specified types of disabilities.

Famous Handicapped/ Disabled
In today’s society it is becoming easier for people with a handicap to enjoy a fairly normal lifestyle. Also, many famous people have/had disabilities including Ludwig van Beethoven (Deafness), Albert Einstein (learning disability), Christopher Reeve (quadriplegic), Stephen Hawking (Lou Gehrigs Disease) and Thomas Quasthoff (Thalidomide victim).

Weblinks
People with Disabilities
Famous Handicapped/ Disabled
Prosthetics
The Wheelchair
Thalidomide