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Disability is part of human diversity. One in five Australians has one or more disabilities and this proportion is increasing with the ageing of the population.   

Disability can result from accident, illness, congenital or genetic disorders. There are many different kinds of disability—physical, intellectual or mental health related.

A disability may be visible or hidden, may be permanent or temporary and may have a minimal or substantial impact on a person’s abilities. A disability may affect mobility, ability to learn, or ability to communicate easily.

The Disability Discrimination Act (1992) defines disability as:

• total or partial loss of a person’s bodily or mental functions
• total or partial loss of a part of the body
• the presence in the body of organisms causing disease or illness
• the malfunction, malformation or disfigurement of a part of a person’s body
• a disorder or malfunction that results in a person learning differently from a person without the disorder or malfunction
• a disorder, illness or disease that affects a person’s thought processes, perception of reality, emotions or judgement, or that results in disturbed behaviour.

The majority of people with disability have a physical disability (83.9 per cent), 11.3 per cent have mental illness and behavioural disability and 4.8 per cent have an intellectual or developmental disability.

More information to help you understand mental illness is avaliable:

• Understanding mental illness

Although some people are born with disability, many people who currently have a disability may have spent much of their lives without disability.  For example, people who have acquired their disability through a workplace incident or car accident, or people who may have acquired a disability as they age.

Who are people with disability?

People with disability are part of every section of our community: men, women, and children; employers and employees; students and teachers; indigenous and non-indigenous; customers and citizens.

The only thing that distinguishes a person with disability is that they may be unable to do certain things in the same way that most people in the mainstream of society do them without some form of adaptation or alteration to assist them overcome the effects of their disability.

No two people with the same disability experience their disability in the same way.

References:

Australian Bureau of Statistics 2003, Disability, Ageing and Carers: Summary of Findings, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra.

Source: http://www.jobaccess.gov.au/JOAC/Coworkers/Working_with_people_with_disability/What_is_disability/