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Persons with Disabilities

This page provides information for persons caring for someone with a disability. Persons with disabilities may have been born with a congenital or genetic disease or disorder, may have been injured during the birth process, or may have acquired a disability through an accident, illness, or disease. 

Developmental Disabilities impair a person's ability to complete certain developmental tasks at the usual developmental milestones. 

Cognitive Disabilities significantly limit the ability of individuals to learn and process information.  Individuals have difficulty retaining knowledge, learning skills, making decisions, and communicating with each other. This may result in behavioural challenges that limit interpersonal, social and emotional functioning. Individuals with cognitive disabilities may have developmental challenges that limit their capacity to acquire daily living skills in areas such as self-care, independence at home, in the community, at work or at leisure. Limitations and impairments are persistent, and long term. Cognitive disabilities are not specifically tied to IQ scores. 

Physical Disabilities impact the person's ability to perform some or all physical activities such as being unable to walk, having difficulty with hand control, coordination or speech.  A handicap is the degree to which that disability puts you at a disadvantage in daily life. For instance, someone who is very short-sighted may be considered to have a disability, but she is unlikely to consider this a handicap if she has corrective lenses. A disability may prevent someone from climbing stairs, but this will only be a handicap if the building she wants to enter is not wheelchair accessible.

Below there are general resources related to disability. In separate sections, there are resources related to the following disabilities:

• Blindness or Vision Loss



• Cerebral Palsy



• Deaf, Hard of hearing or Hearing Loss



• Down Syndrome



• Epilepsy



• Muscular Dystrophy and



• Paraplegia

Resources related to Acquired Brain Injury, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), also referred to as Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD), and to Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) are addressed under separate Health Condition headings.

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Blindness or Vision Loss

A person may be born blind, or with limited vision, or may lose the sensation of sight, partially or fully during their lifetime.  Blindness or loss of sight may be due to congenital disorders, illness or injury.

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Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a term used to describe a group of disorders that affect the way the brain controls the muscles of the body.  CP has different causes, for example, abnormal development, genetic disorders, stroke due to abnormal blood vessels or blood clots or infection of the brain. Rarely, it may be due to damage during the birth process. The development of the brain starts early in pregnancy and continues until about age three. Damage to the brain during this time may result in CP.

Persons with CP have difficulty with movement and posture. It affects each person differently, therefore people with cerebral palsy have varying individual needs. Depending on which areas of the brain have been damaged, one of more of the following may occur:

• Muscle tightness or spasm



• Involuntary movement



• Difficulty with gross motor activities such as walking or running



• Difficulty with fine motor skills such as speaking and writing



• Abnormal perception and sensation

These effects may cause associated problems such as difficulties in feeding, poor bladder and bowel control, breathing problems, and pressure sores.

The brain damage that caused CP may also lead to other conditions such as:

• Seizures



• Learning disabilities



• Hearing impairment



• Vision problems

People with CP have a normal life expectancy. Damage to the brain is a one-time event so the condition will not worsen with time, although the effects of CP may change over time. With appropriate care and therapy some effects may diminish – i.e. a child whose hands are affected may be able to gain adequate control to learn to type or write.  Others may get worse: tight muscles may cause problems with the hips of spine of growing children which require orthopaedic surgery. 

Adapted from: A Guide to Cerebral Palsy, Dr. A. Mervyn Fox, 1991

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Deaf, Hard of Hearing or Hearing Loss

A person may be born deaf, with limited hearing or partially or fully lose the hearing sense during their lifetime due to congenital disorders, injury or illness.

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Down Syndrome

Down Syndrome is a genetic disorder that occurs at conception. It usually causes delays and limitations in physical and intellectual development. Just as is in the general population, there is a wide variation in mental abilities, behavior and physical development in individuals with Down Syndrome.

The incidence of Down Syndrome in the general population is one in every 650-750 live births. Women under 35 years of age give birth to more than 80% of children with Down Syndrome.

Approximately 30-40% of individuals with Down Syndrome are born with heart defects and some have other congenital anomalies. Most of these defects are now correctable by surgery.

From Newfoundland and Labrador Down Syndrome Society, 2011. 

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Epilepsy

Epilepsy is a chronic disorder of the brain characterized by seizures. Seizures are the result of sudden excessive electrical discharges in nerve cells in the brain.  These discharges may affect the whole brain or just part of it.

Seizures may range from short lapses of attention, uncontrolled movements, odd sensations, loss of consciousness, or to severe and prolonged convulsions. Seizures vary in frequency. In some people with epilepsy, seizures happen only occasionally.  In other people, seizures may happen hundreds of times a day.

Seizures affect people of all ages. The majority are affected in the first year of life.  The numbers of older adults between the ages of 60 and 75 years are increasing rapidly.

Most seizures occur in normal individuals. Seizures can be controlled with currently available medication in 70% of the 300,000 Canadians with epilepsy. The remaining 30% of people with epilepsy have syndromes that are accompanied by learning disabilities, behavioural problems, memory loss, psychiatric disorders and/or other adaptive problems that prevent a normal life. Most of the severe epilepsies follow a serious injury such as birth trauma, car accident or stroke. Current medical treatment for these epilepsies does not control seizures and does not improve all of these associated problems. 

In 50 – 60 % of all cases the cause of epilepsy is unknown.  Some known causes of epilepsy include:

• Injury to the brain before, during or after birth



• Infections that damage the brain (meningitis, viral encephalitis)



• Brain tumours



• Brain injury



• Disturbances in blood circulation to the brain - cerebral vascular accident (stroke)



• Genetic or hereditary abnormalities



• Degenerative diseases

Epilepsy may be treated with medication, surgery, the Ketogenic diet and/or Vagus Nerve Stimulation. The goal of treatment is to stop or reduce the amount of seizures that an individual is having without causing unpleasant side-effects.

Adapted from: BC Epilepsy Society, 2011

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Muscular Dystrophy

Muscular Dystrophy is the name for a group of neuromuscular disorders that are characterized by progressive weakness and wasting of the voluntary muscles that control body movement. As muscle tissue weakens and wastes away, it is replaced by fatty and connective tissue.

Each form of muscular dystrophy is caused by an error in a specific gene associated with muscle function; however, specific disorders within this group vary in many ways. The muscles involved are different from one disorder to another. The severity of the symptoms, the age at which the symptoms appear, how fast the symptoms progress, and what pattern of inheritance the disorder follows, are all factors which differ among the various forms of muscular dystrophy. Even within a specific disorder, several individuals with the same disorder may experience the disorder and its symptoms quite differently.

Muscular dystrophies are genetic disorders. Forms of muscular dystrophy can be passed on from generation to generation, or they can occur spontaneously in a single individual as the result of a mutation of a particular gene. Contrary to popular belief, muscular dystrophy is not exclusively a childhood disorder - anyone can be affected.  While some types of muscular dystrophy are first evident in infancy or early childhood, other types may not appear until later in life.

Over time, persons with neuromuscular disorders may lose the ability to walk, speak, and ultimately breathe. For some individuals, the disorder is fatal. There is currently no cure.

From Muscular Dystrophy Canada, 2011

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Paraplegia

The spinal cord is a thick bundle of nerves that runs through the vertebrae (backbones) in your spine. This nerve bundle is about 18 inches long, starting at the base of your brain and ending at your buttocks. The spinal cord acts as a communication superhighway between your brain and the rest of your body.
The spinal cord is most often injured by an accident that causes your spinal vertebrae to break,  also damaging your spinal cord. When the spinal cord is damaged, the body's communication highway is essentially closed. Nerve impulses can't get through. This results in paralysis – loss of mobility and sensation – below the level of injury.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is devastating, affecting every aspect of a person's life. Each year in Canada, it becomes a painful reality for 1,000 more people.

• The most frequent cause of spinal cord injury is a motor vehicle collision. Other common causes include falls, diving accidents and medical complications.

• 84% of people who sustain a spinal cord injury are under 34 years old.

• 80% of all newly injured individuals who are referred to the Canadian Paraplegic Association are male.

From Ottawa Chapter, Canadian Paraplegic Association, 2011

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