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A New Definition

A new definition of disability has evolved from the many ways we have thought about disability over time and from different perspectives. Among other changes, the most recent evolution of the definition emphasizes functional ability over a medical diagnosis and makes a very important distinction between two concepts—functional limitation and disability.

According to the newest definition developed by the World Health Organization, disability is not something that a person has but, instead, something that occurs outside of the person—the person has a functional limitation. Disability occurs in the interaction between a person, his or her functional ability, and the environment. A person’s environment can be the physical environment, communication environment, information environment, and social and policy environment.

This new definition helps us to understand that disability is a matter of degree: one is more or less disabled based on the intersection between herself, her functional abilities, and the many types of environments with which she interacts. Moreover, the experience of disability can be minimized by designing environments to accommodate varying functional abilities and providing individualized solutions when needed.

In This Section

We have structured the information in this section around the following themes:

the evolving definitions of disability, including the medical model, the social model, and the biopsychosocial model;
a contrast of approaches; and
benefits to thinking about disability in a new way.

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¹Herbert Simon, Nobel Laureate in Economics, 1962.