Physical Disabilities

Having any kind of disability can be difficult to deal with, but imagine, not being able to walk independently, not being able to see the world thorough your own two eyes, not being able to hear the sounds of your family or the places around you. This is a physical disability. A physical disability can either be short term or long term. Some people may be born with one while others are simply caused by injury, illness, or accident. Some physical disabilities may improve over time and others can be treated through medication or physical therapy. It can be a huge challenge, having a disability; it can mean drastically changing the way you live or merely changing some aspects of your life.

Children and adults with physical disabilities have the same basic needs as other children and adults. There is a wide range of physical disabilities that one can have. These include those such as cerebral palsy, whose patients may have limited motor skills, speech difficulties, learning disabilities, or other problems. Muscular dystrophy, an inherited disorder of the muscles in which the muscles become very weak and are replaced with fatty deposits over time. Another is congenital heart problems, which is a malformation of the heart or blood vessels near the heart, this is a disability that you must be born with. Blindness, in which some cases are worse then others, weather you legally blind or completely lacking sight. Last are the deaf, who either wholly or partly lack the sense of hearing. Regardless of what disability a person has they still need ordinary things such as a good diet, as much regular physical activity as possible, and the appropriate amount of rest and sleep. But in order to function everyday and live life to the fullest some with physical disabilities may require specially adapted equipment such as a wheelchair, speech synthesizer, or a computer printer that produces Braille. (R. Turnbull et. Al, 2004) In other words, simply an environment that provides safe movement and living.

The attitudes that people have about their own disabilities and those opinions of those who don't are very versatile. A persons attitude toward their physical disability can be accepting and embracing keeping in mind that things can be worse or there can be a more somber impact on the person and can effect the way the person communicates with others. The attitudes of fellow employers are also a crucial part on the overall influence of the physically disabled. Those who are physically disabled are entitled to live as "normal" and functional life as they possibly can, according to the ADA (American with disabilities act). Employees can view a disabled co-worker as having an unfair advantage given solely out of pity which will then cause a negative discriminative attitude towards the physically disabled employee. On the contrary, a co-workers attitude can also simply be a positive one, one of encouragement, which would then, most likely, result in an enhancement in the disabled persons work ethic and overall attitude. Other important attitudes towards those who are physically disabled come from what is believed to be the most influential source, the family. Family attitudes and relationships are basically a sociological problem, and virtually all rehabilitation workers recognize their significance in carrying out rehabilitation efforts. (McDaniel Ph. D, 1969) Some research states what would be perceived as obvious; If a family projects and demonstrates a negative attitude toward a family member's disability it will then have a negative effect on that family member and their attitude towards life and rehabilitation. In contrast to that statement other studies show

"To some extent, such findings are perhaps a function of the very nature of the treatment program itself. That is, during the particular phase of rehabilitation studied, the family must more or less relinquish all responsibility for the care and treatment of their loved one." (Litman 1966)

It has been pointed out that the attitudes toward people with disabilities does not tell what the attitudes of the disabled themselves are ( McDonald + Hall, 1969)

As a physically disabled person you face many barriers to living a "normal" life. It is said to be believed that barriers