- LOCO MOTOR DISABILITY
- Difficulty in movement of limbs.
- Delayed in physical development, like-neck control, crawling, sitting, standing etc.
- Curved feet from birth.
- Congenital deformity (formation of the part of the body not like others) in limbs.
- Since birth, there is a bulge (sac) on the surface of the back in the area of vertebra.
- Floppy/stiff muscles in the limbs and other parts of the body.
- Tightness in the joint of the limbs.
- CEREBRAL PALSY
- The child/person face difficulty in controlling body movement, alignment &balance (may be stiff/loose)
- Delay in physical development in general.
- Due to uncontrolled movement and delayed physical development, child/person has difficulty in learning/performing basic functions like feeding, toileting, dressing etc.
- Communication difficulties especially in speech due to uncontrolled movement of speech organs.
- VISUAL IMPAIRMENT
- Faces difficulty in seeing like others.
- Child development may be delayed.
- Person squints while looking at things.
- Night blindness.
- The eye looks different (red, white spots, cloudy, the black spot in the centre may look grey or white, squint, pus etc.
- LOW VISION
- The child/ person holds the things nearer to eye or goes closest to the object (in spite of having correcting measure like glasses)
- The child/person has difficulty in reading from black board.
- The child/person cannot read small prints.
. The child/person favours one eye more than the other when looking on an object
- AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER
- The child play alone, does not play with others at her/his age.
- The child/person does not establish or maintain any eye contact with others.
- Difficulty in socialization.
- Difficulty in communication.
- Delay in, or lack of, learning to talk.
- Difficulty in making/ maintain relationship.
- Aggressive behaviour.
- Echolia (parroting of words sentence spoken to the person) and literalness of language.
- HEARING
- The child/person does not turn his/her head to respond to sound/even loud sound/not look at the source of the sound.
- The child/person cannot speak according to his/her age/ cannot say any word like-”mama” or “da-da”
- The child/person does not respond if anybody calls from another room/if s/he cannot see the person.
- The child/person can say few words but cannot reply to the question if the person hide his/her lips if the child cannot read the lip movement.(post lingual deafness)
- INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY
- The child/person learns things more slowly than other children of the same age, sex, and environment.
- The child/person may be delay in physical development like- neck control, crawling, sitting, standing etc.
- The child/ person is slow than the others of the same age, sex in carrying out different daily living activities/functions.
- The child/person head is either smaller or bigger in size than the people of same age.
- The child/person is floppy. The eyes slant upward, short neck, short arms and legs etc.
- The child/person can do only repetitive jobs.
- The child/person can follow only simple instruction or understand simple sentence.
- MENTAL ILLNESS
- Suddenly strange behaviour (at any age) which is not socially acceptable, though the person knows how to behave normally.
- Overwhelmed by fear or worry.
- Depressed mood
- Confused thinking
- Trouble dealing with stress.
- Suicidal thoughts
- Severe anxiety
- Problems sleeping
- Distance from friends and family.
- HANSEN’S DISEASE
- Loss of feeling below knee/ elbow.
- Claw hand and foot drop.
- Ulcer/sores under soul of feet of hand.
- MULTIPLE DISABILITY
The child/ person may have more than one difficulty like- seeing with hearing or mobility with mental retardation
CAUSES OF DISABILITIES
There is a close link between disability and poverty. Many of the cause of disability relate to poverty for example:
- When mothers do not get enough to eat during pregnancy, babies might be underweight or born much before expected delivery date: may lead to the birth of a child with disability.
- When babies or young children do not get enough to eat, they become malnourished and get infected more easily. It may lead to frequent illness that led to disabilities.
- Poor sanitation, unsafe drinking water along with crowded living conditions commonly lead to disabling diseases for children.
- Lack of basic health and rehabilitation services in poor communities makes disability more severe and common.
A child can be born with disability due to some of the causes mentioned below. However there are many causes that are still not know and hence there is continuing research going on to identify those unknown causes. These causes listed below are more to help the pregnant mothers and their families to take precautionary measures in order to give birth to and rear a child, reducing risk of disability.
Prevention of disabilities:
- Vaccination of the child at right time for different diseases.
- Mothers and midwives need to take added precautions during pregnancy &child birth.
- Mothers should take proper food and medicines during pregnancy under the supervision of Doctors
- Leprosy patients should be provided adequate support, care & treatment.
- Blindness in young children can be prevented by giving them adequate amount of vit A.
- Pesticides used in food, water, air and workplace can also cause of disability.
- The usage of Benzene Hexa Chloride (BHC) for preserving food grains can lead to epidemic of Epilepsy.
- People living near atomic power plants often suffer from disabilities due to radiation.
- Poisonous foods consumed by poor people are a major cause of disability.
- Bone deformities in India often result due to fluoride poisoning (fluorosis) in drinking water.
- Hazardous work condition, lack of basic safety measures result in many disabilities.
- Usage of prohibited medicines/banned drugs sometimes causes disabilities.
- Usage of mobile and exposure to Colour TV rays (it is equivalent to X Rays).
- Proper gap between children especially if the mother had a miscarriage or abortions.
- Trauma / shock during pregnancy (death/ earthquake/ fall /injury/ carrying heavy things)
- Traditional medicine / quacks/ superstitious belief can aggravate disability
- Wrongly medicated/ treatment can cause disability
Compiled by : Cherry
Blossoms Society, Kohima
