This paper presents three very brief essays on three different topics involving students with disabilities. The first essay examines for differences in the definition of important terms. The second essay compares two federal laws: IDEA and Section 504. The third essay discusses specific criteria used in identifying and labeling students with health impairments and severe sensory disorders.
This essay examines the definitions of the terms: disability, impairment and handicap. Two real-life examples are provided for each term.
Properly defining the terms disability, impairment, and handicap are crucial to ensuring that special needs individuals receive all of the monies, resources, support, and services to which they are entitled under the law (Goren, 2007). This means that all of these terms should be precisely and accurately articulated, both conceptually and legally. In this regard, Colker (2007) notes that, unfortunately, definitions of all three terms vary and are not without controversy. A good deal of this controversy, Colker (2007) states, is centered around the need to make sure that definitions are sufficiently broad so as to include all individuals that properly fit within the category designated by the term and yet sufficiently narrow so as to exclude those that do not properly belong in these categories.
Borman (2004) reports that one of the most widely accepted (although still not without controversy) methods of defining these three terms is the definition of the World Health Organization, which defines each term within the context of health. The WHO's definition of disability is that the term refers to any restriction or lack resulting from an impairment in performing any behavior within a range considered normal for a human being. Some examples of people who are disabled would be those who require a wheelchair or are long-term users of canes, or people who have difficulties seeing or hearing.
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