DISABILITIES AWARENESS

MENTAL DISABILITIES

• Multiple categories of mental illnesses• Anxiety• Mood• Psychotic• Eating• Impulse and Control• Personality• Dissociative

COMMON MENTAL DISABILITIES

• ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)

• ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder)

• Autism

• Bipolar Disorder

• Claustrophobia

• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

• Schizophrenia

• Alzheimer's Disease

AUTISM (TARGET DISABILITY)

• A group of developmental brain disorders.

• Both genetic and environmental factors play roles in causing autism. (Suspected not proven)

• Symptoms include• Social Impairment

• Make little eye contact• Respond unusually when others show anger, distress, or affection.

• Communication Difficulties• Fail or be slow to respond• Fail or be slow to develop gestures

• Repetitive and Stereotyped behaviors

FACTS ABOUT AUTISM

• Autism now affects 1 in 88 children (1 in 54 boys)

• Autism is the fastest growing serious developmental disability in the United States.

• Autism costs a family $60,000 a year on average.

• Autism receives less than 5% of the research funding

• There is no medical detection or cure for autism.

MYTHS ABOUT AUTISM

• People with autism don’t want friends• People with autism struggle with social skills which make it difficult to

interact with others.

• People with autism can’t understand the emotions of others.• Autism patients might not recognize body language as well, but direct

communicated language that shows emotion is understood.

• Autism is caused by bad parenting• Rumor that autism is caused by the lack of emotional warmth from the

mother.

• People with autism can’t feel or express any emotion.• Autism doesn’t take away one’s ability to feel emotions.

PHYSICAL DISABILITIES

• A physical disability is one that affects a persons’ mobility and/or dexterity.

• A person with a physical disability may need extra assistance from the use of equipment to relocate themselves from point A to point B.

• Physical disabilities can also include people who have lost limbs, shape of the body, or anything that requires slight adaptation in order for the patient to contribute fully.

• Some physical disabilities can come from the result of injury, while others are developed in the womb or after birth.

COMMON PHYSICAL DISABILITIES

• Blindness

• Cerebral Palsy

• Muscular Dystrophy

• Parkinson’s Disease

• Paraplegia

• Quadriplegia

• Multiple Sclerosis

PARAPLEGIA (TARGET DISABILITY)

• Paraplegia is usually due to a spinal cord injury and results in an impairment to the motor or sensory function of the lower half of a person’s body.

• Occurs due to damage to the cellular structure of the spinal cord within the spinal canal.

• Injury to the spinal cord at the thoracic level and below result in paraplegia, with the arms and hands not affected.

• People with injuries to the spinal cord segments T-1 to T-8 usually retain control of the arms and hands but have poor trunk control and balance due to the lack of abdominal muscle control

• Lower thoracic injuries (T-9 to T-12) retain good truck control and good abdominal muscle control

FACTS ABOUT PARAPLEGIA

• Over 250,000 Americans are spinal cord injured, and counting.• Approximately 11,000 new injuries occurs each year.

• Length of initial hospitalization following injury in acute care units: 15 days

• Average stay in rehabilitation unit: 44 days

• Initial hospitalization costs following injury: $140,000

• Average first year expenses for a SCI injury (all groups): $198,000

• First year expenses for paraplegics: $152,000

• • In 2010-11, 40 % of SCIs resulted in quadriplegia, and 60% in paraplegia

IMPORTANT TO INCLUDE

• People with disabilities want to participate in activities and events just like the rest of us.

• Mentally disabled people still have the ability to process emotion and want to participate with others.

• Physically disabled people don’t enjoy separating themselves from those who are “normal,” because they have the ability to participate as well, just sometimes need extra assistance.

• In almost all scenarios, the possibility to modify the game to include the extra person, is easily achievable.

REFERENCES

• Autism Spectrum Disorder. (n.d.). Retrieved November 18, 2013, from National Institute of Mental Health website: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/autism-spectrum-disorders-pervasive-developmental-disorders/index.shtml

• Facts About Autism. (2013). Retrieved November 18, 2013, from Autism Speaks website: http://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism/facts-about-autism

• Paraplegia and Paraplegic. (n.d.). Retrieved November 18, 2013, from Apparelyzed website: http://www.apparelyzed.com/paraplegia-paraplegic.html

• Spinal Cord Injury Facts & Statistics. (n.d.). Retrieved November 18, 2013, from Sci-Info-Pages website: http://www.sci-info-pages.com/facts.html