Disability is not solely a medical condition; it is the interaction between health states and social environments. This chapter explores the epidemiology of disability across the life course, including physical, sensory, intellectual, and psychosocial impairments.
It examines ageing-related disability, childhood developmental disability, injury-related impairment, and chronic disease-associated limitation. Crucially, it highlights the distinction between impairment and participation restriction - emphasising how social, architectural, educational, and economic barriers shape lived experience.
Public health strategies move beyond treatment to accessibility, inclusive policy, assistive technologies, community participation, and rights-based approaches. Disability is framed not as deficit, but as diversity requiring structural adaptation.
Health systems are judged not only by cure, but by inclusion.
Key Takeaways
* Disability reflects interaction between health conditions and environmental barriers.
* Ageing populations increase the prevalence of disability globally.
* Social exclusion and poverty disproportionately affect people with disabilities.
* Access to education, employment, and healthcare is often restricted.
* Assistive technologies and inclusive design improve participation.
* Rights-based approaches are central to modern disability policy.
* Public health must integrate inclusion into planning and infrastructure.
