Living with a disability can be both unnerving and challenging. While there are different disabilities, each comes with its own problems.
However, you can successfully identify and understand the types of disabilities by speaking with a professional like a healthcare provider. This would help you deal with affected persons and their conditions effortlessly.
In this article, we’ll explain the five top disabilities that can make people’s lives hell. We’ll also explain their symptoms and how they limit physical activity.
What Are the Top Five Types of Disabilities?
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Disabilities are more common than you think. While everyone expects this condition to be obvious, it isn’t always what it seems.
Some of these conditions can be physical, while others may be mental. In addition, it may be severe for some people more than others.
Regardless, we have highlighted five top disabilities to help you understand the difficulties people with disabilities face in life.
1. Chronic Pain Disorders
Chronic pain disorders are one of the worst conditions that can seriously affect a person’s quality of life. Pain disorders like chronic back pain and fibromyalgia are leading in this area.
Fibromyalgia is a global condition affecting 1 in 20 people worldwide. Nearly 2-10% of the general U.S. population of all ages suffer from this condition.
The constant pain resulting from such conditions can lead to several other problems, like cognitive issues, fatigue, and sleep disorders. In the end, it makes daily activities extremely difficult. Most times, they make it difficult to remain steadily employed.
2. Severe Mental Illness
Severe mental illnesses are major conditions that dramatically change a person’s ability to function normally. Mental conditions like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia are more common than you expect.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), it is difficult to measure the exact prevalence of schizophrenia. However, the estimated range for the prevalence among all ages in the U.S. is 0.25% to 0.64%.
3. Multiple Sclerosis (M.S.)
Multiple Sclerosis is a severe illness that affects the central nervous system. It causes many symptoms, including fatigue, mobility problems, and cognitive disorders.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 1.8 million people in the world have multiple sclerosis.
M.S. is an unpredictable disease and can lead to severe disability that affects the person’s quality of life. This makes it a challenging condition to manage.
4. Severe Vision Impairments
Severe vision impairments can significantly affect a person’s ability to function properly. These conditions make them dependent on others to perform simple everyday tasks.
Vision impairments include cataracts, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and complete blindness. According to the WHO, at least 2.2 billion people in the world suffer from at least one type of vision impairment. Of this population, 1 billion cases are preventable.
Generally, it starts as a simple symptom affecting a person’s vision. Then, it progresses into something more serious that limits a person’s mobility and social interaction.
Various organizations have created programs to help people with visual disabilities increase their quality of life. Due to these efforts, people with disabilities learn to move around, function, and associate like normal people.
5. Mobility Impairments
Mobility impairments are severe conditions that affect a person’s ability to perform daily tasks or move freely. Some of these conditions include severe arthritis, spinal cord injuries, paralysis, and muscular dystrophy.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that 12.2% of U.S. adults have mobility disabilities.
What Next?
Use the knowledge of disabilities you have gained to understand the severity of your condition. This will enable you to determine the best way to go about dealing with them. While life with disabilities can be difficult, there are resources available that can help improve the quality of your life.
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