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People with disabilities are those whose prospects of securing, retaining places and advancing
in educational and training institutions, employment and recreation as equal members of the community are substantially reduced as a
result of physical, mental, intellectual, developmental or sensory impairments.
Below is a list of the more common disabilities:
Asperger Syndrome
A condition resembling autism in which there are speech and language abnormalities, problems with non-verbal communication, severe impairment in social interaction, a fixation on a narrow field of interest, rigidity in following fixed routines, and motor clumsiness.
Attention Deficit Disorder
Attention deficit disorder refers to the condition where a person has a short concentration span but without hyperactive behaviour.
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Poor social interaction, delayed speech, little eye contact, and stereotypic obsessional behaviours such as rotating objects are some of the common features of autism.
Cerebral Palsy
A term used to describe a medical condition that affects the control of muscles. "Cerebral" refers to the brain's two halves or hemispheres and "Palsy" any disorder that impairs control of body movement.
Hearing Impairment
Hearing impairment is a loss of or decrease in perception to sound.It can range from profound deafness to a partial loss of high-pitched sounds.
Delayed Speech / Speech delay
A child may use sounds common to younger children and may substitute or miss sounds or words. It also refers to children who do not start talking at the expected age.
Developmental Delay
If a child fails to attain certain developmental milestones, such as walking, waving goodbye or saying single word, then he / she is considered developmentally delayed.
Down Syndrome
An abnormality of the chromosome number 21 can result in Down Syndrome. The person often has a characteristic face that is round, with a prominent fold of the eye membrane. Other features include floppy muscle tone and relatively short stubby fingers. Complications can involve the heart and intestines. The development usually slows down after a few months, and most children with Down Syndrome require special education.
Dysarthria
Slurred / unclear speech.
Dyslexia
Unable (impairment) to read properly. Sometimes referred to as "word blindness", it also manifests itself as a tendency to write mirror images (eg. b for p, p for q), to jumble up the alphabets in a word or mix up the order of words in a sentence. Treatment involves a process of individualised training.
Intellectual Disability
Intellectual disability is synonymous with retarded mental development. It manifest in early childhood by developmental delay. An affected child may be delayed in speech, and will not start talking until after two years of age.
Landau-Kleffner Syndrome
A rare language disorder in which a child has difficulty understanding spoken words, with an onset between 3-6 years old.
Learning Disability
A general term that refers to a wide range of disorders, which affect a child's ability to learn. It encompasses such disorders such as intellectual disability, dyslexia, autism, hearing and visual impairment.
Muscular Dystrophy
This is a condition in which the muscles may waste away progressively. There is delayed walking, and the gait is unsteady or waddling. The person becomes increasingly weaker, and usually will be confined to a wheelchair.
Spastic Cerebral Palsy
This is a form of cerebral palsy characterised by stiffness of the muscles, and exaggerated reflexes. Regular exercises to strengthen the muscles and prevent contractures are recommended.
Speech problems
Common speech problems in children include speech delay, inaccurate pronunciation, and stuttering.
Spina bifida
It is a failure in the development of part of the backbone, resulting in exposure of some of the spinal cord.
Visual impairment
Visual impairment can range from mild loss of clarity, as may occur with short-sightedness, to total blindness.
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| For more information, please refer to the Disability Portal. |
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