Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Disabled |
DisabledAdjective1. Incapacitated by injury or illness. 2. So badly injured as to be unable to continue; "disabled veterans". Noun1. People who are crippled or otherwise physically handicapped. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "disabled" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1350. (references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
A person is said to have a disability if they find it difficult or impossible to perform one or more activities of everyday living.
Until recently, little distinction was made between the physical or mental condition of a person and the difficulties they faced. In the past 20 years, the social model of disability has been developed, which alters this perception. It distinguishes between an impairment (some ability is objectively less than average) and a deviation from the average that by itself is not better or worse, but that is a problem due to the attitude of society or the fact that standard facilities are based on the average, and that there is a the lack of tools.
For example, as recently as the 1960s, left-handedness was seen as an abnormality. In schools in the Western world, left-handed children were forced to write with their right hand and punished if they did not comply. By the 1980s, left-handedness was accepted as simply a difference; a physical characteristic. Yet if tools such as scissors and corkscrews are only available in their right-handed forms, a left-handed person finds themselves disabled: they are unable to perform certain tasks and must be assisted by another person.
Thus, in the social model of disability, the disability is caused by society and the physical environment. Someone who is unable to walk and needs a wheelchair has an impairment; however, the social exclusion they may experience (lack of accessible transport, no adapted public toilets, buildings which are innaccessible) is caused by their environment, not their physical condition.
Discrimination of those disabled is sometimes termed ableism.
The term handicapped, in its origin, meant hand in cap, and had its origins in sport and gambling.
Some disabled persons apply the term tab for the "nondisabled", meaning "temporarily able-bodied".
Various attributive forms, such as "the disabled", "the blind", "the deaf", etc. -- rather than "disabled persons", "blind persons", "deaf persons", etc. -- are considered objectionable by many persons, since the former labeling seems to characterize a person by a single attribute.
Many of the most famous or creative persons in history have been disabled persons [1].
See also
- List of disabilities
- Disability etiquette
- Architectonic barrier
- Disability Discrimination Act
- Learning disability
Further reading
- "U. S. Counts One in 12 Children as Disabled", Washington Post, July 5, 2002
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Disability."
Synonyms: DisabledSynonyms: handicapped (adj), hors de combat (adj), incapacitated (adj), out of action (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Impotence | Adjective: powerless, impotent, unable, incapable, incompetent; inefficient, ineffective; inept; unfit, unfitted; unqualified, disqualified; unendowed; inapt, unapt; crippled, disabled; Verb: armless. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | I thought he retired, disabled, mental (Wolfen; writing credit: David Eyre; Whitley Strieber) I don't know whether you've noticed but I'm disabled! (Phoenix Nights; writing credit: Neil Fitzmaurice; Peter Kay) | |
Movie/TV Titles | DisABLEd (2000) The Disabled Century (1999) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
References | |||
Books |
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Periodicals | |||
Theater & Movies | |||
Consumer Goods | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | The United States Marine Hospital at Chelsea. The building was made of stone and built in 1827. Patients were sick and disabled seamen. Although run by the revenue collector of Boston and Charlestown, a physician and surgeon were appointed by the President of the United States. In: Historical Collections ... of Every Town in Massachusetts. 1841. Credit: America's Coastlines. |  | Divers training in handling a disabled dry suit diver. Credit: National Undersea Research Program (NURP). |
 | Everyone has a great time at Catch A Special Thrill (CAST), a day of fishing at Lake Pleasant for disabled children. Credit: Chris Tincher. |  | Picture of the Disabled Fishing Platform. Credit: Mel Ingeroi. |
 | Sketch, possibly by Edward H. Schmidt (a crewman on USS Mahaska). Items identified by numbers include: 1. USS Mahaska; 2. Schooner N.C. Claver; 3. tug Dragon; 4. USS Monitor; 5. USS Wachusett; 6. chartered steamer; 7. a schooner; 8. a gunboat; 9. USS Galena, disabled; 10. City Point, James River, abandoned. Credit: NAVY. |  | USS Northampton (CA-26), at right, attempting to tow USS Hornet (CV-8) after she had been disabled by Japanese air attacks on 26 October 1942. Credit: NAVY. |
 | Boy learning to cycle, injured and disabled men, men cycling. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Every man in this department of the Disabled American Veterans Idento Tag plant is a disabled war veteran at work assembling the miniature automobile license plates mailed every year to 30 million motorists. Proceeds finance the service program of the DAV. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Mary Pickford, full-length portrait, seated in motion picture studio, facing left, wearing costume for "Sparrows," knitting sweater for disabled veterans for the American Red Cross between scenes. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Confederates advancing to the capture of disabled guns. Gaines Mills. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |
| "Old Warehouse" by Luis Alves Commentary: "An old and disabled warehouse near Penela - Portugal. --------------------------- Notice: You can use this image, but please send me an e-mail if you use it, I really like to know when and where it's used, thanks :-)." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | It can leave individuals seriously disabled and confined to a wheelchair. (references) | |
Shamoo AE, O'Sullivan JL. The ethics of research on the mentally disabled. (references) | ||
Both of the immune system’s major weapons—antibodies and T cells—are disabled. (references) | ||
Business | Of the disabled in Sweden, some 13,000 are blind. (references) | |
However, reality for the disabled lags far behind legal dictates. (references) | ||
The number of disabled has been growing recently due to the war in Chechnya. (references) | ||
Children | Uzbekistan | The State cares for the mentally disabled in special homes. (references) |
Bulgaria | Conditions in institutions for the mentally disabled are poor. (references) | |
Bulgaria | Of these children, only 2 percent are orphans, but many are disabled. (references) | |
Civil Liberties | Greece | On November 5, the coast guard intercepted and assisted a disabled, Turkish-flag vessel that carried 714 persons believed to be heading for Italy. (references) |
Panama | The judge stated that the police in charge were not minors or disabled (and could bring charges), and that the complainant was not their legal representative. (references) | |
Poland | In a number of cases over the years, buildings and residences were built on land that included Jewish cemeteries that were destroyed during or after World War II. For example, a school for disabled children stands on the site of a completely destroyed Jewish cemetery in Kalisz. (references) | |
Discrimination | Nepal | Discrimination against lower castes, women, and the disabled remains common, especially in rural areas. (references) |
El Salvador | In practice, discrimination against women, disabled persons, and indigenous people occurs in salaries and hiring. (references) | |
Malaysia | Neither the Constitution nor other laws explicitly prohibit discrimination based on physical or mental disabilities, but the Government has promoted greater public acceptance and integration of the disabled. (references) | |
Economic History | South Africa | Opportunities for U.S. investment may also exist in making tourist facilities accessible to the disabled. (references) |
Uruguay | Disabled workers receive payment from the government of 70 percent of their salaries plus free medicine and medical care. (references) | |
Belarus | In June 2001, the World Bank approved a loan of $22.6 million to finance repairs in over 450 schools, hospitals, and homes for orphans, the elderly and the disabled throughout Belarus. (references) | |
Human Rights | China | Families whose first child is disabled also are allowed to have another child. (references) |
Korea | Although disabled veterans are treated extremely well, there also are reports that other persons with physical disabilities and those judged to be politically unreliable have been sent to internal exile. (references) | |
Dominica | Several advocacy groups, such as the Association of Disabled People, the Dominican National Council of Women, and a women's and children's self-help organization, operate freely and without government interference. (references) | |
Political Economy | Nepal | Women, the disabled, and lower castes suffer from widespread discrimination. (references) |
Slovak Republic | Cases of abuse of children and discrimination against the disabled were reported. (references) | |
Bangladesh | Societal discrimination against the disabled, indigenous people, and religious minorities was a problem. (references) | |
Trade | Pakistan | The Ministry of Commerce also issues authorization in respect of motor cars imported by disabled persons, and arms and ammunition. (references) |
Travel | Nigeria | Failure to promptly remove disabled vehicles, corpses and other obstacles from the roadway further contributes to traffic congestion and compounds unsafe driving practices. (references) |
Women | Ethiopia | The Civil Code is based on a monarchical constitution that treated women as if they were children or disabled. (references) |
Worker Rights | Laos | The Labor Code also mandates extensive employer responsibility for those disabled while at work. (references) |
United Kingdom | The working families' tax credit and disabled person's tax credit are designed to ensure a working family a weekly income of $319 (214 pounds), which constitutes a living wage. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
Thomas Jefferson | 1801-1809 | Unauthorized by the Constitution, without the sanction of Congress, to go beyond the line of defense, the vessel, being disabled from committing further hostilities, was liberated with its crew. |
Jimmy Carter | 1977-1981 | I am proud that the United States leads the world in mainstreaming and treating disabled people. |
Bill Clinton | 1993-2001 | Let's help families provide long-term care for a sick parent or a disabled child. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Disabled" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 97.20% of the time. "Disabled" is used about 2,963 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 97.2% | 2,880 | 3,225 |
| Lexical Verb (past participle) | 2.39% | 71 | 39,674 |
| Lexical Verb (past tense) | 0.4% | 12 | 101,599 |
| Total | 100.00% | 2,963 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "disabled": apartment designed for disabled person ♦ Central Coordinating Office for Accessibility to Public Buildings for the Disabled ♦ Communication Aids for Disabled ♦ Dental Care for Disabled ♦ Disabled Children ♦ disabled hors de combat out of action ♦ disabled people ♦ disabled person ♦ Disabled Persons ♦ disabled soldier ♦ disabled student ♦ disabled vessel ♦ Mentally Disabled Persons ♦ physically disabled ♦ physically disabled person ♦ taxi service for the disabled ♦ war disabled. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "disabled": disabled-led. | |
Ending with "disabled": non-disabled. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "disabled"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | sakat (cripple, lame duck), i paaftë (bumbling, guiltless, helpless, impaired, impotent, inapt, incapable, incompetent, inefficient, inept, muff, spado, unable, unskilful, weak), i gjymtuar. (various references) | |
Arabic | معاق (handicapped), مصاب بعجز, مشلول (numb, palsied, paralysed, paralytic, paralyzed), عاجز (decrepit, effete, feckless, helpless, incapable, incompetent, ineffective, inert, infirm, invalid, paralysed, paralyzed, poor, powerless, unable). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | осакатял (crippled, lame), осакатен (crippled, injured, maimed), неспособен (inapt, incapable, incompetent, ineffective, inefficient, inept, unapt, unfit), негоден (disqualified, effete, incompetent, ineligible, moth-eaten, no good, outworn, played out, punk, sour, unequal, unfit, unqualified, unsuitable, waste), изваден от строя. (various references) | |
Chinese | 痡 (sick), 残疾 (Deformities, Deformity), 殘 (cruel, destroy, incomplete, injure, oppressive, ruin, savage, spoil). (various references) | |
Czech | neschopný (bungling, inadequate, inapt, incapable, incompetent, ineffective, inefficient, powerless, shiftless, unable, unfit, unworthy, useless), invalidní. (various references) | |
Danish | vanfør, spaerret (barred), invalid (disabled person), blokeret (jammed). (various references) | |
Dutch | invalide (disabled person), gebrekkig (crippled, infirm). (various references) | |
Esperanto | labornekapabla (unfit for work), labormaltaŭga (unfit for work), invalida. (various references) | |
Finnish | vammainen (handicapped), työkyvytön (incapacitated), raajarikkoinen (crippled, maimed), pois käytöstä, invalidisoitunut, ei käytössä. (various references) | |
French | desempare, désemparée, désemparé, désemparâmes, désemparèrent, mutilé (disabled person), invalide (disabled person), infirme (dilapidated, disabled person), impotent, hors service, hors circuit, handicapé (disabled person). (various references) | |
Frisian | arbeidsûngeskikt (unfit for work). (various references) | |
German | arbeitsunfähig (incapacitated, non-viable, unable to work, unemployable, unfit for work), unterdrückt (downtrodden, oppresses, quashes, repressed, represses, restrained, suppressed, suppresses), invalid (invalid), geschäftsunfähig, behindert (handicapped, hinders, incapacitated). (various references) | |
Greek | άτομο με ειδικές ανάγκες, ανάπηροσ (amputee, cripple, infirm), ανάπηρος (cripple, handicapped, handicapped person, invalid), Αποκλεισμένος. (various references) | |
Hebrew | נכה (cripple, handicapped, invalid, lame duck). (various references) | |
Hungarian | nyomorék (cripple, crippled, game, gammy, handicapped, lame), munkaképtelen (invalid, unable to work), meghibásodott (out of order). (various references) | |
Indonesian | tercela (blamable, deformed, despicable, disgraceful, reprehensible, shamefully bad), bercacat (have a defect), ancai. (various references) | |
Italian | invalido (disabled person, invalid, void). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 使用禁止 (unavailable). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | しようきんし (unavailable). (various references) | |
Korean | 무능한 (incompetent). (various references) | |
Manx | neustiuragh (uncontrollable, uncontrollable as ship), martaragh (crippled, crippling, maimed), baccee (the halt), anlheiltagh (disabling, feeble, imbecile). (various references) | |
Norwegian | ufør (invalid). (various references) | |
Papiamen | inválido. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | isabledday.(various references) | |
Portuguese | inválido (disabled person, invalid). (various references) | |
Romanian | stricat (addle, bad, broken, broken down, carrion, close, corrupt, corrupted, dead, decayed, defaced, depraved, deteriorated, dilapidated, diseased, dissolute, foul, fusty, graceless, immoral, injured, loose, meretricious, niffy, out of order, perverse, polluted, rakehelly, rotten, spoilt, stuffy, tainted, vicious, vitiated), scos din uz (obsolete), schilod (cripple, crippled, deformed, gamy, invalid, lame), invalid (cripple, invalid), infirm (cripple, crippled, invalid, lame duck), incapabil de muncã (unfit for work). (various references) | |
Russian | неработоспособный (unable to work), нетрудоспособный (invalid, unemployable), искалеченный (game). (various references) | |
Scottish | cliùd (a slap with the fingers, a small or disabled hand). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | onesposobljen (incapacitated). (various references) | |
Spanish | inválido (cripple, disabled person, invalid, null, pensioner, void). (various references) | |
Swedish | vanför (lame), spärrad (constrained), redlös, rörelsehindrad, oduglig (dud, good for nothing, inapt, incapable, incompetent, ineffective, inefficient, unfit, unqualified, unsuitable, useless), obrukbar (unfit, unsuitable, unusable), invalid (invalid), handikappad, frånkopplad, avstängd (out, secluded), avställd. (various references) | |
Thai | พิการ (maimed), คนพิการ (gimp, handicapped, mutilator). (various references) | |
Turkish | sakat (cripple, crippled, crock, defective, funny, game, gammy, handicapped, incapable of working, infirm, invalid, lame, lame duck, malformed, wonky), menedilmiş, kullanışsız (awkward, impracticable, impractical, incommodious, unadaptable, unhandy, unpractical, unwieldy, unworkable, useless), hizmet dışı kalmış, elverişsiz (disadvantageous, inadequate, incapable, inconvenient, ineligible, insusceptible, unfavorable, unfavourable, unfit, unhandy, unpropitious, unsuitable, unsuited), ehliyetsiz (incapable, inefficient, insufficient, unqualified), özürlü (defective, gappy, handicapped, malformed). (various references) | |
Turkmen | maяyp (disabled person, invalid). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | покалічений (mutilate). (various references) | |
Welsh | methedig (decrepit, infirm), anafus (blemished, injured, maimed). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Avestan | 200-600 | everezike, nyåñcô. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words ending with "disabled": nondisabled. (additional references) | |
Words containing "disabled": nondisableds. (additional references) | |
| |
"Disabled" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: diablada, diable, diabled, diasabled, disaabled, disabl, Disabledism, dissabled, dowsable, dusable. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "disabled" (pronounced di'sā"buld) |
| 5 | -ā" b u l d | cabled, labeled, labelled, enabled, fabled, mislabeled, tabled, unlabeled. |
| 4 | -b u l d | ambled, assembled, babbled, bubbled, cobbled, corbelled, crumbled, dabbled, dibbled, disassembled, jumbled, libeled, doubled, dribbled, enfeebled, fumbled, gambled, garbled, gobbled, grumbled, hobbled, humbled, marbled, mumbled, nibbled, rambled, reassembled, redoubled, resembled, rumbled, scrambled, scribbled, squabbled, stumbled, trebled, trembled, troubled, tumbled, untroubled, wobbled. |
| 3 | -u l d | addled, angled, annulled, backpedaled, baffled, barreled, battled, bedeviled, bedraggled, befuddled, belittled, bespectacled, bevelled, bicycled, boggled, bottled, bridled, bristled, buckled, bundled, bungled, canceled, cancelled, channeled, chiseled, chortled, chronicled, chuckled, circled, coddled, commingled, counseled, coupled, crackled, credentialed, crippled, crumpled, cuddled, cycled, dangled, dazzled, dialed, dimpled, jangled, jostled, juggled, kindled, knuckled, ladled, leveled, levelled, disgruntled, disheveled, dismantled, dueled, dwindled, embattled, embezzled, emerald, empaneled, enameled, encircled, entangled, entitled, equaled, fiddled, fizzled, flanneled, fondled, frazzled, freckled, fueled, fuelled, funneled, giggled, grappled, grizzled, haggled, handled, hassled, heckled, Herald, huddled, hustled, idled, impaneled, imperiled, initialed, intermingled, mangled, manhandled, marshaled, marshalled, marveled, mingled, mishandled, modeled, mottled, muddled, muffled, muscled, muzzled, needled, nestled, nettled, newfangled, ogled, paddled, paneled, parceled, pedaled, pedalled, peddled, penciled, peopled, pickled, principled, pummeled, puzzled, quadrupled, quarreled, quintupled, rankled, rattled, raveled, recycled, refueled, rekindled, remodeled, resettled, reshuffled, reveled, riddled, rifled, rippled, rivaled, ruffled, rumpled, saddled, sampled, scaffold, scuffled, scuttled, settled, shackled, shoveled, shriveled, shuffled, shuttled, signaled, signalled, singled, sizzled, smuggled, snarled, spangled, sparkled, speckled, spiraled, sprinkled, squirreled, stapled, startled, stenciled, stifled, straddled, straggled, strangled, struggled, subtitled, swindled, tackled, tangled, tasseled, tattled, throttled, tickled, tinkled, titled, toggled, toppled, totaled, totalled, trampled, traveled, travelled, trickled, tripled, trundled, tussled, unbridled, unprincipled, unraveled, unrivaled, unruffled, unsettled, unshackled, untrammeled, waffled, wangled, whistled, whittled, widdled, wrangled, wrestled, wrinkled. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-b-d-d-e-i-l-s" | |
-1 letter: addible, baddies, baldies, disable, laddies. | |
-2 letters: abided, abides, abseil, addles, aisled, baddie, bailed, balded, biased, bields, bladed, blades, deasil, dialed, ideals, laddie, ladies, saddle, sailed, sidled. | |
-3 letters: abide, ables, addle, aided, aides, ailed, aisle, aside, bails, balds, baled, bales, based, basil, beads, bided, bides, bield, biles, blade, blase, dales, deads, deals, dedal, deils. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-b-d-d-e-i-l-s" | |
+1 letter: buddleias. | |
+2 letters: blandished. | |
+3 letters: backslidden, discardable, fiddlebacks, nondisabled. | |
+4 letters: bloodstained, destabilized, disassembled, nondisableds, subdividable. | |
+5 letters: biddabilities, discreditable, discreditably. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Quotations: Non-fiction 10. Quotations: Speeches 11. Usage Frequency 12. Expressions | 13. Expressions: Internet 14. Translations: Modern 15. Translations: Ancient 16. Derivations | 17. Rhymes 18. Anagrams 19. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
