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The distinction between impairment and disability[edit]
The 3rd item on the disambiguation list describes the medical POV of impairment in terms of the medical model of disability. The more widely accepted social model of disability makes a clear distinction between impairment and disability. Impairment is the medically defined condition that causes disability when the person involved interacts with their environment. For example: A spinal cord injury (medical condition) results in an inability to walk (impairment). In terms of the Social model it only becomes a disability when the person, now using a wheelchair, encounters an environmental barrier (such as stairs) or social dicrimination (refusal to employ him) that impedes his/her excercise of all the rights and freedoms that his/her non-disabled peers take for granted. Roger (talk) 17:40, 9 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]
