Physical disability

A physical disability is a condition that limits the way the body works. For example, a physical disability may limit the way a part of the body grows, moves, or does what it is supposed to do.

A congenital disability is a disability that a baby has when they are born, or had before they were born. These disabilities used to be called "birth defects."

The most common congenital disability is congenital heart disease - problems in the way the heart grows and works. In 2013, 34.3 million people around the world had congenital heart disease.^[1] Congenital heart disease also causes more deaths than any other congenital disability. In 2013, it caused 323,000 deaths.^[2]

Other examples of congenital disabilities include:^[3]

• Fetal alcohol syndrome
• Spina bifida, a problem with the way the spinal cord formed while a fetus was growing
• Microcephaly, where the baby's head is smaller than usual
• Problems with the way the brain, spinal cord, kidneys, or gastrointestinal system grew while a fetus was developing

Some types of congenital disabilities are genetic. This means the disability was "inherited," or passed down to a person, through their parents' genes.^[4]

Examples of inherited physical disabilities include:^[4]

• Cystic fibrosis
• Sickle cell anaemia
• Tay-Sachs disease
• Huntington's disease
• Hemophilia

Acquired disabilities are disabilities that people get ("acquire") after they are born. Often they are caused by injuries or illnesses. Examples of acquired physical disabilities include:

• Paralysis, caused by an injury to the spinal cord
• Brain injury, caused by a head injury or an illness (like an infection in the brain)
• Amputation of a body part because of injury or illness
• Chronic back pain from on-the-job injuries
• Chronic medical problems like epilepsy, congestive heart failure, kidney failure, and cancer

There have been many famous people with physical disabilities. Below are some examples.

Leaders and politicians

• Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was the United States President from 1933-1945. He was paralyzed from the waist down from polio.^[5]
• King George VI, who was King of England from 1936-1952. He had a speech disorder (stuttering).^[6]
• Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940-1945 and 1951-1955, also stuttered.^[7]
• John F. Kennedy, who was the United States President from 1961-1963. He had many painful health problems caused by Addison's disease and hypothyroidism.^[8][9]

Actors

• James Earl Jones,^[10] Emily Blunt,^[11] Hugh Grant,^[12] Samuel L. Jackson,^[12][13] and Bruce Willis^[12] all have stutters.
• Michael J. Fox has Parkinson's disease.^[14]

Singers

• Neil Young,^[15] Lil Wayne,^[16] and Prince^[17] all have epilepsy.

Other famous people

• Stephen Hawking, an award-winning physicist and writer who is paralyzed from motor neurone disease.^[18]
• Jim Abbott, a baseball player who was born with only one hand. He played ten seasons in Major League Baseball; pitched a no-hitter; and won an Olympic gold medal playing for the United States in the 1988 Summer Olympics.^[19]

• Paralympic Games (Olympic Games for people with disabilities)