Physical Disabilities

1
Physical Disabilities

• Amputations, Traumatic Brain Injury, Muscular
  Dystrophy, Multiple Sclerosis, Spina Bifida

2
Amputations

• Incidence
• Two major categories of limb deficiencies
• dysmelia
• phocomelia
• Limb Deficiencies
• Congenital
• Acquired (tumor, trauma, disease)
• Joint Intact vs. Joint Amputated

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Limb Deficiencies and AmputationsConsiderations

• General Attitude -
• Prosthetics -
• Gaits and Movement Patterns -
• Balance -
• Energy -
• Concerns -
• cooling and perspiration
• skin breakdown
• posture

4
Adaptations

• Example of adaptation with someone with a
  bilateral amputation

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Other Physical Conditions

• Traumatic Brain Injury
• Muscular Dystrophy
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Spina Bifida

6
Traumatic Brain Injury

• Permanent Damage - caused by concussion,
  contusion, or hemorrhage
• Closed-head injuries - most common
• Leading cause of death and disability under 35
• Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) -
• Based on 3 types of responses (a) eye opening,
  (b) motor, and (c) verbal.
• 3 to 15 points (8 - coma) (5-7 death/veg)

7
Muscular Dystrophy

• Degenerative muscular condition -
• 250,000 cases in U.S.
• Males 5-6x more prevalent than females
• Appx. 50,000 use WC
• Four main types
• Duchenne
• Facio-scapular-humeral
• Limb girdle
• Myotonic

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Types of MD

• Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
• Muscle fibers degenerate -
• Pseudohypertrophy -
• Frequent falls, contractures (Achilles tendon),
  body imbalance
• Gradual reduction in motor ability, wheelchair
  use, and then ultimately death
• Facio-Scapular-Humeral MD
• Limb Girdle MD
• Myotonic MD

9
Multiple Sclerosis

• Inflammatory disease of the CNS
• Demyelination bouts that last 1 to 3 months
• Degree of disability varies with each episode

10
Spina Bifida

• Failure of one or more vertebral arches to
  properly develop and close

11
A True Story
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Three types (levels of severity) of Spina Bifida

• Spina Bifida Occulta
• Meningocele
• Meningomyelocele

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Sensory Disabilities

• Hard of Hearing / Deaf
• Low Vision / Blind

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Deafness and Hard of Hearing

• P.L. 101-476 defines Hearing Impairment
• P.L. 101-476 defines Deafness
• Very few students are deaf most are hard of
  hearing

15
Sound Characteristics

• Two primary characteristics of sound
• loudness / intensity
• frequency / pitch
• Loudness is measured by decibels (dB)
• Frequency is measured in hertz (Hz) or cycles per
  second
• Frequency is basically high and low pitch
• Communication

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Classifications for Hearing Loss

• 5 classifications for hearing loss in (dB)
• Slight 25-40 dB loss
• Mild 41-55 dB loss
• Marked 56-69 dB loss
• Severe 70-90 dB loss
• Profound 91 dB or greater loss
• A 70 dB loss is the cut-off between hard of
  hearing and deaf

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Types of Hearing Loss

• Conductive -
• Conductive hearing loss - originates in outer or
  middle ear
• Sensorineural -
• Sensorineural hearing losses are more serious,
  occurring in the inner ear

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Low Vision and Blindness

• Definition, Causes, and Characteristics

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Low Vision / Blind

• Legal Blindness Definition
• Less than 20/200 vision with best correction, or
• Less than 20 degree visual field with best
  correction
• Incidence - 1 in 3,000
• 25 total blindness
• 25 partial blindness
• 50 can read enlarged type

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Structure of the Eye

• LIGHT CORNEA and LENS
• Retina
• Optic Nerve
• Brain

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Blindness

• Causes
• anoxia
• intrauterine infections
• head trauma
• retinoblastoma
• nutrition disorders (vitamin A deficiency)
• Two types
• cortical - problem along visual pathway
• retinal - eye structure itself