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What is life-long physical disability?

Physical disability pertains to total or partial loss of a person’s bodily functions (eg walking, gross motor skills, bladder control etc) and total or partial loss of a part of the body (eg a person with an amputation).

What are some examples of life-long physical disabilities?

Examples of physical disability include

• amputation;
• arthritis;
• cerebral palsy;
• upper limbs;
  
• multiple-sclerosis;
• muscular dystrophy;
• acquired spinal injury (paraplegia or quadriplegia);
• post-polio syndrome;
• spina bifida.

There are many different kinds of disability and a wide variety of situations which people experience.

Does this mean you have the disability from birth or childhood?

• The disability may exist from birth or be acquired later in life.
• A person may have one disability or a number of disabilities.
• A person may be treated as having a disability when in fact he or she does not.
• A person's disability may be apparent, such as loss of a limb; or hidden, such as epilepsy or post-polio syndrome.
• Disability may be more or less severe in its impact.
• People with the same disability are as likely as anyone else to have different abilities.

How is this different from a broken arm or leg?

A broken arm or leg usually heals up with a functional return to activity similar or the same as the ability before the fracture (break). The Physical Disability Council of NSW priorities focus on those people who have a physical disability which exists for the rest of their lives.

How many people in NSW live their lives with a physical disability?

Based on data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) the estimated number of people with a physical disability in NSW is 12.6%. The total population of NSW (June 2008) was 6.9672 million (ABS) which means an estimated number of nearly 30,000 people with a physical disability in NSW.