Understanding Disabilities

Types of Disabilities

Disabilities are different ways how people's bodies or minds work. Some examples are trouble seeing, hearing, moving, or thinking.

Disabilities include a wide range of conditions that affect physical, sensory, cognitive, or mental functions of an individual. These can significantly impact daily life and interactions. Disabilities vary in severity and impact but never should not be neglected. Examples include:

• Visual impairments: Blindness or low vision (Conditions affecting sight)
• Hearing impairments: Deafness or hard-of-hearing (Conditions affecting auditory perception)
• Motor disabilities: Challenges with movement, such as paralysis, cerebral palsy, or tremors.
• Cognitive disabilities: Conditions like dyslexia, autism, or intellectual disabilities that affect learning or processing information.
• Mental health disabilities: Conditions such as anxiety, depression, or PTSD that impact emotional well-being.

Challenges

People with disabilities may find it hard to use websites, move around, and understand information. That's why giving them the righ tools to help them in life is a must.

Individuals with disabilities often encounter barriers that do not allow them to reach their full potential for participation in society. However these bariers can be minimized in the digital space by right website engineering to help disabled individuals fight with:

• Digital inaccessibility: Websites or apps lacking screen reader compatibility, size control, or keyboard navigation.
• Physical barriers: Lack of high contrast websites for the unlimited digesting of information.
• Communication challenges: Absence of captions for videos.

Accommodations

Tools like screen readers, captions, and easy-to-use websites help people with disabilities. Ramps and braille signs also help.

Accommodations are adjustments or tools that enable individuals with disabilities to access environments, information, and opportunities. Examples include:

• Assistive technologies: Screen readers, text sizers, and speech-to-text software.
• Digital accessibility: Websites with alt text, captions, and keyboard-friendly navigation.
• Website adjustments: Dyslexia friendly fonts, limited flashing or disabling animated media for individuals with severe mental conditions

Resources for Support

There are places to learn more or get help. You can find tools, groups, companies, or laws that support people with disabilities. Find your help:

Numerous organizations around the globe fight daily to develop the right tools or to justify the legal frameworks supporting individuals with disabilities and promote accessibility. More resources:

• Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI): Guidelines and resources for making digital content accessible.
• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): Information on U.S. accessibility laws and rights.
• American Foundation for the Blind: Support and tools for individuals with visual impairments.
• National Association of the Deaf: Advocacy and resources for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community.
• Autism Speaks: Resources and support for individuals with autism and their families.

Aiquiniq is building an accessible websites for organizations, and goverments.

We at aiquiniq are working tirelesly to develop the barier free websites for organizations, and goverments promoting inclusion of affected individuals.