disability

Noun

disability (countable and uncountable, plural disabilities)

1. (countable, medical model of disability) A condition characterised by a significant limitation in a person's physical or intellectual powers or ability.
   • people with disabilities
   • Chatham refused to see him, pleading his disability. The King himself intervened by a letter[…]Chatham yielded to such persuasion; though suffering from a universal tremor.1834–1874, George Bancroft, History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent, volume (please specify |volume=I to X), Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company [et al.], →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   handicap

2. (uncountable) The state of having such a condition; the state of being disabled.
   • While physical and sensory disability is usually identified by asking a subject what he or she can or cannot do (with or without assistance), cognitive disability is assessed with a test such as a mental status questionnaire (MSQ).1992, Joan C. Cornoni-Huntley et al., “Epidemiology of disability in the oldest old”, in The Oldest Old, page 278

   Synonyms:

   disabledness, incapacity

   Antonyms:

   ability, able-bodiedness

3. (countable, social model of disability) A limitation in function (the things that a person can do or achieve) that is driven by any combination of their impairments (the medical facts about them) and the imperfect state of society's inaccessibility that sometimes fails to accommodate their needs.

   Synonyms:

   handicap

4. (countable, obsolete) An inability.
   • Grossest faults, or disabilities to perform what was covenanted.1643, J[ohn] M[ilton], The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce: […], London: […] T[homas] P[aine] and M[atthew] S[immons] […], →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   impotence

5. (countable) A lack of legal qualification to do something; legal incapacity or incompetency.

   Synonyms:

   disqualification

   Antonyms:

   capacity, competency, qualification

   1. (countable, jurisprudence) A duty to refrain from altering a person's legal relations; correlative of an immunity.
6. (informal, uncountable) Regular payments received by a disabled person, usually from the state.
   • I had to go on disability after the accident.
   • Did you get your disability this month?

   Synonyms:

   disability benefits