Neurological disabilities
Both nature and severity of neurological disability can vary markedly between individuals. Three distinct categories of neurological disability exist and should not be confused.
- Intellectual disability, which usually occurs at or shortly after birth. This is a generalised intellectual deficit.
- Acquired brain injury (ABI) is as a result of trauma, usually as an adult. This may involve a blow to the head, loss of oxygen or medical events such as stroke (cerebrovascular accident). Symptoms are sometimes very subtle. Standard intelligence tests may not reveal any deficit, but problems such as short term memory loss can affect performance in an educational setting.
- Specific learning disabilities are a group of hidden disorders leading to difficulties in any or some of the processes of listening, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning or performing mathematical calculations. They are inconsistent with a person’s general ability.
Specific problems faced by Individuals must therefore be considered when exploring technical solutions.
