Notes

CAUSES OF DISABILITIES . Causes of disabilities can be broadly classified into three categories : pre - natal causes , perinatal causes and post - natal causes . ( i ) Pre - natal causes involve events , accidents , illness , infection to mother during pregnancy that affect the baby . Conditions like high blood pressure or diabetes of the mother during pregnancy can cause disability in the child . ( ii ) Perinatal causes are the conditions occurring during the delivery of the child that affect the new - born . Delayed labour pain , low birth weight or neonatal infections may cause a disability . ( iii ) Post - natal causes include post birth conditions like , illness , infection , poor environment , accidents , psychological factors etc.


The causes may be further sub - divided as : 1. Diseases : Disease is a sickness of the body or the mind , which can strike almost any part of the body . It can also affect a person's mental and emotional health . Certain nerve diseases may result in blindness , deafness , and lack of coordination . Cerebral palsy is a disorder that damages the brain before , during , or after birth . Depending on what part of the brain is damaged , cerebral palsy can cause speech problems , mental retardation , muscular weakness , or involuntary movements of the arms and legs . 2. Malnutrition : Malnutrition is a harmful condition caused by poor intake , absorption , or use of nutrients by the body . Symptoms of malnutrition include cramps , diarrhoea , weakness , and weight loss . Primary malnutrition results when the body does not get enough food or the right kinds of food . Secondary malnutrition occurs when , because of disease , the body cannot use nutrients even though they are present in the food . There are a number of types of malnutrition , depending on the nutrient or nutrients missing . Malnourished children may have learning disabilities , be blind or partially sighted or have hearing loss . Malnutrition can impair brain development in young children , depending on its severity and when it occurs in the child's development . Thus , malnutrition is also the main cause of many diseases and impairments that lead to disability and handicap particularly in developing and poor countries . 3. Wars : Wars these days have become more fierce and dangerous . Explosions cause people to become deaf , blind , and lose their limbs , as well as causing other injuries . Their mental health is also badly affected by the violence . The use of nuclear bombs has increased the disabilities among the new borns . The mothers who are pregnant during the wars give birth to kids with organ deformities or down syndromes . 4. Wrong medication and vaccination : Though medicines and injections are important to protect health and prevent disability , yet sometimes due to the negligence of some careless practitioners these can become the cause of some serious disabilities . Giving injections with an unclean needle or syringe is a common cause of infection and can pass the germs that cause serious diseases such as HIV / AIDS or hepatitis . Unclean injections are also a common cause of infection that can lead to paralysis or spinal cord injury or death . Also , some injected medicines can cause dangerous allergic reactions , poisoning , and deafness to a baby in the mother's womb . 5. Inherited disabilities : When close blood relatives such as brothers and sisters , first cousins , or parents and children have children together , the children are much more likely to have disabilities . Some disabilities are known to be inherited , such as spinal muscular atrophy and muscular dystrophy ( diseases of the muscle and of the nerve cells that carry signals from the brain to the muscle , making the muscles of the body get weaker and weaker and slowly stop working ) . Women who already have one or