Is it Disability or Impairment?  What is the difference between Disability and Impairment???
 
If you are like me, there might have been a time when you were not sure that there was a difference between Disability and Impairment.  It was quite a while before I came to understand the difference, and if you are not sure, I would like to try to explain the difference.
 
If you already understand the difference between disability and impairment, read no further!!!
 
The first thing I needed to understand was that disability was related to a person's ability to perform specific tasks, impairment was related to a person's medical condition and subsequent functioning as a result of that medical condition.
 
Disability, relates to various tasks, such as self care (activities of daily living), societal tasks (communication and interaction with others, work place tasks).
 
Impairment, as a medical condition which affects function, stands alone, and is a medical determination, independent of any factor other than the person's medical condition.  Impairment may affect disability if the impairment affects ones ability to perform specific tasks.
 
When thinking of the difference between disability and impairment, it helps me to think of an extreme, but clear cut example.  If a musician has a fifth finger amputation, it definitely qualifies as an impairment, and is readily quantifiable using the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, and that impairment is the same in any person with that condition.  In terms of disability, however, that condition may or may not produce disability.  If the musician were an opera singer, there would be no vocational disability.  If the musician were a violinist, there may be disability, depending on which hand was involved, and what accommodations can be made to overcome the effects of the medical condition.  Thusly, in this extreme example, the amputation condition would have the same impairment in each musician.  The disability, however, would be greatly different from the opera singer to the violinist, and would even vary from violinist to violinist depending on which hand was involved.
 
So, if you are, as I was, somewhat confused over the notion of disability versus permanent impairment, I hope this brief explanation helps clarify the difference.  If you have any questions, or would simply like to chat about various aspects of impairment or disability, please call me at 1-888-373-6388, or email me at rphelps@mint.net .
 

Robert N. Phelps, Jr. MD

Fellow, American Academy of Orthopedic Surgery

Diplomate, American Board of Orthopedic Surgery

1-888-373-6388