World Disability Day;The mental health perspective.

Yesterday was the world Disability day,officially known as the International day for Disabled persons.It was set aside by the United Nations to promote awareness about the plight of disabled persons with the aim of improving their quality of life.

Disability has been described as any restriction or lack(resulting from an impairment)of ability to perform an activity in the manner or within the range considered normal for an individual in his/her sociocultural setting.Impairment on the other hand is any loss or abnormality that of psychological,physiological or anatomical sructure or function,while an handicap is a disadvantage for a given individual,resulting from an impairment or a disability,that limits or prevents the fulfilment of a role that is normal(depending on age,sex and social and culural factors)for that individual.

From the foregoing,it is obvious that mentally illness leaves a lot of people with with impairments,disabilities and handicaps.It will therefore be a great mistake to just focus on on anatomical or even physiological impairment and resulting disability or handicap without given much attention to psychologigal ones.

In the area of mental health,most expecially when using the ICD-10 multiaxial system,the specific areas of functioning that are covered include;Personal care,occupation,family and household,functioning in a broader social context.
Let us expatiate a little on each one.
1.In the area of personal care,the following should be considered in the rating of disbility;
i)the person's activities concerned with the maintenance of personal hygiene and physical health(e.g washing,shaving,keeping clothes clean etc)
ii)eating habits(e.g regular meals,weight loss or gain etc)
iii)the person's maintenance of personal belongings and living space.

2.Occupation,refering to expected functioning in paid activities,studying,home-making,etc.
i)the person's conformity to the work discipline,
ii)the quality of his/her performance at work,
iii)his/her motivation in maintaining the occupational role.

3.Family and household;i.e participation in family life.
a.marital role
i)the person's communication with his/her spouse
ii)ability to show affection,
iii)the extent to which the person is felt by the spouse to be a source of support.
b.parental role
i)the basic tasks and activities undertaken by the person to ensure the health and security of the children,
ii)the closeness of their relationship and the depth of affection for and interest shown in the children's well-being and future,
iii)any abuse of the parental role or possibility of adverse effect on the children.
c.participation in household activities
i)the functions and duties of the person in maintaining the family as a viable social group;
ii)the manner in which the person carries out his/her roles in the family(e.g spouse father/mother,child)

4.Functioning in a broader social context;i.e in relation to community members,performance in leisure activities and other social activities.
i)response to the questions,requests and demands of people outside the household;
ii)readiness for coexistence on an 'impersonal' level(e.g colleagues,poeple in the bus or shops,etc)
iii)the person's manner with people outside the household whom he/she dislikes;
iv)the qulity and amount of contact with friends and non-household members;
v)the person's engagement in leisure activities outside the household.

From the above,it is clear that the extent of disability suffered by mentally ill individual could be enormous and it cuts across all the different facets of their lives.Efforts must be made therefore,to improve their quality of life and ensure that they are not neglected in the scheme of things.

Below are links of some WHO documents on disability.
http://www.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA58/WHA58_23-en.pdf
http://www.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA58/A58_17-en.pdf