Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, Addison's disease, Alzheimer's disease, ankylosing spondylitis, anorexia nervosa, autism, bipolar disorder, blindness, cerebral palsy, chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic pain, clinical depression, cluster headaches, Crohn's disease, cystic fibrosis, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, deafness, dissociative identity disorder, endometriosis, epilepsy, fibromyalgia, learning disabilities, lupus, Lyme disease, motor neurone disease, mitochondrial diseases, multiple sclerosis, narcolepsy, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, paraplegia, Parkinson's disease, post-traumatic stress disorder, rheumatoid arthritis, sarcoidosis, schizophrenia, scoliosis, thalassemia, Tourette syndrome, tuberculosis, ulcerative colitis...

Disability comes in many different forms, some better known, some doomed into obscurity. Today, the 3rd of December is world disability day. I wanted to include some statistics about disability in this article, but it proved difficult to find international statistics about the subject, as most sites only listed numbers about the United States. It might be that there are no good international statistics, as I think the people in developing countries are focusing their healthcare resources on something else.

Disability doesn't mean just being in a wheelchair or having missing limbs. Disability can be congenital or acquired. It can be caused by eg. a hereditary condition, problems during pregnancy or during birth, psychologic trauma, chronic illness, poisoning, complications of an acute illness, complications of medical treatment or injuries sustained due to an accident or violence. Sometimes a disability can be cured or put to remission by treatment (such as surgery or medication), but in most cases it's more or less permanent, with a steady level of disability, a relapsing-remitting course of illness or a progressive course.

In many cases disability is invisible, meaning that you won't notice that someone is disabled if you don't know it. A person may appear perfectly normal even if they suffer from cognitive impairment, chronic pain, severe fatigue, depression, blurred vision, compulsive thoughts or some other symptoms caused by the disability. This often leads to the disability being belittled and in extreme cases even to accusations of lying or malingering the condition, because it cannot be witnessed from outside.

Did you know...

...that not everyone who is in a wheelchair is paralyzed? Some people suffer from severe fatigue or muscle weakness that makes them unable to walk and others experience severe pain if they attempt walking.
...that people in wheelchairs can play many sports or even dance?
...that in Italy companies are mandated by law to hire disabled workers (disability percentage more than 46%)? Eg. if there are more than 15 employees it has to hire at least one disabled person. Companies with over 50 employees have to have at least 7% of their workforce consist of disabled people.
...that even brief treatment with some medications that can be life-saving, such as antibiotics, antipsychotic drugs and corticosteroids can in some cases cause permanent damage to the body?
...that many disabled people commit suicide, not necessarily because of the actual disability, but because they can't get treatment or assistance or because they receive inadequate pain relief?
...that many people who survive cancer receive long-lasting or permanent side-effects from the radiation, chemotherapy or other medications, such as chronic pain, seizures, cognitive impairment ("chemo brain") and damage to heart, lungs or other organs?
...that children suffering from a chronic illness are often misdiagnosed and mistreated, because their troubles are attributed to school phobia, problems in the family or even Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, which may lead to the children being taken away from their parents?
...that up to 5% of the population suffers from autoimmune illnesses, such as multiple sclerosis, lupus or scleroderma?
...that sometimes normally fairly benign conditions such as anemia, rashes, or PMS can cause severe disability?
...that almost all chronic illnesses can kill, even if they're not usually viewed as terminal? Multiple sclerosis and lupus are two well known examples, but things like rheumatoid arthritis, CFS/ME, endometriosis and epilepsy can also in rare cases prove fatal.

Since DeviantART is an art site after all, the main focus of this article is to feature art and literature related to disability. I've tried to include a wide variety of visual art, including traditional and digital art, photography, resources, icons, designs and artisan crafts. I also tried to include a wide variety of disabilities, but unfortunately it's impossible to feature all of them even if there are are about them on DA, so please don't feel offended or left out if I haven't featured anything about your disability. But feel free to post links in the comments section.




























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