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Neurodiversity & Disability

What is disability?

"Disability refers to the interaction between individuals with a health condition (e.g., cerebral palsy, Down syndrome and depression) and personal and environmental factors (e.g., negative attitudes, inaccessible transportation and public buildings, and limited social supports)." - World Health Organization

What is Neurodivergent?

"The term neurodivergent is used to describe a variety of conditions related to cognitive abilities, though more often people with these conditions prefer neurodiverse. It applies to conditions such as autism, dyslexia, dyscalculia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)." - Daivergent

What is Neurotypical?

"The term neurotypical arose alongside the term neurodiverse. Neurotypical describes individuals who display typical intellectual and cognitive development." - Daivergent

Ableism

People with disabilities are the largest minority group in the world. Despite this fact, the disability community continues to face barriers to full inclusion in society. Ableism is at the core of inaccessibility; the information here can be a step toward unlearning ableism.

What is disability?

Definition of Disability
According to the legal definition set forth by the Americans with Disabilities Act, a person with a disability is someone who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activity.
However, this definition doesn’t really offer a full picture of disability. It’s important to recognize the diversity of disability. Disabilities can be visible or invisible, something a person is born with or acquired at any point in life. Many people simply envision a wheelchair when thinking about disability, but there are so many types of disabilities beyond mobility disabilities. When we talk about disability, we must remember that this includes, but is in no way limited to, mental health disabilities, chronic illnesses, intellectual disabilities, and hearing and vision disabilities. (Source: Disability & Philanthropy Forum)
ADA Disability FAQ
CDC Disability and Health Overview

Terms for Researching

Examples of key terms to use while researching:

Ableism
Neurodiversity
Autism
Disability rights activism
Critical Disability Theory

Resource Spotlight

Disability in the Modern World
Includes primary sources, supporting materials, and archives, along with over 240 videos. The content is essential for teaching and research—not only in the growing disciplines of disability history and disability studies, but also in history, media, the arts, political science, education, and other areas where the contributions of the disability community are typically overlooked.

Disability Services at Providence College

Accessibility Services at Providence College
The Student Success Center (SSC) is committed to providing an equitable and inclusive learning environment for all Providence College students. As part of this commitment, the SSC provides reasonable academic accommodations and works to remove any barriers that may impede equal access to the College’s educational programs.
The Office of the Dean of Students
The Office of the Dean of Students coordinates all non-academic disability accommodations, including accommodations for residential life, dining, and campus life.
Human Resources
All faculty, staff and student employees seeking an accommodation for a disability should contact the Office of Human Resources at 401-865-2341 or hr@providence.edu
Accommodate
Accommodate is a secure platform Providence College uses to manage reasonable academic & non-academic accommodations at the College for students.

Facts & Figures

Anniversary of Americans With Disabilities Act: July 26, 2021
This Facts for Features provides a demographic snapshot of the U.S. population with a disability and examines various services available to them. The statistics come from various U.S. Census Bureau censuses and surveys, covering different periods of time.
Locally
Approximately 140,000 Rhode Islanders, 13.4% of the state population, live with a disability. (Source: United States Census Bureau)
Nationally
1 in 4 adults live with a disability in the United States; that's 61 million people. (Source: CDC)
Globally
About 15% of the world's population live with a disability. This includes about 93 million children and 720 million adults with significant difficulties in functioning. (Source: World Health Organization)

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