Public Health, Occupational Health and Epidemiology Conference

In the public health view, disability is a range of physical, sensory, intellectual, and psychosomatic impairments to be reduced or to remove, eliminate, or hinder a specific activity's performance or to wholly participate in the environment. Public health approaches to disability foster health equity, remove barriers, and provide supportive resources for a better quality of life, inclusion, and independence for persons with disabilities.

Disabilities can be innate, develop over a period of time, or result from injuries or diseases. Many disabilities include limitations in mobility, vision, and hearing impairment, intellectual, and mental health disabilities. The approach to addressing disability in public health depends upon knowledge of the functional limitations while knowing the social and environmental factors affecting individuals with disabilities. Access to health care, education, employment, and housing in a safe environment are social determinants of health that play an important role in shaping the experience and outcome of health of people with disabilities.

Initiatives that improve the well-being of the disabled in public health concern issues of accessibility and inclusion. Policy guidelines like the ADA in America ensure that provisions in public spaces, workplaces, and services are accessible to all, removing any physical as well as structural barriers; technology also impacts this, in terms of assistive devices and digital accessibility tools to ensure greater independence and participation in daily life.

Health promotion for the disabled centers on specific health needs of the disabled and general preventive care, such as encouraging exercise, mental health resources, and accessible healthcare services. The programs aimed at people with disabilities have a greater potential to reduce health inequities since most health education is integrated and functional.

Disability, public health acknowledges is not only something medical but also is influenced by the social and environmental contexts. Public health therefore works to create a society that will allow people with disabilities to lead full, healthy lives, full of participation and achievement through accessibility, caregiver support, and policies that are inclusive.