disability

plural disabilities

1. countablemedical model of disabilityA condition characterised by a significant limitation in a person's physical or intellectual powers or ability.

   people with disabilities

   1 more example

   Chatham refused to see him, pleading his disability. The King himself intervened by a letter[…]Chatham yielded to such persuasion; though suffering from a universal tremor.

   1834–1874, George Bancroft, History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent, volume (please specify |volume=I to X), Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company [et al.], →OCLC

   Synonyms: handicap

2. uncountableThe state of having such a condition; the state of being disabled.

   While physical and sensory disability is usually identified by asking a subject what he or she can or cannot do (with or without assistance), cognitive disability is assessed with a test such as a mental status questionnaire (MSQ).

   1992, Joan C. Cornoni-Huntley et al., “Epidemiology of disability in the oldest old”, in The Oldest Old, page 278

   Synonyms: disabledness, incapacity · Antonyms: ability, able-bodiedness

3. countablesocial model of disabilityA limitation in function (the things that a person can do or achieve) that is driven by any combination of their impairments (the medical facts about them) and the imperfect state of society's inaccessibility that sometimes fails to accommodate their needs.

   Synonyms: handicap

4. countableobsoleteAn inability.

   Grossest faults, or disabilities to perform what was covenanted.

   1643, J[ohn] M[ilton], The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce: […], London: […] T[homas] P[aine] and M[atthew] S[immons] […], →OCLC

   Synonyms: impotence

5. countablelawA lack of legal qualification to do something; legal incapacity or incompetency.

   Synonyms: disqualification · Antonyms: capacity, competency, qualification

   1. countablejurisprudencelawA duty to refrain from altering a person's legal relations; correlative of an immunity.

      Synonyms: disqualification · Antonyms: capacity, competency, qualification

6. informaluncountableRegular payments received by a disabled person, usually from the state.

   Did you get your disability this month?

   1 more example

   I had to go on disability after the accident.

   Synonyms: disability benefits