Rare condition in which an individual experiences combined hearing and vision loss, significantly limiting their access to both auditory and visual information.

Having a physical or mental condition differing from that of the society norm (including cognitive, intellectual, and neurodevelopmental), having a history of such a condition, or being perceived as having such a condition that may limit one or more major life activities. Disabilities do not necessarily limit people unless society imposes assumptions that do not account for the variation in people’s abilities.
• Medical Model of Disability – Under a medical model of disability, this is often called an “impairment” that disables a person from interacting with and/or experiencing the able-bodied world without interruption or need for additional resources, tools, and/or aids. This model has spurred advances in rehabilitation where management of the disability is aimed at a cure, though the model is also paternalistic. Note that much of the United States’ legal language in relation to disability utilize the medical model term “impairment” (e.g., Americans with Disabilities Act, Family Medical and Leave Act, laws related to Reasonable Accommodations, etc.). Despite their usage of “impairment,” this term is generally considered insensitive and inaccurate by many in disability communities and their allies. It is therefore recommended that it not be used unless the disabled individual referred to self-identifies a preference to be addressed using that term.
• Moral Model of Disability – The moral model of disability refers to the attitude that people are morally responsible for their own disability as a reflection of the person’s or their family’s character, deeds, thoughts, and karma, either as a mark of wrong-doing or evil or, alternatively, as a reflection of their higher power’s will or choosing of them. Language associated with this model is largely emotional (e.g., “afflicted,” “suffers from,” “burdensome,” etc.). Societal reflections of disability heavily influenced by the media reinforce depiction of disabled characters as pitiable, pathetic, sinister, evil, criminal, maladjusted, burdensome to family and society, unable to live a successful life, and/or better off dead or, alternatively, depict a disabled person who goes beyond usual human levels and is therefore heroic (e.g., a wheelchair user who climbs a particularly high mountain). This model can spur renewed faith and is also known to bring shame.
• Social Model of Disability – In the social model of disability, the environmental barriers that hinder people with disabilities from full participation are considered disabling (not the individual experiencing a disability). This model fosters community and social action, with the collective responsibility of society to remove societal barriers for the equitable participation by all community members, though this model also highlights systemic ableism.
• People with Disabilities – People with functional challenges that affect one or more major life activities.

Disability Justice is a framework based on the understanding that all bodies are unique and essential and have strengths and needs that must be met. It holds a vision born out of collective struggle, confronting and subverting colonial powers in the struggle for life and justice, resisting all forms of oppression, and working to achieve a world where all can flourish. It values and celebrates disabled individuals in all their myriad beauty. The framework has 10 principles: Intersectionality, Leadership of Those Most Impacted, Anti-Capitalist Politic and Commitment to Cross-Movement Organizing, Recognizing Wholeness, Sustainability, Commitment to Cross-Disability Solidarity, Interdependence, Collective Access, and Collective Liberation. Disability Justice was coined by Patty Berne of Sins Invalid (and Mia Mingus and Stacy Milbern, three women of color, who eventually united with Leroy Moore, Eli Clare, and Sebastian Margaret) to challenge radical and progressive movements to more fully address ableism. This movement was founded predominantly by people of color to address issues such as police brutality of disabled people of color, particularly Black disabled people, that were excluded or dismissed by the mainstream Disability Rights Movement. “This movement sought to address folks experiencing intersectional oppression, such as disabled people of color, immigrants with disabilities, queers with disabilities, trans and gender non-conforming people with disabilities, people with disabilities who are houseless, people with disabilities who are incarcerated, people with disabilities who have had their ancestral lands stolen, amongst others.” 

Consists of the negative behavior toward a person based on negative attitudes one holds toward the group to which that person belongs, or positive behavior toward a person based on positive attributes one holds toward the group to which that person belongs.