The Big Picture
Illness and disability affect people in different ways. One involves a loss of health. The other involves a loss of function.
Some illnesses and disabilities last a relatively short time. Others continue over time. No matter what condition a client has, the client remains a whole person with physical, emotional, social, cognitive, and spiritual dimensions of health.
Start Here If You’re Overwhelmed
Focus on these core ideas:
- Illness means a loss of physical or mental health.
- Disability means a loss of physical or mental function.
- Short-term illnesses and disabilities last for a relatively short period.
- Chronic illness or disability is ongoing and has a slow or gradual onset.
- Holism means considering the whole person across physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and spiritual health.
- A support worker considers more than the client’s physical health.
Jump to:
Course Notes: Key Ideas You Need to Know
Illness and Disability Are Different
Illness means a loss of physical or mental health.
Disability means a loss of physical or mental function.
Illness or disability may limit a person’s ability to:
- communicate
- move
- perform ADLs without assistance
The key difference sits in the definitions. Illness relates to health. Disability relates to function.
Short-Term Illnesses and Disabilities
An acute illness lasts for a relatively short period. Its symptoms might still be severe.
Influenza is one example of an acute illness.
Some disabilities also last for a relatively short period. A broken arm is one example.
Chronic Illness and Disability
A persistent, or chronic, illness or disability is ongoing.
It has a slow or gradual onset. Some chronic illnesses or disabilities grow worse over time, while others do not.
Examples include:
- acquired immune deficiency syndrome, AIDS, as a chronic illness
- paraplegia as a chronic disability
A chronic illness has no cure. Care focuses on preventing complications of the illness.
Think About the Whole Person
A client living with an illness or disability is more than a medical condition.
Dimensions of health refers to the different parts of a person’s health:
- physical
- emotional
- social
- spiritual
- cognitive
Holism means looking at all of these dimensions together when considering the whole person.
What the Support Worker Considers
A support worker helps the client work toward the best physical health possible.
The support worker must also consider the client’s:
- emotional health
- social health
- cognitive health
- spiritual health
Physical health matters, but it forms only one part of the client’s overall health.
Common Mix-Ups
| Wrong Idea | Better Idea |
|---|---|
| Illness means loss of function. | Illness means loss of physical or mental health. |
| Disability means loss of health. | Disability means loss of physical or mental function. |
| Chronic illness or disability always gets worse. | It sometimes gets worse over time and sometimes does not. |
| Whole-person care looks only at physical health. | Holism considers physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and spiritual health. |
Fast Review
Keep these differences clear when you review this topic:
- Illness: loss of physical or mental health.
- Disability: loss of physical or mental function.
- Illness or disability sometimes limits communication, movement, or performance of ADLs without assistance.
- Acute illnesses and some disabilities last for a relatively short period.
- Chronic illness or disability is ongoing and has a slow or gradual onset.
- A chronic illness has no cure, so care focuses on preventing complications.
- Holism looks at physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and spiritual dimensions of health.
- A support worker considers the client’s whole health, not only the medical condition.
Final Pep Talk
If these terms start blending together, focus on three contrasts: health versus function, short-term versus ongoing, and the medical condition versus the whole person. Reviewing those differences gives you a clear way to organize the topic.