What are the key components of disability?

September 23, 2025 •

4 min read

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), disability is a complex, dynamic, and often unpredictable phenomenon shaped by the interaction between an individual's health condition and their environment. This comprehensive guide explores what are the key components of disability and how these factors influence an individual's life experience.

Quick Summary

The core components of disability, as defined by the World Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF), include an individual's health condition, body functions and structures, activities, participation, and the interaction with environmental and personal factors.

Key Points

ICF Framework: The World Health Organization's ICF model identifies disability as the result of a dynamic interaction between a person's health condition and their environment, not just an individual deficit.
Core Components: The main components of disability include the underlying health condition, body functions and structures (impairments), and activities and participation levels.
Activity vs. Participation: Activity relates to an individual's ability to perform a task, while participation refers to their involvement in real-life situations, which can be restricted by societal barriers.
Environmental Factors: External factors, such as physical inaccessibility, social attitudes, and systemic policies, play a critical role in either limiting or enabling functioning.
Personal Factors: Internal attributes like age, lifestyle, and coping skills also influence how an individual experiences disability and interacts with their environment.
Multiple Models: Understanding disability requires considering different perspectives, including the medical model (focus on cure) and the social model (focus on societal change), in addition to the comprehensive ICF framework.

Understanding the Models of Disability

Before delving into the specific components, it's crucial to understand the different conceptual models that frame our perception of disability. Two primary models, the medical and the social, provide contrasting perspectives on the issue.

The Medical Model vs. The Social Model

Historically, the medical model viewed disability as an individual's problem, stemming from a physical or mental impairment that needed to be cured or compensated for. It focuses on the individual's deficits, placing the responsibility on the person to adapt to society. For example, a person using a wheelchair was seen as having a mobility issue that required fixing.

In contrast, the social model of disability reframes the issue, asserting that disability is created by an inaccessible and exclusionary society, not by an individual's impairment. Under this model, the disability is not the wheelchair but the stairs that prevent the person from entering a building. It emphasizes that societal attitudes, policies, and the built environment are the real disabling factors, and that true solutions require systemic change to ensure full participation for all.

The WHO's Biopsychosocial Model (ICF)

Bridging the gap between the medical and social models, the World Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) provides a comprehensive framework. It acknowledges that disability results from a complex interaction between a person's health condition and their contextual factors, which include both environmental and personal elements.

The Core Components of the ICF Model

The ICF framework identifies several key components that shape the experience of disability. These components interact dynamically to influence an individual's functioning and participation in society.

1. Health Condition

At the center of the ICF model is the individual's health condition, which can include diseases, disorders, injuries, or other health-related states. This is the starting point, but it's not the sole determinant of disability. For instance, a person with diabetes may or may not experience limitations depending on its severity and management.

2. Body Functions and Structures (Impairments)

This component refers to the physiological functions of body systems and anatomical parts, respectively. An impairment is a problem in body function or structure, such as the loss of a limb, visual impairment, or memory loss.

Body Functions: Examples include mental functions (e.g., cognition, emotion), sensory functions (e.g., seeing, hearing), and functions of the musculoskeletal system.
Body Structures: This refers to the anatomical components of the body, such as organs, limbs, and their components.

3. Activities (Activity Limitations)

Activities refer to the execution of a task or action by an individual. An activity limitation occurs when a person has difficulty executing a task, such as walking, hearing, or problem-solving. This component is focused on the individual level.

4. Participation (Participation Restrictions)

Participation is an individual's involvement in life situations, such as working, going to school, or engaging in social activities. A participation restriction is a problem a person may experience in involvement in life situations. For example, being unable to find accessible transportation might restrict participation in social and recreational events.

The Role of Contextual Factors

Beyond the individual's health condition and body functions, a person's context plays a critical role in determining their experience of disability. The ICF model breaks this down into two categories.

Environmental Factors

These are external influences on a person's functioning and disability. They include the physical environment, social context, and attitudes of others.

Physical Environment: The accessibility of buildings, transportation, and public spaces.
Social Context: The availability of social support networks, services, and policies.
Attitudes: Societal beliefs, stigma, and biases towards people with disabilities.

Personal Factors

These are internal influences on functioning and disability and are not part of the health condition itself. They include characteristics like age, gender, education, and lifestyle. These factors can influence how a person adapts to their condition.

A Deeper Look into Environmental Barriers

The CDC identifies several types of barriers that can limit the functioning and participation of people with disabilities. These often interact with one another to create a more significant challenge.

Attitudinal Barriers: Prejudices or stereotypes that lead to discrimination.
Communication Barriers: Difficulty for people with disabilities to receive or convey information.
Physical Barriers: Inaccessible built environments, like a lack of ramps or elevators.
Policy Barriers: Deficiencies in policies and laws that hinder involvement.

Comparison of Disability Models


Feature	Medical Model	Social Model	Biopsychosocial (ICF) Model
Problem Origin	The individual's impairment	The inaccessible, ableist society	The interaction between health conditions and contextual factors
Focus	Individual's limitations and deficits	Societal barriers and discrimination	Functioning, activities, participation, and context
Solution	Cure or fix the individual	Change society to be inclusive	Improve functioning by addressing both individual and environmental factors
Responsibility	The individual, with support from medical professionals	Society at large, including policymakers and the public	Shared responsibility between the individual and society
Perspective	Clinical, rehabilitative approach	Human rights, civil rights approach	Comprehensive, holistic approach

Conclusion: A Holistic View of Disability

Understanding what are the key components of disability requires moving beyond a simplistic view of medical impairments. A person's experience is shaped by a complex interplay of their health condition, bodily functions, the tasks they can perform, their social participation, and the surrounding environment and personal attributes. By recognizing the full scope of these components, we can better appreciate the diverse reality of living with a disability and focus on creating a more inclusive, accessible, and supportive society for everyone. Understanding the nuances of the ICF model is vital for designing effective policies and healthcare strategies that address the full spectrum of a person's needs.

For more information on inclusive policies and the social model of disability, refer to the New Zealand Disability Strategy.

Frequently Asked Questions

An impairment is a problem with a body function or structure, such as hearing loss or a missing limb. Disability, under the social model, is the disadvantage created by societal barriers when a person with an impairment tries to engage with the world, such as a lack of captioning for a deaf person at a public event.

Environmental factors, as defined by the ICF, can create disability by limiting functioning and participation. Examples include inaccessible physical environments (e.g., a building without a ramp), negative attitudes (e.g., discrimination), and restrictive policies that prevent full inclusion.

Yes, absolutely. The ICF model acknowledges that two people with the same health condition can have very different experiences of disability due to the varying interactions with personal and environmental factors. An accessible and supportive environment can significantly reduce the disabling effect of a health condition, while a restrictive environment can increase it.

The medical model views disability as a problem with the individual that needs to be treated, cured, or compensated for by a medical professional. It focuses on the person's impairment and aims to 'normalize' the individual to fit into society, rather than adapting society itself.

The social model posits that disability is caused by social and environmental barriers, not by a person's impairment. It argues for societal change to remove these barriers, such as lack of accessibility and ableist attitudes, to enable full participation for people with impairments.

The biopsychosocial model, exemplified by the ICF, offers a more holistic view by integrating elements of both the medical and social models. It recognizes that the experience of disability is a complex interaction between a person's health condition, their body functions, and their personal and environmental context.

Major life activities are fundamental tasks that most people can perform with little or no difficulty, such as walking, seeing, hearing, learning, or self-care. Many legal definitions of disability, like the ADA, focus on an impairment that substantially limits one or more of these activities.