Issues in Developmental Disabilities

For this course we have elected to use the Wisconsin State Chapter 51 Definition of developmental disabilities.

State Definition of Developmental Disability:

Developmental disabilities means a disability attributable to a traumatic brain injury, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, autism, Prader-Willi Syndrome, mental retardation, or another neurological condition closely related to mental retardation or requiring treatment similar to that required for mental retardation, which has continued or can be expected to continue indefinitely and constitutes a substantial hardship to the affected individual.

For the purposes of this course we have also elected to incorporate the Federal definition of developmental disabilities. This definition was first established in the late 1960s and became a legislatively invented term for clustering early onset disorders of development according to their need for supportive services.

Federal Definition of Developmental Disability:

Developmental disability is a broader and is based on a functional assessment of how well a person can live and participate in society, rather than on specific diagnosis.

As we will identify and discuss during this course, the conditions of Mental Retardation, Cerebral Palsy, Epilepsy, Brain Injury and Autism which have similar etiologies or origins, sometimes co-exist, and they are life long in duration. As we will discuss, people who experience severe impairments frequently have multiple disabilities such as combinations of mental retardation and epilepsy or cerebral palsy and epilepsy or autism and seizures, just to mention a few.