What is a physical disability?
A physical disability is any type of physical condition that significantly affects the way you are able to carry out certain everyday tasks or activities. The types of physical disabilities, their causes, and the way in which they impact a person's life are wide-ranging.
Physical disabilities can be the result of congenital birth issues, accidental injury or illness. If you would like to learn more about a specific disability or related condition, a good source of information is the A-Z on the NHS Choices website.
You may have more than one physical condition. Additionally, a particular condition might be disabling to one person but not the next. The key aspect in defining physical disability is not whether you have a specific condition, it is how that physical condition affects your daily life.
Living with a physical disability
If your condition is affecting your mobility or your ability to carry out certain daily tasks, there is a lot of support, information and advice available.
- See our community directory listings for local and national support
- See our section on Looking after yourself for information and advice about help with personal care.
- Find out about help available with House, garden and pet care
- Read our information on Buying help at home
- See how specialist Equipment around the house and Mobility equipment can help you.
- Find out about Occupational therapy and Adaptations to your home
- Find out about help you can get with Getting out and about
- Read our section on Money matters to find out about benefits and paying for care.
You may also want to register as disabled with Hampshire County Council.
Further information and support
- There is information about Living with disability from the NHS.
- Gov.uk has disability information about employment, health, education and benefits and more.
- The National Access Register allows you to search locations by accessible features. Find accessible toilets, hotels, restaurants, tourist attractions and more.
- Disability Rights UK is a campaigning organisation. It provides information, services and products for disabled people. They also run the RADAR National Key Scheme for disabled toilets. With the RADAR key you can also buy a list of where all the accessible public toilets are that use the RADAR key.
- SPECTRUM Centre for Independent Living is run and controlled by disabled people in Hampshire. It provides services and support to make use of current provisions to enable you to live independently.
