9 Disability Categories
Categories of disabilities
The nine disability categories are:
| Category | Main idea |
|---|---|
| Visual disability | Vision can range from partial vision to complete loss of vision in one or both eyes. |
| Auditory disability | Hearing can range from some hearing loss to total hearing loss. |
| Speech disability | Speech can range from slightly slurred speech to being unable to move the mouth to speak. |
| Deaf-blindness | A combination of blindness and deafness. |
| Mobility, flexibility, and body structure disability | Can affect movement, dexterity, coordination, body size, body shape, or skeletal structure. |
| Cognitive disability | Can affect learning, reading, computation, attention, communication, or processing. |
| Psychological or psychiatric disability | Can affect thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and perceptions. |
| Seizure disability | Seizures interfere with daily activities and can range from mild to severe. |
| Multiple or compound disability | More than one disability is present at the same time. |
Visual disabilities
Visual disabilities can range from some amount of vision to complete loss of vision in one or both eyes. They can also include loss of visual acuity, sensitivity to specific or bright colors, or difficulty seeing some colors.
Examples:
- Color blindness, including red-green, blue-yellow, and grayscale
- Low vision
- Blindness
Additional note: Digital barriers for visual disabilities often include missing alt text, poor color contrast, text that cannot resize, unlabeled controls, and page structures that do not work well with screen readers or magnification.
Auditory disabilities
Auditory disabilities can range from some loss of hearing to total loss of hearing.
Examples:
- Hard of hearing
- Central auditory processing disorder
Additional note: Common digital supports include captions, transcripts, visual alerts, clear written instructions, and avoiding audio-only instructions.
Speech disabilities
Speech disabilities can range from slight slurred speech to complete inability to move the mouth to speak. A person's ability to speak can be unrelated to their language capabilities to read, write, and understand.
Examples:
- Aphasia
- Apraxia
- Articulation
- Mutism
- No speech
- Stuttering
Additional note: Do not assume that a person who cannot speak cannot understand. Speech output and language comprehension are separate abilities.
Deaf-blindness
Deafblindness is a combination of blindness and deafness. In most cases, people are not completely blind or deaf.
People who are deafblind primarily rely on touch as their primary means of communication.
Additional note: Digital access may involve tactile communication, braille displays, screen reader output, simplified workflows, and content that does not depend on sight or hearing alone.
Mobility, flexibility, and body structure disabilities
Mobility disabilities can include people with upper or lower limb loss, limited dexterity, difficulty with coordination, or broken skeletal structures.
Examples:
- Ambulation
- Body size or shape
- Manual dexterity or fine motor control
- Muscle fatigue
Additional note: Digital barriers often include small click targets, drag-only controls, time limits, keyboard traps, inaccessible custom widgets, and workflows that require precise pointer control.
Cognitive disabilities
Cognitive disabilities can occur on their own or be the result of injury or other conditions. Cognitive disabilities can come in many forms and can vary in severity.
Examples:
- Intellectual disabilities
- Reading and dyslexia
- Math and computation
- Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
- Autism spectrum disorder
- Non-verbal learning
Additional note: Common supports include plain language, predictable layouts, clear labels, helpful error messages, enough time, and avoiding unnecessary distractions.
Psychological and psychiatric disabilities
Psychological and psychiatric disabilities come in many forms that impact a person's thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and perceptions.
Examples:
- Social disabilities
- Emotional disabilities
- Behavioral disabilities
Additional note: Digital products can reduce barriers by avoiding surprise audio, flashing content, confusing flows, hostile error messages, and high-pressure time limits.
Seizure disabilities
Seizure disabilities occur when seizures interfere with a person's daily activities. They can range from mild to severe and may sometimes result in loss of consciousness.
Common symptoms include:
- Inability to speak
- Hallucinations
- Convulsions
- Loss of muscle tone
- Staring
- Falling
- Tongue biting
- Loss of bladder or bowel control
Photosensitive epilepsy is also named in this lesson.
Additional note: Digital products should avoid flashing, strobing, and high-contrast motion patterns that can trigger seizures or vestibular symptoms.
Multiple or compound disabilities
Multiple or compound disabilities are the presence of more than one disability at a time. This can be physical or mental, and all can impact a person's abilities in daily activities.
Additional note: Many real users do not fit neatly into one disability category. Testing should consider combinations, such as a user with low vision and limited dexterity, or a user who is deaf and has a cognitive disability.
Quick review
| Disability category | Remember this |
|---|---|
| Visual | Seeing or processing visual information |
| Auditory | Hearing or processing sound |
| Speech | Speaking or producing speech |
| Deaf-blindness | Combined vision and hearing disability, often with touch as a primary communication method |
| Mobility, flexibility, and body structure | Movement, dexterity, fatigue, body size, posture, or physical structure |
| Cognitive | Learning, attention, memory, reading, math, processing, or communication |
| Psychological or psychiatric | Thoughts, feelings, behaviors, perceptions, social, emotional, or behavioral function |
| Seizure | Seizures that interfere with daily activity |
| Multiple or compound | More than one disability at the same time |
Video and self-study resources
No separate lesson video link was available in the supplied bookmarks.
Self-study links
- IAAP CPACC Body of Knowledge (Pages 9-31)
- A Brief History of the Disability Rights Movement - ADL
- What are some types of assistive devices and how are they used? - NICHD
- Tools and Techniques - W3C Web Accessibility Initiative