Some Medical Vocab

Disability, disorder, and condition all describe differences in how the brain works. Understanding those differences lets you understand your strengths, which can help you overcome challenges associated with them and succeed in pursuing your passion.

• Condition: When physical or mental health interferes with everyday activities or impacts overall wellbeing.

• Disability: A physical or mental condition that negatively impacts how someone moves or perceives the world around them or everyday activities.

• Disorder: When the body or brain doesn’t function normally because of a disease, genetic factor, or traumatic event (i.e. accident). A disorder can be mental, physical, genetic, emotional, or behavioral. 

• Diagnosis: A label used to describe differences in how someone learns, thinks, feels, and acts, which cause problems in multiple areas of their life.   

• Developmental condition: Also known as neurodevelopmental conditions, developmental conditions are brain-based, life-long, and are often noticeable early in childhood. How they affect someone and their treatment needs may change over time. They can impact learning, remembering, or applying skills and information to everyday life, including physical tasks, language and communication, and behavior. This can cause challenges with school, relationships, work, and important life skills like cooking. 

• Mental health conditions: These are brain-based, and how they affect an individual and their treatment needs may change over time.  Mental health conditions make it harder to use skills to appropriately respond to stress, sometimes in ways you can’t see. 

References

1. American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Neurodevelopmental Disorders. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.). 

2. “Difference between Disease, Syndrome, Disorder and Condition.” Wecapable.com. Retrieved January 4, 2023 from https://wecapable.com/difference-disease-syndrome-disorder-condition/

3. Lyons, H. (2021). How are Developmental Disorders Different than Mental Illnesses? https://withtherapy.com/therapist-insights/how-are-developmental-disorders-different-than-mental-illnesses/#:~:text=While%20developmental%20disabilities%20are%20typically,can%20also%20begin%20during%20adulthood.

4. Sulkes, S. B. (2022a). Definition of Developmental Disorders. Merck Manual: Consumer Version. The https://www.merckmanuals.com/home/children-s-health-issues/learning-and-developmental-disorders/definition-of-developmental-disorders

5. Sulkes, S. B. (2022b). Learning Disorders. Merck Manual: Consumer Version. https://www.merckmanuals.com/home/children-s-health-issues/learning-and-developmental-disorders/learning-disorders