LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The first full month after President Barack Obama took office, in February of 2009 there were 7,469,240 workers collecting federal disability insurance. Therefore, under the Obama White House, the number of workers collecting disability has increased by 1,334,095. This figure works out to a net increase of about 29,646 per month, or 1,334,095 divided by 45 months, or an average increase of about 975 per day, or 1,334,095 divided by 1,369 days.

In contrast, during George W. Bush's eight years as president, the number of workers collecting federal disability insurance increased by 2,375,258, rising from 5,067,119 in February 2001 to 7,442,377 in January 2009. Under the Bush administration, that equaled a net increase of about 24,742 per month and 813 per day. The number of workers on disability increased by 1,198,575, in Bush's second term alone, equaling an average monthly increase of about 24,970 and an average daily increase of about 820.

According to official U.S. sources, there is no single, universally accepted definition of disability. There are over 20 definitions of disability used for purposes of entitlement to public or private income support programs, government services, or statistical analysis.
 
An explicit goal of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Healthy People 2010 program is to include a standardized set of questions that identify people with disabilities in HP2010 surveillance instruments.

The most frequently applied framework of disability was set in 1969. This conceptualization views disability as difficulty performing socially expected activities such as work for pay, and explicitly recognizes the interaction of the environment and pathologies/impairments to cause disabilities.
 
The Americans with Disabilities Act rests upon this framework and recognizes that improvements in the environment can reduce disability and thus improve the inclusion of all people.
 
Under the 1969 framework, the dynamic nature of the disability process is represented by the movement through four stages: pathology, impairment, functional limitation, and disability.
 
The first stage, pathology, is the presence of a physical or mental condition, such as tinnitus, that interrupts the physical or mental process of the human body.

Pathology may lead to the second stage, impairment, which Nagi defined as a physiological, anatomical, or mental loss that limits a person's capacity to function.

Impairment may lead to the third stage, functional limitation, which is defined as a limitation in the performance or completion of a fundamental activity.

In the final stage, a functional limitation may lead to a disability, which is a limitation in performing roles and tasks that are socially expected. For example, a person limited in holding a telephone conversation may be limited in being employed, a work disability or work limitation.

© 2012, Catholic Online. Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.