Even more, ICF acknowledges that the definitionof disability is not ‘black and white” but rather both“ability” and “disability” can be seen on a scale ofdiffering levels, and definitions. Everybody fitssomewhere on this scale, and anyone’s situationcan be affected by a dis-ability to do somethingat some point in their lives not only throughimpacts of health and well-being, but also by theenvironment they live in, and the opportunities that they have to develop. This is important for allpeople, but perhaps most vitally for children.

The ICF gives us a new view of people withdisability – focused on ability rather thanthe barrier of disability alone. The ICF allowsunderstanding of what a person can do – andcan be helped to do better.

ICF clarifies that ability and disability cannot bedefined from a medical diagnosis alone. Instead,there are many contributing factors to a person’sability or inability to do something they wantor need to do. For example, if a person cannotwalk or go to work it may be related to any oneof a number of different health conditions, orlimiting environmental factors. By shifting thefocus from health condition to functioning, the ICF places all people on an equal footing, allowingtheir capacities and potentials to be compared, interms of their related functioning, via a common framework – and ultimately supported.

The ICF is the world standard for classifying functioning and disability, agreedby the World Health Assembly in 2001.

The ICF supports rights-based policies across government and other sectorsand provides a common language and understanding for use by peopleexperiencing disability, providing relevant services, or working with disability data.

The ICF provides an organised informational structure, contributing to abetter understanding of functioning and disability and comparability acrosssettings.

The ICF provides a common language for disability. Definitions andcategories in the ICF are worded in neutral language, wherever possible,so that the classification can be used to record both the positive andnegative aspects of functioning.

The ICF can be used in various ways across many fields of application. Theseinclude:

- Clinical practice: The ICF provides a common language acrossclinical disciplines and with patients or clients. The ICF is complementary tothe International Classification of Diseases (ICD) – the global standard forclassifying diseases – and, when used together, they present a full picture ofthe health status of an individual.

ICF respects the rights of every person and actively avoidslabelling, stigmatization and discrimination.

- Support services and income support: The ICF can support eligibilityassessment and service planning in social protection or other supportservices, allowing a holistic view of possibilities for patients. In particular, thefocus on environmental factors makes it possible to know whether the needsof the individual require environmental changes or the provision of personal support.

- Population statistics: When population data are based on the sameconcepts and frameworks, a strong, integrated national information array canbe developed. This information resource can then be used to compare thenumbers of people in need of various services to the number receiving them,or can indicate which areas of the social environment are most disabling forpeople experiencing functioning difficulties.

- Education: The ICF, as a common language, can assist withintegrating perspectives from the child, the family, the school, and servicesystems, allowing all children the chance to learn in the best possibleenvironment for their realities.

ICF puts every person in a context: functioning and disability areresults of the interaction between the health conditions of theperson and their environment.

- Yes, the ICF providesdefinitions for functioningand disability. However theICF does not dictate who is‘normal’ and who is ‘disabled’. Using the ICF a person can beidentified as having ‘disability’against various thresholdsacross a range of fields, butthis individual designationcan change over time.

- ICF classifies functioningand disability, NOT thepeople, themselves. Theunits of ICF classification arecategories within health andhealth-related domains. TheICF classifies physiologicalfunctions, anatomicalstructures, actions, tasks,areas of life, and externalinfluences. The ICF does notclassify people and it is notpossible to assign people toa category within the ICF.

- The ICF is applicable to all people, to describe their functioning and levelof health. As anyone may experience disability at some point in their lives, whether permanent or temporary, intermittent or continuous, ICF can be used to document the changes in functioning domains as “disability”. ICF was not designed, norshould it be used, to label persons with disabilities asa separate social group. The ICF is applicable to all people, irrespective of specific health conditions, in all physical, social and cultural contexts.