Disability - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition disability

Definition :

Disability, incapacity to do any legal act. It is divided into two classes: (1) absolute, which, while it continues, wholly disables the person 'such were outlawry, excommunication, attainder (but see the Forfeiture Act, 1870 (32 & 33 Vict. c.23), s. 1, abolishing attainder on conviction for treason or felony), and acts by statutory bodies or corporations in excess of their statutory powers, see ULTRA VIRES; (2) partial, as infancy, coverture, lunacy, and drunkenness. As to which, see the various titles relating thereto. The compulsory purchase, by railway and other companies, of the lands of persons under disability is regulated by the Lands Clauses Acts, and see ULTRA VIRES.

It means--(i) blindness; (ii) low vision; (iii) leprosy-cured; (iv) hearing impairment; (v) locomotor disability; (vi) mental retardation; (vii) mental illness. [The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 (1 of 1996), s. 2 (i) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) (vi) (vii)]

'Disability' means the absence of power, Shanti Kumar & Chanji v. House Insurance Co., AIR 1974 SC 1719 (1722).

Means where the disablement is of a temporary nature, such disablement as reduces the earning capacity of a woman in any employment in which he was engaged at the time of the accident resulting in the disablement, and, where the disablement is of a permanent nature, such disablement as reduces his earning capacity in every employment which he was capable of undertaking at that time: provided that every injury specified in Part II of Schedule I shall be deemed to result in permanent partial disablement.