Introduction: Environmental Contexts and Disability

People living with long-term functional limitations are very familiar with the influence of the environment on their lives. Physical structure, economic expectation or social relationship norms developed within various cultures can either restrict or support the individual’s full participation in society. The influence of these environmental factors can vary by the requirements of the participation role or its physical location, by individual goals and choices, by type of basic action difficulty causing the functional limitations and other characteristics of the person such as age, gender and race.

Many of the theoretical models of environmental impact on disability organize their approaches at two different levels, the individual and the societal levels. The immediate environment of the individual, including settings such as the home (reflecting the immediate family), the formal or informal workplace, places of worship, locations of civic participation, and other similar settings which surround the individual create micro systems in which the individual is personally involved. The person manages the physical, social and material elements of these contexts which take place in these micro systems as best they can. They can identify the level of difficulty associated with each of the environments they interact in on a regular basis and often can identify the factor/s that make the interaction difficult (stairs, attitudes, lighting, noise, etc.).