Psychosocial Disability
What Is Psychosocial Disability?
To understand Psychosocial Disability, it is first important to to understand some key terms that relate.
Mental health is a term that refers to our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make healthy choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood. (CDC)
Psychosocial impairment is commonly referred to as a mental health disorder. It is characterized by a clinically significant disturbance in an individual’s cognition (ability to think and reason), emotional regulation (ability to manage emotions), or behavior. These challenges cause distress or disability in important areas of functioning.
How does a psychosocial impairment/mental health disorder become a disability?
A Psychosocial impairment can be considered a disability when it becomes substantially limiting, [which is] if it lasts for more than several months and significantly restricts the performance of one or more major life activities during that time. It is not substantially limiting if it lasts for only a brief time or does not significantly restrict an individual’s ability to perform a major life activity. Whether the disability is substantially limiting is assessed without regard to mitigating measures such as medication. (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission/ EEOC)
Examples of Psychosocial Disability
While there are countless mental health disorders, they largely fall under these six categories. Each category of mental health disorder comes with different signs and symptoms. The way a specific disorder presents in an individual can vary greatly from person to person.
Categories of mental disorders:
- Anxiety Disorders
- Mood Disorders
- Eating Disorders
- Psychotic Disorders
- Personality Disorders
Mental Health in An African Context
Mental health is an under-discussed topic in society, but in an African context especially. A combination between stigma, cultural beliefs, and a lack of resources that center African experiences contribute to the spread of misinformation and stigma on the topic. The reality is, mental health disorders are incredibly common, impacting approximately 1 in 8 people around the world. Many people live their whole lives without receiving a diagnosis and manage their symptoms successfully independently, while others need lifelong support, medication reasonable accommodations.
To build understanding on the lived experience of people with different types of mental health disorders, three videos have been developed so far. These animated short stories take the audience on the journey of a person in a specifically African context navigating their daily lives with psychosocial impairments.
How to refer to a person with a psychosocial disability
If you must talk about a persons’ mental health try to be as specific as you can or name the specific challenge you are referring to. Never disclose a person’s mental health status without their explicit informed consent.
For example: Person with depression, “Josh has been struggling with his mood and is feeling tired and overwhelmed”.
If you are talking generally about psychosocial disability, it is okay to say, people with psychosocial disability, or people with mental health conditions.
However, remember to use person first language by prioritizing the individual such as using her or her name rather than focusing on the disability.
- Disclose a person’s mental health status without their explicit approval
- Use judgmental or derogatory language such as terms like crazy or insane.
- Seek permission and consent when disclosing a person’s mental health status.
- Find out how they would best like to be supported or referred to
Important Note
Psychosocial disabilities are not always visible, and disclosing one’s status as a person with one is an immensely personal decision. Never disclose a person’s mental health status without their explicit consent. Disclosing their psychosocial disability can result in stigma, which in an educational / professional / social setting especially can be detrimental to the students progress and success.
Avoid using judgmental and derogatory language. Words like crazy or insane can have serious impacts on self-esteem. Avoid language that minimizes the experiences of people with mental health conditions, for example, it is not ok to call a person “overly emotional” or use clinical diagnoses casually to describe a behavior. It is not ok to say that someone is ‘acting bipolar’ or that something is ‘giving them PTSD’. Psychosocial disabilities can sometimes affect people’s social interactions as well, so talking about these students as awkward, or weird can also be quite harmful.
General tips on how to include people with psychosocial disability
- Talk to the person with a psychosocial impairment in a way that you would talk to anyone else. Psychosocial impairment does not affect someone’s intelligence so do not dumb down the conversation.
- Be kind, positive and welcoming, so if the person with psychosocial impairment is confused about something they feel comfortable asking for clarification. The more you believe people can succeed, the more they will feel comfortable asking for support, and the more they will believe in themselves.
- Ask them what kind of communication means are easier for them to use. Do they prefer using emails or text messages or if they prefer oral communication, This will make communication less stressful.
- Use both body language and verbal communication to communicate with persons with psychosocial impairment because sometimes they may have trouble reading the social cues or be nervous about interpreting a situation wrongly.
- People with psychosocial disabilities should be encouraged to seek support when a mental health concern is raised.
- Never pressure a person to get treatment and be aware of the power dynamics at play when talking about options.
- Most importantly, ask a person with psychosocial impairment how they want to be addressed, supported and treated.
Specific tips on how to include people with psychosocial disability in education/training
- Work with students/participants to set specific, measurable goals, that are things within their control. A good goal would be, “Simon will participate in group discussions 50% of the time”, or “Anna will use a planner to organize her time”. Goals like “Rebecca will get a 75 on this assignment” are not helpful. These goals should be steps that lead to successful learning outcomes.
- Support participants/learners who need it in getting organized, both with their time and with their physical course materials. Scheduling, and routine can really help some students to succeed. Psychosocial impairments can have an impact on executive functioning, meaning the tasks our brain does to think, act and solve problems, so supporting in organization can be very helpful.
- Use a variety of teaching / training strategies. The more ways information is presented, the better participants will grasp the material.
- Allow extra time for participants with mental health conditions to complete assignments and tests. Many people with psychosocial disabilities struggle with things like sleep, time management, and anxiety, so extra time will support their success.
- Learners/participants should have the ability to request to type exams or use a scribe. This is helpful as they may have trouble getting their words out on paper.
- Provide extra learning materials or a copy of the training material to the students/participants.
- Learners/participants should have the ability to request to be paired with a note-taker for classes/trainings or be able to use a laptop or audio recorder in lectures/sessions.
- Repeat key messages e.g by writing them down or speaking them. People with Psychosocial impairment often struggle with sleep and memory so having information given in multiple ways can be of help.
- For some people with psychosocial impairments, the classroom/training room can be overwhelming, frustrating and overstimulating. Designating a quiet space where participants can go to calm down can be helpful. This is important especially for people with some sensory related challenges as well.
- Check-in with the participant/learner if they seem confused. Some people might not feel comfortable asking for clarifications. You can do this by asking for feedback, and asking questions
- Create a supportive mental health environment broadly across the organization and not just to people with psychosocial disabilities. This will enable undiagnosed/undisclosed individuals to seek support and accommodations, and reduce stigma surrounding requesting support.
- Embrace a flexible work culture. Allow for people to work from home, or have flexible hours when needed.
- Support people who need it in getting organized both with their time and their work. Psychosocial disabilities can have an impact on executive functioning, meaning the tasks our brain does to think, act and solve problems, so supporting in organization can be helpful
- Repeat key messages e.g by writing them down or speaking them. People with Psychosocial disabilities often struggle with sleep and memory so having information given in multiple ways can be of help.
- Need based flexibility should be given with deadlines to allow room to produce quality work.
- Provide copies of notes from meetings. This can help a person who is struggling to grasp the content today to catch up tomorrow.
- To some people with psychosocial disabilities, meetings can be overwhelming, frustrating and overstimulating. Designating a quiet space where people can go to clampdown and reset their focus can be helpful.
- Managers should be prepared to support staff with psychosocial disabilities in dealing with social challenges in the workplace, and provide supportive coaching when needed.
- Employers should provide health insurance that cover a wide array of mental health services that will support people with psychosocial disabilities.
- Mental health days should always be counted as sick days not vacation days. Medical documentation should not be a requirement for taking a mental health day as this is not always possible or the best course of treatment.