[International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities and Handicaps ICIDH--results and problems]

Published by the World Health Organization in 1980, the International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities, and Handicaps (ICIDH) provides a conceptual framework for information by enabling classification, and hence description, of the three dimensions of the phenomenon of "disablement" (as a consequence of disease, injury or congenital condition). The ICIDH permits a highly complex issue to be easily grasped to a certain extent, and has gained almost worldwide recognition as a valuable tool in the perception of the problem of disablement, in describing this problem and developing solutions for this problem. With modern definitions in rehabilitation using its basic terms, the ICIDH will before long also be established as a tool for purposes of documentation, evaluation and treatment planning in the field of rehabilitation. Notwithstanding its successes, the ICIDH not only raises practical problems but theoretical ones as well. The points of criticism relate to the consequences of disease model, the definitions of the basic terms, and the overlap of basic term extensions. In order to overcome the definitional and overlap problems it is suggested, for one, to clearly distinguish between the phenomena and their symptoms and, for the other, to eliminate any overlap that may exist in the formulation of the concepts the definitions of the basic terms build on. The ICIDH model of disease consequences may be viewed as a preliminary step towards developing a theory of disablement. Such a theory would in particular be designed to enable explanation and prognosis of disablement creation processes as well as development of causally founded methods of intervention in rehabilitation. It should moreover include a theory of the etiologic processes involved in disablement as well as a theory of rehabilitative intervention. The crucial future tasks of the rehabilitation sciences will include the further development of a theory of disablement enabling provision of assistance to persons with disablement, or at risk of being disabled, in a more purposeful and causally founded manner than has been the case so far.