definition
To begin, before going in to details about the usage of the word "impaired”, it is crucial to know the definition of this word in the dictionary. According to the Oxford English
Dictionary, the word “impaired” is an adjective which comes from the word “impair,” which means to make“something worse, less valuable, injuriously, or damaged.” (“Impaired”, Oxford English Dictionary) Therefore, impaired describes something or someone which is injured in amount deteriorated, weakened or damaged. The word was first used in this general meaning is from the book the history of Great Britaine, written in 1611: “Hee repaired with large diet his impayred limmes and sinewes.” (“Impaired”, OED) Here, the author used impaired to describe someone who got hurt.
The word also describes a driver affected by use of alcohol or narcotics.(“Impaired”, OED) The last usage of “impaired” refers to people who are disabled in the capacity specified and people who lack or are deficient in the attribute or field specified. (“Impaired”, OED) The latter usage is informal and is often spoken in a humorous way to show no offense. The several meanings have connection to each other, by referring to people who cannot perform specific skills. For instance, if a person is injured or damaged, he or she will have trouble performing
physical tasks. Similarly, when the driver is impaired, he or she loses the ability to drive.
After understand the definition, click on this video on the right to feel what it is like to be visually imapired.
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Now that we understand the definition of the word “impaired”, let’s look at the change of usage of this world over the history. Click on the button to see what has happened throughout history and how does the change of society relate to the word "impaired".
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