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In response to Judith's question. .. In my experience (working in a local authority Social Services Department) 'cognitive impairment' has come to be used to describe difficulties experienced both by people with (e.g.) acquired brain injury as well as people with developmental disabilities. I find it a reasonably helpful term in that it draws attention to the specific processes involved - such as memory, concentration, tracking, computation, conceptualisation - and is relatively neutral. In the case of developmental disorders, the usual terms have tended to be expressions such as 'mental handicap', 'retardation', or 'learning disability'. Brain injury and events with similar outcomes, such as stroke, have either not been described very well at all in lay terms, or have been summed up as something like 'personality change'. Terms like this tend to be taken as referring to - if not summing up - the whole person: "This label tells you all you need to know". In general, discussion of the merits of this or that choice of words ends up looking a bit sterile and 'medical-modellish', but I find that a description of an impairment that is as precise and as value-free as possible is helpful in supporting a social-model approach, in which an understanding of the technicalities of an impairment is a separate bit of business to that of understanding the personal and social context. For professional interveners (which is what Social Services Depts are) this can help in designing a care plan which addresses the question: " What specific skills and assistance are required in order to support the person in living independently and achieving a more satisfactory quality of life?" Barry %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%