International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health

Development of the ICF and Related Documents

The predecessor to the ICF, the International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities, and Handicaps (ICIDH), was first published in 1980. This was replaced by the ICF in 2001 to enable positive as well as negative experiences to be classified and to move from the concepts of impairments and handicaps to functioning and participation. Travis T. Threats was the Speech–Language pathology representative on the WHO working group to develop the ICF. In 2007, the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health: Children and Youth Version (ICF-CY) was published in order to expand categories that were relevant for 0–18 year olds, resulting in an addition of 237 new codes. In 2010, the World Report on Disability (WRD) was released by the WHO and the World Bank. The WRD adopted the ICF as the conceptual framework and concluded with nine recommendations to support the implementation of the ICF throughout the world. Currently, the WHO is finalizing the ICF-2, a second edition of the ICF that incorporates the ICF and the ICF-CY. The ICF complements the WHO’s International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) that provides a framework for diagnosis of diseases.

Relevance of the ICF to the Field of Human Communication Sciences and Disorders

Researchers and clinicians in the field of human communication sciences and disorders have frequently applied the ICF and ICF-CY to research and practice due to their direct relevance to the field. Although there are some core chapters within the ICF and ICF-CY that are directly related to the field of human communication sciences and disorders (e.g., Chapter 3 in Activities and Participation is titled Communication), almost every chapter has relevance to the field since communication is an integral part of day-to-day human functioning.

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