No, we must do better than this in our search for an objective means to define both
of these constructs. Following the hopefully now outdated perspective of postmodernism
that says impairment and disorder are to be whatever the group, culture, or
society wish them to be will also be a conceptual dead end as long as we seek even a
quasi-objective standard for these terms. So, too, will be any notion that impairment,
like its sister concept of disorder, should be defined as being judged as in need of
treatment by others. This also is subjective as there is no external standard being used
in any individual’s judgment that permits us to determine if their judgment is, in fact,
correct (accurate). If words are to mean anything and if there is an objective reality
“out there” (there is or developing knowledge or even science would be impossible),
then we must identify some standard outside any individual’s mind against which the
rest of us can judge for ourselves whether it has been met.