Expectant mothers all dream of having a normal, healthy child. Though these moms-to-be take very good care of themselves during pregnancy, they can't help but fear that their babies may have birth defects. Aside from physical birth defects, developmental disability is another kind of abnormality that they should be afraid of. It often causes burden to any parent because it's a lifetime condition that may not be cured.

Developmental disability is a lifetime birth defect affecting the normal process of a part of the body or its system. It usually affects cognitive or social functions such as judgment, learning, and communication. A person with this kind of disability reacts differently to social norms because they have their own interpretation to such things. This disability is not usually a product of accident or illness. Most often, it's intrinsically present within a human being even before birth. Still, developmental disability shouldn't be mistaken for a mental illness. It affects a person's cognitive and perceptive functions, but it doesn't necessarily distort the way how a person thinks. Although it's also possible for people who have developmental disability to have mental illnesses, these can be treated.

Developmental disabilities have been known for quite a while as mental retardation. The term has changed in the course of time because of the way this disability and the people inflicted with it are viewed by the society. If in the past these people were submitted to institutions to be taken care of, now they're immersed into the society. They're given appropriate education and allowed to experience a normal life.