mental disability mental disability mental disability may refer to: developmental disability, a chronic condition due to mental or physical impairments arising before adulthood disabilities affecting intellectual abilities, medical conditions affecting cognitive ability including: intellectual disability, also known as general learning disability, a generalized neurodevelopmental disorder learning disability, where a person has difficulty learning in a typical manner mental disorder, also called mental illness or psychiatric disorder, a behavioral or mental pattern that causes impairment of personal functioning neurodevelopmental disorder, a disorder of brain function emotional and behavioral disorders, a disability classification used in educational settings