Multiple disabilities means concomitant impairments (such as intellectual disability and blindness or intellectual disability and orthopedic impairment), the combination of which causes such severe educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for one of the impairments. Multiple disabilities does not include deaf-blindness. (34 CFR Sec. 300.8(c)(7)) Children eligible for special education and related services under the category of multiple disabilities (MD) must meet the eligibility criteria in two or more Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) categories. This eligibility category is characterized by the need for extensive and/or pervasive intensities of educational supports and, as such, is an extremely low-incidence category. It involves complex, inseparable interactions between two or more disabilities and it is neither possible nor appropriate to designate the disabilities within this category as primary and secondary.
Multiple Disabilities (MD)
