Be Able to Work in a Person Centred Way

Unit 4222-203 Introduction to equality and inclusion in health, social care or children's and young people's settings (SHC 23)

Outcome 2 Be able to work in an inclusive way

There are lots of pieces of legislation in place to protect individuals from issues relating to equality, diversity, discrimination and rights.
From 1 October 2010, the Equality Act 2010 came into effect. The Act replaces previous legislation (such as the Race Relations Act 1976 and the Disability Discrimination Act 1995) and ensures consistency in what workplaces need to do to comply with the law and make working environments fair.
The main purposes of the Equality Act are:
- Establish the Commission for Equality and Human Rights;
- Make discrimination unlawful;
- Create a duty on public authorities to promote equality of opportunity between men and women and the prevention of sex discrimination.
The Equality Act 2010 replaced most of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) however, the Disability Equality Duty in the DDA continues to apply.The Equality Act covers the same groups that were protected by existing equality legislation - age, disability, gender reassignment, race,religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership and pregnancy and maternity - but now extends some protections to groups not previously covered e.g. carers or parents of a disabled person.
The main Acts incorporated into the Equality Act 2010 are summarised below:
1. The Disability Discrimination Act 2005
2. The Equal Pay Act 1970
3. The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and amendments 1982, 1999
4. The Race Relations Act 1976 and amendments 2000, 2003
We may also want to look up more information on the internet about the following Acts and how they apply to us and our role:
- Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974
- Human Rights Act 1998
- Employment Act 2002
- Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003
- Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003
- Employment Equality (Age) 2006
- Gender Recognition Act 2004
- Civil Partnership Act 2004
- Disability Equality Duty 2006
- Work and Families Act 2006
- The Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006
These are some of the things you can do to make sure your work is inclusive and respectful of other peoples’ social identity:
- Recognise that you need to treat everyone you care and support as individuals and respond to them, and their social identity, in an individual manner;
- Understand that treating people fairly does not mean treating people in the same way. You need to recognise difference and respond appropriately;
- Respect all individuals you support regardless of their social identity;
- Try to increase your knowledge and understanding of aspects of social identity that may be different from our own;
- Avoid stereotyping or making assumptions about individuals based on their social identity;
- Recognise that your own social identity may impact on individuals in different ways;
- Avoid using inappropriate and disrespectful language relating to social identity.
In your job role, you have a duty of care to challenge discrimination in a positive way and promote inclusion. If discrimination is challenged effectively, future incidents of discrimination can be prevented, as well as empowering individuals to understand their rights.You should always act fairly and try to see things from the other person’s point of view.Consider that there could be different pressures, needs and cultures.Always use positive language and never use words or phrases that could be disrespectful towards another person.Don’t not allow prejudices and stereotyping to influence you and do not accept any type of discriminatory behaviour.

Please give examples of how YOU do this in your workplace

At Field Farm House it is our duty to maintain a good standard of practice whilst ensuring that diversity, equality and right procedures are correctly followed. We must ensure that everyone has the right to be included and to be treated equally regardless of their background, race or gender .
Everyone is accepted and respected in a professionally dignified manner, according to the health and safety standards within the health and social care service. As health and social care practitioners, it is important to make sure that my behaviour at work is highly professional at all times. I am adhering to the policies and procedures of our setting. It’s also important to remember that my work is in a regulated setting and requires the confidence of my service users and families. Therefore my behaviour outside of work may also affect my work status. To maintain good behaviour and to keep good standard of work whilst complying with the codes of conduct, I have produced the following information for in-house training in order to promote good practice in health and social care .The idea of diversity is to embrace or encompasses acceptances and respect by understanding that each individual is unique and recognizing our individual differences. These can be along the dimension of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientations, socio-status, age physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or ideologies. It is the exploration of these differences in a safe, positive, and nurturing environment. It is about understanding each other and moving beyond simple tolerance to embracing and celebrating the rich dimensions of diversity contained within individual.