Eq, D, Er. P5, M3 , D2

Task 1

The benefits of diversity

Britain is a multicultural society with a huge variety of people who all have come from different backgrounds, these people live and work all over the country. London is the capital of the country and has the largest immigrant number. In Britain 6.5% of the population are ethnic minorities. The British population is made up of the following ethnic groups:

• White-53,074,000 (includes Irish, Polish, Italian, etc)

• Black Caribbean- 490,000

• Black African- 375,000

• Black other- 308,000

• Indian- 930,000

• Bangladeshi- 268,000

• Chinese- 137,000

• Other Asian- 209,000 (includes Vietnamese, Malaysian, Thai)

• Other- 424,000 ( these people think they do not fit into any of the groups above)

Diversity should benefit everyone, people valuing each other and experiencing a strong bond with others who have different back grounds. But sometimes this is not the case. Some people fear something they don’t know and discriminate those who are from a different background. At some point in every person’s life they will need to use a health and social care based service and they need to be aware that any unfair or unwarranted discrimination is not accepted. People may act ignorant but they don’t know that it can cause upset and offence, everyone should be treated fairly. Fortunately this problem only occur with a handful of people, some people may be in a venerable state and don’t realise what problems they are causing. Britain has passed laws to help bring as many divers groups as possible, so that we as a nation can celebrate our multicultural society.

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Terminology which should and should not be used within the setting

When working in a health and social care setting you must know how to use appropriate terminology with regards to equality and diversity. For example words like Empowerment, Diversity, and Stereotyping should be used in the right context. Without this knowledge you would find it hard to communicate in a diverse workforce and if you use the wrong word you may get into an embarrassing situation. Stereotyping is what people in a health and social care setting should not do, children pick up this habit because of what adults say for example, homeless people don’t work, overweight people are lazy. Stereotyping leads to wrong assumptions and discriminatory practice. Labelling is closely related to stereotyping, labelling is another discriminatory practice. We all do this without knowing. When working in a health and social care based setting you need to be aware of this. Examples of labelling are, fat, uneducated, mean, weak. Labelling someone and acting on your thoughts could affect the way you communicate or treat a patient.

How equality and the rights of individuals should be prompted

Equality needs to be prompted so it prompted to prevent discrimination and bullying, harassment or victimisation. The staffs in a health and social care setting need to ensure that the residents are being treated equally and fairly. The staff need to recognize individuals cultural backgrounds and should not show prejudice, stereotyping or labelling, and should understand others beliefs as well as their own. The staff have equal access opportunities and they need to be provided with the highest quality of care no matter of culture. The staff will also need to be equipped with skills to challenge inequality so they will be prevented from being used in the setting.

The rights of each individual within the setting

Everyone possesses basic human rights and each individual has a responsibility to act upon them. The human rights act of 2000 is explained in the government website, which explains what each personal right someone has. For example

• The right to life

• The right to freedom and degrading treatment

• The right to freedom from slavery and forced labour

• The right to liberty

• The right to not be punished for something that wasn’t a crime when you done it

• The right to respect private and family life

• The right not to be discriminated against

As you can see, there is a wide range of rights that affect every aspect of a person’s life. If the health and social care staff aren’t putting someone’s rights into account they are putting the individual in a venerable position where they are at risk of fraud and accidents, they could also have a low self esteem in their needs are being neglected.

References- health and social care, level 3 book 1, Beryl Stretch &Mary Whitehouse

References: health and social care, level 3 book 1, Beryl Stretch &Mary Whitehouse