Describe discriminatory practice in Health and Social care
Discriminatory practice is infringement of rights. This means that you are not respecting individual’s rights or beliefs. (Mills, 2013) There are many ways that people can discriminate against others. Discrimination can involve making a judgement on someone; whether it be for race, gender, sexuality or disability. Discrimination is an unfair act based on prejudice.
Sexuality: There are many different sexualities. These include straight, lesbian, gay and bi sexual. A service provider may discriminate against a service user’s sexuality. If a gay, elderly man in a care home needs to be washed, a male member of staff might refuse to do this because it may make him feel uncomfortable knowing the man’s sexuality. This would be seen as discriminatory practice.
Disability: Many care homes have service users that may have a form of disability. This can be anywhere from a learning disability, to a physical disability. Some service providers may not approach the service user (if they have a disability) to inform them something, they might just approach the nurse/carer beside them. Service providers would do this because they wouldn’t know if the service user would be able to understand. This would be discriminatory practice.
Age: In a Health and Social care environment, only people under a certain age may be allowed on day trips. This would be done and the activity could involve too much physical strength and ability for the elderly service user. This would be seen as discrimination to the elderly.
Social class: In a health and social care setting, people may be discriminated against due to their social class. A service user may be treated with more respect because of their higher social class than someone who has a low social class. For an example, someone who was very successful in life may be treated with more respect be seen as more important than others.