Supporting People Providers

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EQUALITY DIVERSITY

• Supporting People Providers

Elaine Nembhard Hillingdons Occasional Trainer
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Course Information

• Subject Equalities Diversity
• Start Date July 2004
• Time 930 - 100 pm
• Venue Committee Room
• Target Group Supporting People Providers

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Course Introduction

• The course is a half day session designed to be
  meet the needs of service providers following
  feedback from Inclusive Forum work shop on
  equality and diversity held on 23 April 2004

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Objectives

• Better understanding of
• current equality legislation
• Hillingdons diverse communities - their cultures
  and religion
• equality in service planning, provision and
  delivery

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Equality what is it?

• The vision or aim of creating a society (or
  aspects of society) where both individuals and
  groups are able to live their lives free from
  discrimination and oppression.

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What is Equalities?

• Used as a short hand term to refer to all work
  addressing issues of discrimination and
  disadvantage, particularly as it relates to race
  equality, disability, gender, sexuality, faith
  and age
• Equalities is customer focused, it is a central
  part of customer care

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Equal Opportunities

• The development of practices that promote the
  possibility of fair and equal chances for all to
  develop their full potential in all aspects of
  life and the removal of barriers of
  discrimination experienced by certain groups.

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Culture

• Characteristics
• Culture ideas, beliefs, values, knowledge,
  behaviour, attitude, traditions shared by a group

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Ethnicity

• Characteristics
• Ethnicity refers to aspects of shared history,
  language and culture

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RACE

• .

• Characteristics
• Visible physical appearance
• Determined by
• Genetic ancestry

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Terminology meaning and preference
Acceptable

• Black
• Black and Minority Ethnic (BME)
• Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME)
• Unacceptable

• Coloured
• Half-caste

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Key Equality Legislation

• Race Relations Act 1976
• Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000
• Disability Discrimination Act 1995
• Sex Discrimination Act 1975
• Human Rights Act 1998

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Race Relation Act

• The General Duties
• To eliminate unlawful racial discrimination
• To promote equality of opportunity
• To promote good relations between different
  racial groups

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To publish a Race Equality Scheme
The Specific Duties

• A statement of how the authority plans to meet
  the duties to promote equality under the Race
  Relations (Amendment) Act 2000

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Hillingdons Scheme

• Key Features
• Assess existing and proposed policies
• Monitor race equality for adverse impact
• Consult internally and externally
• Monitor performance as an employer
• Staff training
• Publish results of assessments and consultations

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Disability Discrimination Act 1995 DDA

• Key Points
• Equality of access to goods and services and
  employment and applies to individuals who have,
  or have ever had, any mental or physical
  impairment which lasted, or is expected to last
  at least 12 months and which has a significant
  adverse impact on their day to day activities
• The DDA protects people with a wide range of
  impairments from discrimination, for example
  severe facial disfigurement, mental health
  problems, epilepsy or dyslexia
• Organisations with 15 or more employees must
  comply with the legislation relating to
  employment

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Disability Discrimination Act 1995 DDA

• Key Points
• The customer related issues apply to all
  organisations no matter how small
• Removing barriers is not just about
  physical/structural alterations, there are the
  barriers to accessing services e.g. communication
  
• Consider the communication needs of clients who
  are disabled
• e.g., appropriate communication mechanisms and
  access to information
• Remember, for some people, sign language is their
  first language

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Making Meetings Accessible

• Consider the needs of the client e.g., wheelchair
  users, hearing impairment, visual impairment,
  length of meeting etc
• Venue accessibility
• Information for the meeting- what formats might
  you need
• Does the client need a personal assistant to help
  with seating, catering, personal care etc
• Interpreters, palantypists (speed-text typist who
  type speech on a laptop or large screen) may need
  better lighting, different seating arrangement etc

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Customer Care Issues Disabled Clients

• Always check if the persons needs help and only
  offer if it seems appropriate- wait for them to
  respond
• Treat the person with the same respect you as
  other clients
• Only use their first name if you are using other
  peoples first names
• Avoid making a disabled adult feel that you are
  treating them as children
• Dont lean on someones wheelchair you are
  invading their personal space

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Customer Care Issues Disabled Clients

• Communicate directly with the client not their
  carer, advocate or interpreter
• Dont help someone to get up or sit down without
  first offering help and wait for and listen to
  their reply
• Try not to draw attention to the persons
  disability (video scenario)
• Personal Assistant

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Terminology

• Certain words and phrases can been offensive to
  clients
• Some people prefer to be called disabled people
  this gives the impression that they are
  disabled by barriers erected by society
• Others prefer to be called people with
  disabilities as they believe that this gives a
  clear message that they are people first its
  just so happens they also have a disability
• If in doubt, ask the client what their preference
  is

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Terminology

• Dont be embarrassed to use common expressions
  such as see you later when talking to someone
  who has a visual impairment for example
• Dont use the term handicapped this term
  implies that people with disabilities are
  dependent on charity and is associated with the
  old fashion medical model of disability
• Always use cerebral palsy and never spastic
  and dont refer to someone with epilepsy as
  epileptic

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Terminology

• The preferred term for the phrase mental
  handicap has been replaced with people with
  learning difficulties
• Avoid using collective nouns such as
• the disabled the blind the deaf
• This implies a group that is separate from the
  rest of society

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Labels

• The following are extremely insulting and will
  cause hurt even as a joke
• Cripple
• Retarded
• Mentally defective
• Remember, its not just what you say but the
  impact of the words on others

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Human Rights Act 1998

• Key Points

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Ethnic Groups Source 2001 Census, ONS

HILLINGDONS BAME COMMUNITIES
Ethnic Groups Source 2001 Census, ONS
Percentage of resident population in ethnic
groups

• White
• White Other
• White Irish
• Mixed Ancestry
• Mixed White Black Caribbean 0.6
• Mixed White Black African
• Mixed White Asian
• Mixed White Other
• Asian or British Asian
• Indian 9.6
• Pakistani 1.6

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Ethnic Groups Source 2001 Census, ONS

HILLINGDONS BAME COMMUNITIES
Ethnic Groups Source 2001 Census, ONS
Percentage of residentpopulation in ethnic
groups

• Bangladeshi 0.6
• Chinese 1.9
• Other Asian 0.8
• Black or Black British 3.3
• Black Caribbean 1.3
• Black African 1.7
• Other Black 0.2
• Other Ethnic Group 1.0

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Communication Needs

• Communicating with clients who have language
  difficulties
• English as a second or additional language

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Support and Information Needs

• Written materials
• Know your audience who are you writing to or
  who will need to use the information?
• Can they read?
• Mother tongue might be dialect not a written
  language
• Font size too small for people who are visually
  impaired
• Person might be blind and need the information in
  another format
• Access to the information where to distribute
  information
• Technical information/ jargon use Plain
  English

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Support and Information Needs

• Interpretation or other needs
• Using untrained family members
• Use of the Councils interpretation services,
  Language Line and Community Organisations
  (REAP/Advocacy
• Client Information language needs, other
  formats e.g., audio, Signer/ interpreter,
  computer disk
• Accessing Interpretation Services what is
  available?
• What other help is available?

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Cultures

• African Caribbeans
• Bangladeshi
• Chinese
• Indian
• Irish
• Pakistani
• Somalian
• Vietnamese

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• Religions
• Christianity
• Hinduism
• Islam
• Judaism
• Sikhism

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KEY MESSAGES

• People can be treated unfairly because they are
  different in terms of their race, gender,
  disability, age, faith
• There are different forms of discrimination
• Even well-meaning people can discriminate by
  making assumptions. Aiming to treat every the
  same assumes that everyone has the same needs
• Stereotyping based on second-hand information
  ignores the fact that different groups of people
  have different experiences and that within groups
  people want to be treated as individuals

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Equality Monitoring

• Know who your clients are their personal
  details and needs
• Age, gender, ethnicity, disability, language
  needs, dietary needs, faith/religion (need to
  arrange to visit place of worship etc
• Only by knowing you client and their needs can
  you monitor whether you are meeting their needs

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• A simple way to ensure equality is to be NICE
• NICE MEANS
• Need consider what a colleague or customer
  needs not who they are or what they look like
• Individuality although you need to be aware of
  issues faced by different groups of people,
  remember every person is an individual and should
  be treated as such
• Check even if you think you know how to handle
  a situation, check your assumptions before acting
  on them
• Empathise you like to be treated as an
  individual with your own feelings so does
  everyone else
• (acknowledgement Femi Otitoju