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Discrimination In Health And Social Care Essay

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Inclusion, equality of opportunity and anti-discrimination are central principles in social care. All activity needs to be planned on the basis that some people may need additional support to overcome the barriers they face. Barriers are those things that prevent or make access to a service more difficult for certain groups and individuals. The barriers faced in your own workplace will be related to your own working environment and on the area of care you work in. These barriers could include one or more of the following: • age
• gender or gender identity
disability – physical or sensory impairment
• faith
• ethnic origin
• sexual orientation
• communication, literacy and language Other barriers could include:

Structural, where circumstances create or result in barriers - for example in access to a 'good …show more content…

"... a collection of negative attitudes, beliefs, thoughts and behaviours that influences the individual, or the general public to fear, reject, be prejudiced and discriminate against people with mental disorders." The work of Howard Becker (1963) on stigma - explored through the experiences of people with mental health problems and working in the psychiatric system - has contributed much to our understanding of stigma and the social consequences of 'labelling'. According to Becker, responses to perceived difference showed that when: 'Society labels the individual or group; they are then treated differently as a consequence of the label.' The cycle of oppression proposes a relationship between prevalent or prevailing attitudes and beliefs about mental illness and difficult and uncomfortable feelings and thoughts. These feelings and thoughts then influence the ways we act and

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