disability and diversity

Question 1

Diversity in types of disability

Answer 1

• There are two types of disabilities, acquired disabilities from injuries and developmental disabilities are present at birth.
• Disabilities can be cognitive, physical, psychological, intellectual, sensory, and neurological.
• Disability isn’t something that has to be visible
• A disability is a mental or physical condition that can limit one’s movement, senses or activities that has lasted up to 6 months or more. These limitations can make it more difficult for people to do certain activities or interact with the world around them.
• Disabilities can be visible or hidden, may be temporary or permanent, and may have a minimal or substantial impact on one’s abilities.

Question 2

Key issues facing people with disabilities

Answer 2

• Communication barriers (inaccessible formats for sensory needs)
• Social barriers (education, employment, healthcare, housing, and justice)
• Physical barriers (accessibility, transport)
• attitudes (prejudice, discrimination, stereotypes)
• Policy or program barriers ( indirect discrimination because of the policy or program limits participation or access through inflexible regulations, procedures or practices)

Question 3

Historical perspectives - changing attitudes and approaches to service delivery

Answer 3

• For 100s of years persons with disabilities have been separated from the rest of the community, forced to live in institutions in the full-time custody of their carers that let them have no say or choices in their own lives.
• Persons with disabilities have been bullied, discriminated against, and forced into a state of oppression all because of the way they look and act.
• However, in contemporary society, people’s perceptions, attitudes, and treatments towards those with a disability have completely changed. Many new policies and laws have been put in place to protect persons with disabilities from discrimination and exclusion as well as grant them more control and say over their own lives.

Question 4

Models of disability

Answer 4

• Social - more of a progressive way of looking at disability. It is a useful tool to advocate for positive change and equality for those with disabilities.
• Medical - focuses on the diagnosis and the idea that disabled people needed to be cured
• Charity - Views people with disability as being vulnerable, and reliant on people without disability to perform certain tasks.
• Human rights - goes a step further than the social model, recognising ‘dignity’ as a fundamental ‘human right’ and freedom.

Question 5

Influences and changing practices in Australia and their impact on people with disability

Answer 5

• Many policies such as The Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Services Act have both been put in place to empower and protect persons with disabilities.
• As well as the governments implementing new policies and laws to protect persons with disabilities, an overall shift in community attitudes and actions has been evident in contemporary society.
• With the help of these new policies, new attitudes, and more access to services and needs, persons with disabilities are able to participate more in community activities and live life to the fullest.

Question 6

Policy, regulations, and legal requirements applying to disability work and access and equity

Answer 6

The Disability Discrimination Act 1992:

Disability Services Act:

NDIS as a strategy for exercising rights and independence:

Australian Human Rights Commission:

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD):

Question 7

Systems theory – Explore systems theory to consider how a person with a disability is part of an ecological system

Answer 7

Person
Microsystem - friends, family, school, work.
Mesosystem - friendships/relationships created within the microsystem.
Exosystem - mass media, neighbors, politics, social services, industry.
Macrosystem - attitudes and ideologies of the culture.

Question 8

Concepts of cultural awareness, cultural safety, and cultural competence and how these impact different work roles

Answer 8

Cultural awareness: is sensitivity towards the similarities and differences between different cultures and using this sensitivity in effective communication with people from different cultures.

Cultural safety: includes actions that respect and understand the unique cultural identity of a person and safely meet their needs and expectations.

Cultural competence: becoming aware of the cultural differences that exist, appreciating and understanding those differences and accepting them.

These impact different work roles as it helps to reflect on biases and work on discriminatory behavior.

Question 9

Concepts and definitions of diversity

Answer 9

Diversity is having a range of persons with various racial, ethnical, socioeconomic, and cultural backgrounds and various lifestyles, experiences, and interests.

Diversity is about what makes each of us unique and includes our backgrounds, personality, life experiences and beliefs, all of the things that make us who we are. It is a combination of our differences that shape our view of the world, our perspective and our approach

Question 10

Key areas of diversity and their characteristics

Answer 10

1. Culture, race, and ethnicity
2. Disability
3. Religious or spiritual beliefs
4. Gender
5. Sexual orientation
6. Generational

Question 11

Cultural diversity in Australia, including migrant/refugee, indigenous

Question 12

Apply theories to the lived experiences of refugee and first nation peoples (Enculturation and Marginalisation)

Answer 12

Enculturation: The process where individuals learn their group’s culture through experience, observation, and instruction. The culture that is currently established teaches an individual the accepted norms and values of the culture or society where the individual lives.

Marginalisation: Marginalisation occurs when a person or groups of people are less able to do things or access basic services or opportunities. Marginalisation describes both a process, and a condition, that prevents individuals or groups from full participation in social, economic and political life. Marginalisation usually occurs due to ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability status, socioeconomic level and age. It’s been proven throughout history marginalised groups are put in powerless situations, excluded, lack in human rights and often at a disadvantage when it comes to obtaining health care, decent education and employment.

Question 13

Access and equity issues for people from culturally diverse backgrounds

Answer 13

1. Language barriers
2. Cultural norms
3. Fear of authorities
4. Lack of knowledge or understanding of available services
5. Lack of cultural diversity and training in the workforce
6. Lack of physical accessibility
7. Lack of personal support

Question 14

What is Human Rights

Answer 14

Human rights are inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. Human rights include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more. The ideas of human rights and basic human needs are closely connected.

Relationship between human needs and human rights:
Human rights – rights that apply for every person because they are a human – can be seen as rights to the fulfilment of, or ability to fulfil, basic human needs. These needs provide the grounding for human rights.
Human needs are the requirements for survival, such as food, water, and air. Human rights are social inventions to protect things that humans value. The difference is that human needs are biological, while human rights are social.

Question 15

Legal and ethical considerations (international, national, state/territory, local) for working with diversity, how these impact individual workers, and the consequences of breaches

Question 16

Key aspects, and the diversity, of Australia’s Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander cultures

Answer 16

• Family, land, law, and language are four critical aspects of Aboriginal culture, and Aboriginal families are linked to land via kinship systems.
• They have a rich culture involving a value system based on the sustainability of their spiritual connection, belonging, obligation and responsibility to care for their land, their people and their environment.
• They maintain a great diversity of languages, cultures, ways of life, and kinship structures among Indigenous communities across Australia.

Question 17

Potential needs of marginalised groups

Answer 17

Protective factors such as:
- Physical – access to resources and health services
- Mental – wellbeing, belonging, support services, positive self esteem
- Physical, mental, and emotional health issues/care needs
- Consideration of impacts of discrimination, trauma, exclusion, and negative attitudes

Question 18

Resources that support individuals and organisations to embrace and respond to diversity

Answer 18

1. Language and cultural interpreters
2. Multilingual resources
3. Imagery – visual booklets, picture dictionaries
4. Modelling or demonstration

Question 19

Influences and changing practices in Australia and their impact on the diverse communities that make up Australian society

Answer 19

• New laws and policies put in place to protect Aboriginal culture, community, and land.
• Examples of these include the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act, The Northern Territory Aboriginal Health Plan 2021–2031 and The Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976.
• These new laws being put in place return cultural heritage, land and their rights back to them after centuries of their rights taken away from them.
• The culture of Australia has been shaped by multi-ethnic migration which has influenced all aspects of Australian life, including business, the arts, cuisine, sense of humor, and sport.

Question 20

Impact of diversity practices and experiences on personal behaviour, interpersonal relationships, perception, and social expectations of others

Answer 20

Interpersonal relationships: Adopting measures that embrace diversity helps to create good interpersonal relationships in the workplace. It assists in developing cordial and supportive environments by reducing the social stigma or negative perceptions and promoting understanding behaviour. Increased diversity and acceptance of other cultures has increased relationships between people of different cultures, which further reduces stigma and prejudice and increases understanding.

Personal behaviour: Diversity can have both negative and positive impacts on personal behaviour. Sometimes it leads to the formation of stereotypes or differences between people but it can also have a positive influence like one can learn new ideas and culture.

Perception and Social expectation of others: It assists in developing cordial and supportive environments by reducing the social stigma or negative perceptions and promoting understanding behaviour. In general, we tend to create negative judgments toward those who are different from us.

Question 21

Rights and responsibilities of workers, employers, and clients, including appropriate action when rights are being infringed or responsibilities not being carried out

Question 22

The Community Development Framework

Answer 22

Traditional approaches:
Needs-based: An external facilitator works to provide solutions to communities based on perceived needs that are usually defined by an external facilitator such as governments. This approach usually focuses on the negatives rather than the positives.
Gap-based: This approach focuses on filling the perceived gaps within a community. It can label people as ‘problematic’ or ‘in need of fixing’ by professionals which can lead to disempowerment and stigma.

Contemporary approaches:
Rights-based: This approach upholds social justice principles that everyone has values, strengths and should be respected to make their own desicions. It upholds their rights by supporting them to identify their strengths, choices, priorities, goals and aspirations; and by modelling respect, courtesy and appreciation for diversity.

Assets-based: This approach perceives community members as experts in their own lives, who have value, strengths, capabilities and achievements. It recognises that the people within a community are best placed to accurately determine what they need and a worker’s place is to support their decisions and assessments.

Question 23

Principles and practices of contemporary community development approaches

Answer 23

1. Structural disadvantage and inequality (fighting against organisations, governments, and institutions which contain biases)
2. Social justice and human rights
3. Empowerment
4. Recognition of personal and public political process
5. Commitment to people’s participation
6. Sustainability