Describe two or three ways in which our society discriminates against people with disabilities.

University Degree Education and Teaching

Ed203

0211804

Describe two or three ways in which our society discriminates against people with disabilities. Discuss the extent to which disability is created by disabling barriers and describe and evaluate some of the strategies available to remove or reduce the discrimination identified.

The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) came into action in 1995. This was the initial effort made by the British Government to legislate on the discrimination faced by disabled people. The DDA provides disabled individuals constitutional rights in employment, the provision of goods, services and facilities and also in the buying and renting of any land and property, Davies, M (1997). Nonetheless regardless of the Disability Discrimination Act of 1995, prejudice in society is still present in many areas such as education, employment, and transport.

This essay will look into depth in identifying the discrimination faced by disabled people in our society and assess whether disability is created by disabling barriers, and then it will describe and evaluate some of the strategies to remove or reduce the discriminations identified.

Disabled people are more likely to get discriminated in society. “Discrimination is term we refer to when a person is treated less favourably than another person, because of some of their characteristics such as gender, sex, race and disability”. ().

Disabled citizens have constantly experienced elevated rates of unemployment than the rest of the populace, not because they are unable to work but because of the biased and unfair attitude of employers, in failing to even attempt to convene their legal obligations towards these individuals, by providing an environment that is user friendly for all individuals regardless of a disability. Many disabled people find it extremely difficult to get jobs as they say a person with a disability is more likely to be underemployed and unemployed due to their disability. “...the unemployment rates for people with disabilities are “five times more than for others” Albrecht, G (2001) pg175. In Britain two thirds of people with a disability do not work. Albrecht, G (2001) discussed a study that was conducted by the government and stated that one half of these individuals expressed an interest in working. Disabled individuals are less probable to get a job, not because they lack the skills or the knowledge required for a job, but because of the discriminatory actions of the employers. Many employers are anxious of recruiting disabled people and often use health and safety reasons as a justification.

Although the part II of the DDA 1995 places a duty on employers not to treat people with disabilities, less favourably that their none disabled employees. On the grounds of ones disability. Yet In Britain one in six people who have a disability, state that they have experienced unjust treatment or discrimination in a work related setting.

The DDA Act states that it is prohibited for an employer to differentiate against a person when applying for a job, or during their employment. This includes application forms, for example a disabled person is discriminated in an application process, as if an individual is partially sighted they may not be able to read the application form. There are not many application forms that are available in Braille, hence this amounts to prejudice. Another example is where a person is suffering from dyslexia; they may not be able to comprehend the questions on the application form effectively. Publishing the vacancy of a job is also another form where a person with a disability can be discriminated because not all adverts are advertised using different forms of media, eg, websites, and in disability associations, so that disabled people can easily view the job advert. Some job applications are in formats that can not be read with ease hence a disabled being for example a blind or partially sighted person may need the information in large print, Braille or in electronic format ,so that accessibility software can be used.

The interview process is another factor that can discriminate a person with a disability. For example a person with a physical disability might find it difficult to get to the interview site and also the interviewee or the interviewing panels, first impression of an applicant where the disability is visible for example wheelchair user will automatically prejudice against them as they may feel they are less likelier to fulfil the job criteria “In my case employers fail to see past my wheelchair - it creates a barrier to them being able to see beyond the disability and look at my skills and experience." (http://www.scope.org.uk/cgi-bin/eatsoup.cgi?id=6050).Hence disabled people are seen as less intellectual and less capable than an able body. Therefore they may feel that a person in a wheelchair is inferior to other applicants.

Due to the discrimination in employment a person with a disability is more likely than a non disable person to work in manual and low skilled jobs, which have a lower status, and they are less likely to work in managerial, professional and skilled occupations. There is as little as 11% of disabled people in managerial occupations. Disabled individuals may also be discriminated if the job requires ‘on the job’ training. As many companies provide training off the premises, therefore in most circumstances needs and requirements may not be catered for such individuals. For instance if there is a wheelchair user and the premises does not have access for wheelchair users, the person with the disability may not be able to access the building. In French et al (1997), there is case study of Alan Dudley, he is blind and a senior worker, he talks about the barriers he faced in gaining access in training when “..He received 10 rejections before he was offered a place on the course” Albrecht, G (2001) pg177. After successfully completing the training he had many difficulties in finding a job he stated that he was told by his local authority that “.. if you want to work with blind people we’ll offer you a job, but if you don’t were not prepared to”. Albrecht, G (2001). Hence this shows discrimination was faced due to his disability. Yet the DDA 1995 states that discrimination in employment requires employers not to discriminate against applicant or employees, and must not discriminate on the grounds of terms and conditions of employment or treatment at work and recruitment. In the case of Alan Dudley it shows he was discriminated in the recruitment process, as he was not offered the job he applied for and was offered to work with blind people instead.

A person with a disability may be discriminated in the work place because the access to the building may not meet their needs e.g. not all buildings may have wide enough doors to let a wheelchair user through, or the building may not have automatic doors therefore partially sighted people may find it difficult to extinguish where the doors are. The DDA act states all buildings should consider access for people with a disability, which have fifteen or more employees, they should ensure it is reasonable so that it does not discriminate against employees with disabilities. It is a ...

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Discrimination in education is a significant problem, although the DDA(1995) part IV talks about how people with a disability should not be discriminated in education, a significant problem at all levels of education still remains, and in particular for children with a disability that wishes to be included in mainstream education. Disability rights commission stated that a quarter of young disabled people felt discriminated in schooling. (http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,5500,856823,00.htmlli)

Children with disabilities are segregated in many ways for example there are “special Schools”. These are schools designed especially for students with a disability or with learning difficulties. Some students that attend these special schools feel pressured to attend the special school, as they feel that they are less able bodies, and are inferior to those who attend mainstream schools. “Education was no good at all. I would have loved to have been in a mainstream school; too many people are in special school” (http://www.scope.org.uk/cgi-bin/eatsoup.cgi?id=6050). Therefore this shows children are discriminated in schooling as they feel that they have to attend the special school as the mainstream school would not be able to comprehend with their needs and requirements.

It is also illegal to discriminate against a person with a disability on the grounds of their disability. Hence this means that the education providers have a legitimate obligation to allow people with a disability to have the same access to education, in the same way that people without a disability are provided with. Although education providers should treat a person with a disability without any discrimination its know that in Britain Disabled students are excluded from many educational settings because of thee physical access and arrangements to the buildings, also the spatial organisation of the setting for example there are many schools, where a person with a disability such as a wheelchair user would be discriminated on the grounds of not having adequate or appropriate equipment and resources, “ only 15% of primary and 7% of secondary schools have complete wheelchair access.” (http://www.scope.org.uk/cgi-bin/eatsoup.cgi?id=6050).

Hence this shows a person in a wheelchair would not have much of a choice to attend the school they want due to the fact that they will not be able to comprehend for their needs, as not all schools have the resources to do so.

Children and adults with a disability experience “exclusion” when they are refused entry to ordinary educational settings on the grounds of their disability, or learning difficulty. ” settings that are described as being “provided for” or especially for” particularly groups hide their role in segregating groups and individuals from ordinary social experience behind a discourse of solicitousness and accommodation”( Albrecht,G(2001) pg704. hence discrimination takes place, they like to think they are not segregating disabled people by doing what is best for them.

A person with a disability may experience exclusion in mainstream schools and colleges, these exclusion can be due to the physical environment, but also in teaching and learning for example a disabled student may be taught in a different way, for example a child that is partially sighted may be excluded in some activities, yet they may not need to be excluded, they may just need extra support by an adult. In a report by Polly Curtis he found that “34% of students at GCSe level felt they did not get the help and support they needed from teachers and other staff.” (http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,5500,856823,00.htmlli)

Many disabled people feel that that they are less likely to do well in life because of the education they have received in the early years of there life. Barnes, C (2003) stated that In Britain, “Disabled children from ‘special schools’ leave with fewer qualification and marketable skills than their non- disabled peers”. (pg45). Many schools do not like to offer admission to a student with a disability or learning difficulty, due to the fact that their schools performance may be affected “league table”. Where the result and achievements of the students of the school is published they feel that having students with a disability will have a great on affect on the performance of the school. Davies, M (1997).

A person with a disability is discriminated time and time again in education some children are labelled as “special educational needs”. This is when the person has a learning difficulty that requires special educational provisions to be made. It was the 1981 Education Act that introduced the concept of special educational needs. Disabled people feel that they are discriminated as they are given names, labelled or experience bullying in education for example “..in school I got bullied because of my wheelchair and I was called names”. (http://www.scope.org.uk/cgi-bin/eatsoup.cgi?id=6050)..In Britain “More than a third (38%) students stated that they had been bullied because of their disability and one in twenty said their bullies had been their teachers” Davies, M (1997) pg134. People attending these special schools feel that they are discriminated because they feel that they are restricted in making friends with non disabled peers.

Transport is another area in which disabled people get discriminated “for instance, because of high steps and similar design features, using Britain’s buses presents major problems for those with mobility impairments. Similar criticisms are made of Britain’s railway system”. Imirie, R& hall P (2001) pg49. Most of the national rail local stations do not facilitate or cater for people with disabilities for example wheelchair users do not have access to the platform as most of the stations have staircases and no lifts. "I often get frustrated when I want to do something socially and end up not going because of my disability. My dream is to be able to get on a train or a bus without having to make any special arrangements beforehand." (). When schools or organisations want to organise trips or days out for disabled people especially wheelchair users this would be extremely difficult due to the bus not facilitating for so many disabled passengers, as a bus only allows two wheelchairs at a time on a bus. Therefore if there was two wheelchairs already on the bus the third wheelchair would not be able to gain access on the bus due to the bus only allowing two wheelchairs at once. In Britain“1.1 million people did not use buses "because of their disability". (). Hence this shows a disabled person is greatly discriminated in using the public transport. Another example is a person that is partially sighted can be discriminated in using buses and trains as not all buses have “speech announcements” that tells the partially sighted passenger what destination has arrived, as they can not see where the bus has arrived at.

The traditional view of disability is called “the Medical Model of Disability”, because it sees people as medical problems. Therefore people with a disability are expected to see their impairment as their problem, something they will have to make the best of and accept that there are many things they cannot do. On the other hand the “social model of disability” looks at disability from a different angle. “..It ignores how “bad” a person’s impairment is. Instead it establishes that everyone is equal and demonstrates that it is society which erects barriers that prevent disabled people participating and restricts their opportunities”. .

The Social Model is a more positive approach to disability. They look at disability as something which is imposed on people with impairments such as a physical, visual impairments, it is the society which forms barriers to equality. Looking at disability from this perspective means that a wheelchair user is not disabled by their wheelchair, but by the barriers society puts against them e.g. steps. “People with impairments are thus "disabled" through such things as lack of physical access, people's attitudes, structural discrimination (as encountered with the benefits system for example) and any other barriers society may erect against them”. Stated by Barton, L (1996) pg 78.

In education we can see the government tries to implement the “social Model of disability” by the inclusion of a person with a disability in a mainstream school. However sometimes it is the medical model that has to be taken into account for instance if a person has severe learning difficulties(SLD), they may be not be able to attend a mainstream school as the setting may not be able to comply with the needs of that child. However the social model will argue that the chid with SLD is unable to attend the mainstream school, not because of their impairment but because the school does not meet the needs of that individual child. Yet they can do this by providing the appropriate resources and equipment in the mainstream school, so that a person with impairment can be included in mainstream schooling. It can be argued by the medical model that the mainstreams schools may be able to comprehend all the needs of that child but special schools would do better job, as they have staff and equipment especially designed for ones with a disabilities.

In employment many employers use the medical model for example in many cases the employer does not employ a disabled candidate because of their disability and they state it is because of health and safety requirements. In a work setting a person in a wheelchair or partially sighted person may be rejected the job because “..The wheelchair user cannot get into the building because of the planning and design of the building or the attitudes of the owner”, Bruce, T & Meggitt, C (1999). This is the medical model approach, because the barrier faced is due to the design of the building. However the social model will argue the working environment should facilitate the needs rather than being unable to climb steps. Another example in implementing the social model is “...An employer can enable a disabled employee to start work later than her or his non-disabled colleagues because it takes her or him longer to get to work because of an inaccessible transport system.” (http://www.htvwales.com/one/discrimination.shtml).it can be argued that sometimes employers have to take the medical model approach for example, in a case where a candidate has applied to a bus deriver job, and they are partially sighted it will be at great risk for the candidate to drive the bus as this job requires good eye sight. On the whole most jobs can be carried out with people with a disability if they are provided with the correct support equipment and resources.

There are many acts and legalisation such as the DDA (1995) in order to remove discrimination. DDA act talks about how a person with a disability should not be discriminated. Yet there are many areas in the act have loop holes such as education and transport, and this makes it far from comprehensive. The Act talks about the transport requirements but yet it only talks about how the new transport have to meet minimum access standards for disabled people, but it only applies to land base transport. Even areas such as employment are limited, for example, the act does not apply to the armed services and before 2004, and it only covered employers who employ 15 or more people. The act is very weak for example the definition of disability stated in the act is defined narrowly In terms of impairment and is guided by the severity of the impairment rather than by the experience of discrimination. Some impairments and medical conditions have not been covered such as HIV and Aids. All though these may cause discrimination. Beaver, Met al (2001)

The government quarrels that the definition is ‘common sense'. Hence a person who is not ‘really’ disabled should not be covered. However a discrimination law should focus on discrimination, not how impaired a person is but how much they are discriminated against in society. The government states that a definition based on the social model would be too wide and would cover the whole populace. But this is the case with other equality laws – “The right to fair treatment should not be given to some but not others; the problems faced by a disabled person do not happen because of their impairment but because of social attitudes and barriers”. (Davies, M (2000) pg171

The DDA Act in employment is also very vague as it states from October 2004 all business will have to have made reasonable alterations to the building to accommodate the disabled if you provide a service for them. Yet the act is full of loop holes as it uses phrases like “reasonable” and “substantial”. In reality this tells people when it is lawful to discriminate and when discrimination can be justified. Davies, M (1997).

“Lord Lester, a prominent civil liberties lawyer, has described the new law as ‘riddled with vague, slippery and elusive exceptions, making is so full of holes that it is more like a colander than a binding code”. (). Hence this shows the DDA Act is not that effective.

The Warnock Report 1978 this reviewed the provisions that were available to all children with special needs. It argued that all children with special educational needs can be accommodated in mainstream schools. Despite this report exclusion still remains to a certain extent because children with severe learning difficulties (SLD) are best accommodated in special schools. As they have all appropriate equipment and resources to meet the child’s needs. This report was essential because it informed the Education act of 1981.

The Education Act 1981 stated that the local authority (LEA) have a statutory requirement to ensure special educational provisions is made for pupils who have special educational needs. The act also places many other duties on the LEA such as assign children with special educational needs in order to determine the educational provision that will meet their needs. Albeit this act is in force children are discriminated in education as they are not entirely given the choice of what school they attend as they may not be able to attend a certain school due to the school not comprehending with their needs. Even though schools do identify students with special needs it takes much time before the student receives some extra support. For example when a child is being “statemented” it is a very long process before they actually receive external organisations to help them.

There are many strategies available to remove and reduce discrimination in all areas for example in education and in employment that requires the usage of computers For instance, someone who is partially sighted and someone who cannot use their hands, they can use “assistive technologies to activate commands supported by a standard keyboard interface”. http://www.breaking-the-barriers.org/

There are many different technologies that are available for people with disabilities for example a student that may be blind can use screen reader, this is a software that reads the text on the screen and it can also display it in Braille. (http://www.breaking-the-barriers.org/).Although this software is effective to an extent it has some barriers for people that are blind for example it may not adequately describe complex images graphs, charts and also other documents that are non standard documents may be difficult for the screen reader to interpret. (http://www.breaking-the-barriers.org/.)

There many companies for example the Ministry of Defence (M.O.D) that tries to incorporate disabled people in employment. As the M.O.D have organisations like “The Disability steering group”. This is a group that looks at the companies decisions and see how this will affect a person with a disability; therefore a person with a disability is not segregated in the decision making of the company. A recent conference that was held by the M.O.D was called “The disability Conference”. This brought out a scheme for disabled applicants called” guaranteed interview scheme”. It is a scheme that if a disabled candidate applies for a post and meets the key components (criteria), will automatically be offered an Interview, for positions that can be successfully carried out by a person with a disability. However the “guaranteed interview scheme” has been criticized by some people with disabilities as “positive discrimination”. It can be argued that many organisations employ a person with a disability in order to make up statistics or meet government targets. (M.O.D staff bulletin)

In transport there are organisations like Transport for London (TFL) that work to make London transport more accessible and easy to use for all the public. The Disabled Person Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC) is also an organisation that is working to make transport more easily accessible for disabled people. Currently they are working to make all buses with low floors and step free access so that it”makes journey easier for everyone”. They are also fitting in “retractable ramps” at the second door if the bus has dual doorway, and also “colour contrasted handrails, bus stopping sign and palm press bell pushes which can be reached from a seated position” (). Although these organisations are working to introduce strategies for disabled people they have said “London transport expects to reach 100% by no later then 2017”. Hence this is a long time before disabled people may not be segregated in using London transport; therefore this is not that effective because in the mean time disabled people would face difficulties in using public transport.

People with hearing impairments have strategies like the British sign language, (BSL). This is where a person communicates by facial expressions and signing out words. Hearing aids are also available as this helps the person with a hearing impairment hear. Albeit the hearing impairment is effective, as it helps the person with the hearing impairment hear. It is argued that it is uncomfortable and visible. Therefore people get discriminated because the hearing aid is visible and children say that they get called names when they wear the hearing aids. Bruce, T & Meggitt, C (1999)

Many voluntary and statutory organisations have been introduced in order to remove discrimination against people with disabilities for example “Scoop”, British Council of Organisations of Disabled People (BCODP). This organisation helps prevent segregation in our society, and try to adapt and implement the social model of disability. ().

Although there are many strategies to remove or reduce prejudice in society, for disabled people discrimination remains a significant problem at all levels, as discrimination will always occur because of the people’s attitudes and views against a person with a disability in our society. Thus no matter how many acts legislations are in force, discrimination is an ongoing problem in society, as we can not legislate for peoples attitudes in society. The society should work on educating people about a person with a disability and make them more aware that a disabled person is no inferior to any other person hence no discrimination should be made due to a person’s disability. Therefore the social model of disability should be in practise, although it is easier said than done to educate all ignorant attitudes in society surrounding disability. It may be argued that only a disabled person is able to comprehend what it is like to be discriminated on the grounds of employment, education and transport.

Describe two or three ways in which our society discriminates against people with disabilities.

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