Disability Awareness Training

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Disability Awareness Training

• Victoria Eathorne
• RCN Learning Representative
• Disability Advisor

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Aims Objectives

• For you to gain a better understanding of the
  obstacles encountered by disabled RCN members
• to provide you with a route to information that
  can help disabled RCN members stay in employment
• in order for us all to adopt a positive approach
  to enable disabled RCN members to lead a better
  quality of life

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Disability

• What do you understand by the term disability?
• What do you think about?

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Disability

• Physical
• Overt arthritis, cerebral palsy, motor neurone
  disease, stroke, spinal cord injury
• Hidden epilepsy, diabetes, cardiac conditions,
  incontinence, lupus
• Sensory - blind or visually impaired, deaf or
  hard of hearing, speech
• Learning Disability - downs syndrome, autism
• Mental Illness - clinical depression,
  schizophrenia

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Impairments (DDA) (1)

• Mobility
• Manual dexterity
• Physical co-ordination
• Continence
• Ability to lift, carry or otherwise move everyday
  objects

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Impairments (DDA) (2)

• Speech, hearing or eyesight
• Memory or ability to concentrate, learn or
  understand or
• Perception of the risk of physical danger

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Definition of Disability

• A disabled person is a person who has, or who
  has had in the past, a physical or mental
  impairment which has a substantial or long term
  adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out
  normal day to day activities.

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Emotions

• Imagine that you have become disabled due to an
  accident or illness
• Discuss with your group about how you might feel
  and write down words or phrases that would
  describe your feelings

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How does it feel?

• Frustration
• loss of dignity
• dependency
• self pity
• loneliness
• expensive

• Vulnerable
• No confidence
• worthlessness
• angry
• unemployable
• non-sexual

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Attitudes

• positive/ negative
• university
• vicar
• clinical psychologist
• social worker
• children
• myths misconception

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Barriers

• Fear of the unknown
• Lack of information
• Embarrassment
• Body image
• Self esteem
• Social exclusion

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Models of Disability

• Medical

Social
Charity/tragedy
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Definition The Medical Model

• A disabled person is a person who has, or who
  has had in the past, a physical or mental
  impairment which has a substantial or long term
  adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out
  normal day to day activities.

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Definition The Social Model

• A person with an impairment become when disabled
  when the organisation of the society in which
  they live excludes them from mainstream
  activities.

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DefinitionCharity-Tragedy

• Needing hand-outs
• needing support
• tragic
• need pitying
• helpless
• brave
• superhuman

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Word-power

• Cripple
• spastic
• invalid
• retarded
• handicapped
• wheelchair bound
• epileptic- diabetic- asthmatic- paraplegic

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DefinitionThe Social Model

• A person with an impairment become disabled when
  the organisation of the society in which they
  live excludes them from mainstream activities

Access
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Access Issues

• Information signs
• Car parking paths to
• Entrance
• Reception
• Getting about indoors
• Toilets
• Emergency exits
• Assistance

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The business case

• Recognise disabled people as-
• Employees
• Employers
• Customers
• Shareholders
• Suppliers
• Anybody

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Facts Figures

• 8.3 million disabled adults in UK
• Less than 5 (310,000) use a wheelchair
• 93.2 live in the community
• over 2.6 million are under 65 years of age
• 83 acquire their disability during working
• 7 million carers
• 1 in 4 families affected by disability

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Legislation - DDA

• Change in working patterns and technology in the
  last 50 years increased access to the workplace
  for disabled people
• Disabled people are 3 times more likely to be
  unemployed
• Increasing influence of disabled people in the
  market place

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Discrimination

• environment
• housing
• sport access
• medical

• education
• employment
• insurance
• transport
• social activities
• attitudes
• financial

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Disability Discrimination Act

• education
• employment
• access to goods services
• definition of disability
• Disability Rights Commission
• transport

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Education

• Disability statement

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Definition of Discrimination

• an employer or service provider discriminates
  against a person if, for a reason which relates
  to the disability, he or she treats the person
  less favourably than he or she treats or would
  treat others who do not have a disability and
  cannot show that the treatment was justified

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The DDA allocates twodistinct rights

• The right not to be unjustifiably discriminated
  against for a reason which relates to disability
• the right to have reasonable adjustments made to
  premises or working arrangements

These rights apply to both employment and the
provision of goods and services
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DDA Employment

• Under the act it is unlawful to discriminate
  against a disabled person in relation to-
• recruitment
• terms conditions
• training promotion
• benefits
• dismissal

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DDA employment reasonable adjustments

• Re-allocation of duties
• transfer, altering hours, place of work
• time off for treatment
• modifying equipment, training
• provide assistant, reader or interpreter
• adjustments to premises

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DDA Employment

• Managers must note the following points-
• there is no service qualification for an
  individual to bring a claim under the act
• there is no limit on the amount of compensation
  which can be awarded to an individual
• initially the onus is on the individual to prove
  discrimination has taken place
• the onus then shifts to the employer to justify
  unfavourable treatment

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What constitutes a service

• Any place used by members of the public
• information services
• entertainment recreation leisure facilities
• health, social services
• services provided by any professional, trade, or
  by any public authority

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Three basic stipulations for service providers

• Service providers must not
• Refuse to serve a disabled person, or
  deliberately exclude them from their service
• provide a lower standard of service, or
• offer worse terms to the disabled customer
  unless justified

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DDA - Access to goods,facilities services

• Timescale
• from October 1999 service providers have to make
  reasonable adjustments
• from 2004 service providers have to remove
  physical barriers that prevent disabled people
  using their service

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Removal of physical barriers reasonable
adjustments

• Removal of the barrier
• alter it so that premises become accessible
• provide an alternative means of access
• make the service available by an alternative means

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Auxiliary Aids

• Communication needs of people with sensory
  impairments, such as information on audio tape
  for blind people and induction loops to boost
  sound for deaf people using a hearing aid

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Auxiliary Aids

• Could include providing a sign language
  interpreter for a deaf person and/ or providing
  an assistant to help a person with a mobility
  impairment to carry shopping in a supermarket

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Access to goods services

• Attitudes
• service delivery
• customer services
• all staff as agents
• access issues
• equal opportunities
• positive treatment

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Working to remove barriers

• Appreciate strengths of disabled people
• recognise importance of disabled people as
  customers
• understand needs of disabled people as individual
  customers and service users
• communicate and involve disabled people in
  breaking down barriers
• avoid stereotypes, assumptions, myths and
  misconceptions

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The way forward

• Review current policy
• train staff
• access audit
• disability audit
• examine options of support
• take action- NOW

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Improvements

• Communication
• access to information
• access to services
• attitude
• rights
• social acceptance

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Information

• Housing
• assistance
• finances
• employment
• relationships
• transport
• social

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The end is nigh

• Have we covered everything you wanted to hear
• any last minute questions
• evaluation

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A final thought

• stop, think, ask, treat everybody as an
  individual,
• treat everyone as you would want to be treated
  yourself

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Thank you