Outline of the Human Rights Act (1998):
In the UK the idea that human beings own a set of inalienable and inherent rights has deep roots in British culture and history which has been sourced back to over 800 years ago. With the earliest contemporary of human rights protection being Assize of Claredon passed by Henry II in 1166. This has evolved over the years to become what we know now as Human Rights Act (HRA), which contains a set of civil and political rights, to liberal democracy.
' Free from any inhumane treatment
' Freedom from forced or compulsory slavery.
' Right to fair trial.
' The right to privacy
' Freedom of thought and choice.
' Freedom of expression
' Right to marry and have a family
' Prohibition of discrimination due to Race, religion, race, colour, language, political or other personal choices.
Outline the Mental health act 2007
The mental health act began with the Madhouses act 1774, which started a line of legislation such as the lunacy act 1845 which evolved to give us the mental health act 2007.
' People with a mental disorder can be admitted to hospital without their consent
' Allows people to be put on Community Treatment Orders (CTO;S)
' Mental health professionals must be approved to carry out certain duties
' Professionals must follow specific procedures
Define the concept diversity: Diversity is a reality made by groups and the people from a broad spectrum of demographic and philosophical differences. The concept of diversity encompasses respect and acceptance, it means understanding each individual is unique and understanding our unique variants. Diversity is much more than just acknowledging or tolerating differences it is a conscious set of actions:
' Practicing mutual respect for qualities and experience that are not the same as our own.
' Recognizing that diversity includes not always ways of being but ways of knowing.
' Understanding and appreciating interdependence of humanity, cultures, and the natural environment.
' Understanding that cultural, personal and institutionalized discrimination breeds and sustains privileges for others, whilst creating and maintain disadvantages for others.
' Diversity is the building of alliances over differences, so that we can work together to end all forms of discrimination.
Society in the UK, particularly London has been ethnically diverse for centuries. In the 1910s, when the suffragette movement was at its height there were people from all over the world. The Suffragettes opened conversations about diversity within feminism and the attitudes to race in the women's suffrage movement. They believed in the sisterhood they had created and would sacrifice anything to fight for the British women's vote. The suffragette movement consisted of mainly white British women and was known for campaigning for a women's right to vote, but they were not campaigning for only a vote for whites. They were known to fight racism, in the early 1880's a suffragette called Catherine imply founded Anti-Caste, which has been described as Britain's first anti-racist journal. Most notably in terms of diversity the story of Annie Kennedy is of interest as she was involved in various same sex relationships within the movement, which demonstrates even more diversity. (C N true man 2015)
Provide and analyse examples of positive and negative practice and the role of legislation:
The equality act became a law in October 2010. It took over previous legislation such as the equal opportunity act (1995) and was created to ensure employers and employees consistently keep their work place a fair environment that complies with the law. The objectives of this act are to encourage the elimination of discrimination, victimisation and sexual harassment and their causes. The new equality act brings together and simplifies over 11 separate legislations into one single act. Together, they forge a new act that provides legal framework to shield the rights of individuals and push forward equality of opportunity for all. The Equality act 2010 protects you from discrimination by:
' Employers
' Businesses and organisations which provide a service
' Health care providers such as hospitals or nursing homes.
' Landlords
' Education providers like colleges or schools
' Public bodies such as the government and local authorities.
Within the Equality act 2010 there are nine protected characteristics. Discrimination that happens due to any of these characteristics is unlawful under the act, everybody has a few protected characteristics such as Sex or age meaning the act protects everyone from discrimination. The nine protected characteristics are:
' Disability
' Age
' Gender reassignment
' Marriage or civil partnership(in employment)
' Pregnancy and maternity
' Race
' Religion or belief
' Sexual orientation
' Sex
An example of what will happen if you're defined under one of these new protected characteristics is If you're discriminated against due to being disabled the equality act can help. There will be a different test of what 'disability' means. When this new law comes in, it will be simple for someone to demonstrate that they have difficulty carrying out their day to day routine and therefore that they fit the definition of 'disabled person' and are protected by this act. An example of this would be someone who suffers with depression, it's hard for them to make decisions or even get up in the morning. Their forgetful and cannot plan ahead. Combined these factors make it difficult to live out their day to day activities. So, for the purpose of the equality act this person would now be defined as 'disabled' who wouldn't have been possible before the equality act.
This Act also protects you from discrimination by association, meaning if people in your life such as family members or friends have a protected characteristic and you are treated unfairly due to it you are protected. An example of this would be if you're discriminated against because your child is gay. This act also protects you if you're treated unfairly as you've complained about discrimination or stood up for your rights either for someone else or yourself.
Positive Practice: under the equality act, it is unlawful to treat anybody less favourable due to any of the protected characteristics such as disability. Under this legislation the employer should make reasonable adjustments if there is a disabled job applicant who is at a disadvantage to others. An employer who wishes to provide positive practice might consider some of the following options in relation to employing somebody who is disabled:
' job redesign
' adjustments in the workplace
' flexible working patterns
' breaks
' Working from home.
Negative practice: Discrimination has many sources, people can be discriminated against by people who abuse or insult them. But entire organisations-including the health services can also discriminate due to negative practice. It can be unintentional such as having signs that are not appropriate for those with a sight impairment or printing of patient information leaflets in only one language, or neglecting to recognise the needs of individuals with for instance dementia or a learning difficulty by only offering the a brief appointment when they may need more time. Direct negative practice would be an employer refusing to make appropriate adjustments for a disabled employee to ensure they do not disadvantage said person another example of this type of negative practice is if someone purposely treats someone less favourable due to a protected characteristic. Such as a manager giving an employee a pay raise to a man over a woman solely because he is a man.
Positive action: Positive action is when something is done specifically in order to assist someone who has a protected characteristic. There are various reasons why it may be appropriate to take forward some sort of positive action for instance someone who is suffering a disadvantage linked to that characteristic, or if they have particular requirements, or if the person with the characteristic are under-represented in an activity or type of work. One type of positive action is to encourage or train people to apply for work or take part in an activity where people with the same characteristic are underrepresented. This can be done by means of training courses, open days or even mentoring schemes or other events to show people what a specific job or event is really like. Another form of positive action would be where someone is providing goods or services targets a group who share a protected characteristic as they have specific needs due to that characteristic. The new legislation makes it easier for service providers and employers to take positive action. However, any form of positive action is completely voluntary ad people don't even have to consider doing it if they don't want to.
Clearly there is much discrimination, stereotyping, oppression and prejudice still very alive today complicated by the view that we live in a non-judgemental, free society making it more difficult to abolish this underlying issue. It can be said that society has come far in regards to legislation to protect those vulnerable to unfair treatment such as the equality act (2010) formed by those who have experienced Stereotypes, discrimination, oppression and prejudice themselves, the act has been outlined and found to be a big step in the right direction towards equality with the implementation of policies such as the protected characteristics. Positive and negative practices were also looked at and it can be seen just from this report that there are many types of both with there being plenty of things people can do to demonstrate both. Finally it can be seen from this review that it took a lot of work from various groups such as the suffragettes to push forward the diversity that we enjoy today and how groups such as the suffragettes helped to forge the definition of diversity. It can be said that although the human race has come far in terms of equality, there is still a far way to go and as humans it isn't known if true equality will ever be possible as we have not even begun to comprehend the concept needed for equality to be globally successful.