Candidate No. 1163
St Peters Collegiate School
Centre No. 20962
Unit 5- Meeting Individual Care and Support Needs
Pearson- Providing Support for Individuals in the Community
Learning Aim: A/B/C/D
, St Peters Collegiate School Priya Willkhu
20962 1163
AP1- Explain the importance of promoting equality and diversity for individuals with
different needs.
It is important that equality and diversity is promoted in order to prevent discrimination. In
the health and social care industry, the definition of equality is “the right of different groups
of people to have a s imilar social position and receive the same treatment”. However, it is
necessary when taking care of people they consider any of their personal or religious
beliefs as it could affect the person's recovery.
The definition of discrimination is “The unjust or prejudicial treatment of different
categories of people, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex”. It is important that in
a healthcare community the workers are aware of any discrimination as some patients
may be vulnerable and not realise their actions as they are unable to take adequate care of
themselves, so therefore the workers should remove any discrimination that takes place.
When preventing discrimination it can have a favourable impact on the environment such
as it can stop conflict and biased discussions, although it gives everyone a chance to
express their opinions and views without feeling intimidated. A way to prevent
discrimination is the use of advocacy services who can speak on behalf of someone who
finds it difficult to speak due to an illness/disability or lack of confidence. There are four
types of discrimination, these are; unfair discrimination, direct discrimination, indirect
discrimination and positive discrimination.
● Unfair discrimination- this is seen as a person not being treated equally to someone
else. An example of this in healthcare is in a care home refusing a patient that is a
homosexual but allowing a hertrosexual. Also seen as sexual orientation discrimination.
● Direct discrimination- is when someone is offensive or insulting to another person
because of their self-image or characteristics. For example calling a homosexual
person offensive names.
● Indirect discrimination- this is discrimination in a discreet way without it being seen as
discrimination but a joke. For example in a care home a social worker approaches a
patient in a friendly manner but show disrespect when having a conversation.
● Positive discrimination- this is when a decision has been made in order of a person’s
favour because there is something different about them. An example of this could be
when hiring for a person with specific needs e.g black hair and brown eyes etc, to play
the role of a certain actor in a theatre production.
The Equality Act 2010 to prevent age, disability, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy
and maternity, race, religion and belief, sex, gender reassignment and sexual orientation
discrimination, there is also the Human Rights Act 1998 this legislation is basic human
rights this covers respect,equality,fairness and dignity. A recent legislation that was made
in 2014 is The Care Act this involves improving people’s independence and well-being
along with providing all the support needed. Recently, in the news there was a discussion
of sexist workplace dress codes, this is an act of discrimination, women are allowed to
decide if they want to wear makeup or not, as well as being allowed to wear shoes that are
comfortable for them, wearing heels on a daily basis can cause health problems, it is legal
for companies to force women to wear heels. “Women workers have been told to dye their
hair blonde, wear revealing outfits and constantly reapply make-up, a report into workplace
dress codes has found. The report was triggered by a petition started by Nicola Thorp who
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