Equality, equity, and justice are often confused, but they address fairness in different ways.
Equality gives everyone the same resources or opportunities.
Equity recognizes that people start from different circumstances and may need different levels of support.
Justice focuses on removing the barriers that create those differences in the first place.
Understanding the distinction can help create systems that are not only equal, but truly fair.
Equality means treating everyone the same. But when it comes to disability, “the same” doesn’t always mean fair. People experience the world in different ways, and barriers in our environments can make everyday things harder to access. Equity is about recognising those differences and providing the support, adjustments, and accessibility people need to participate fully. It’s not about giving some people “extra”, it’s about removing barriers so everyone has a fair opportunity.
Money problems always arise while unemployed. You need a job to get work experience and you need work experience to get a job. It doesn’t make sense. Financial plans and budgeting can help you manage your money especially when in debt.
If you are a wheelchair user facing court, The Skipton County Court is wheelchair accessible for wheelchair users. If you fall into debt while jobless and jobseeking, you can apply for benefits like:
Organisations that give debt cancellation and Legal Advice
These organisations can be contacted if you struggle with rent arrears or run the risk of eviction. Many folks think taking out a loan automatically tarnishes your creditworthiness. This isn’t necessarily true. If managed properly, having a loan can actually Improve Your Credit History. By showing that you can responsibly pay off debt, you’re proving to lenders that you’re a safe bet.
https://purposefulplanning.co.uk/product/budget-planner-notebook/
https://www.lloydsbank.com/legal/financial-services-compensation-scheme.html
Do you think disability awareness should be more commonly taught in schools?
Here are five reasons why I believe it should be part of the educational curriculum:
This is the View from Where I Sit!!!
People with Disabilities have been fighting for their right to be heard, both in their own lives, as well as in the greater community. This fight continues to this day and I want to bring their voices and needs to the forefront. Having direct input in one’s life has a clear effect on overall health, well-being, and quality of life. Learn how you can have an impact on the enhancement of individual lives, and the community, as a whole.
What does being an ally and reducing ableism look like?
Being an ally looks like fighting against bullies, creating awareness, being assertive, and getting your point across effectively. It’s one way of ‘amplifying community voices’. State their case like it is your case.
While interviewing a disabled substitute teacher she said, ‘I think it is important to be able to speak up and explain our physical challenges to co-workers and others around us. As a substitute teacher, I just talk to my students and co-workers about my challenges and explain what my life is like as someone who uses crutches. I have found that people are much less likely to have “ableist” opinions if I share my story first.’
That is what reducing ableism looks like.
How do we get there?
Don’t be a sceptic!
Ask questions. Never assume.
Think before you speak.
Don’t judge by appearances.
Be friendly.
Get social workers, carers, nurses, doctors and family involved.
http://linktr.ee/disabilityreframed
Your Self Advocacy Toolkit
Self Advocacy is helping you to speak up for yourself and your rights. Sometimes you just have to make them listen! http://www.advonet.org.uk/.
In part, this is about listening to the voices of those with Disability & Chronic Illness, as they are the experts of their experiences. https://linktr.ee/ashleekelly_iammeblog?fbclid=IwAR0K_licUZMa4YuRqfTXOinH4Dn6UhBspGseLR8X1ftMd_ZUCEEKwkbHBcQ
Self Advocacy in Goal Setting
Effectively address self advocacy in learning or therapy programmes. Self advocacy is a learned skill.
Unintentional Ways to Discourage Advocacy
Bribing is one way to discourage self advocacy in childhood. Masking is another way to discourage self advocacy in adolescents. This includes:
How can we support self advocacy?
Include goals focussed on:
Set up meetings for accountability when promises are made. This includes the education system. This includes integration in the mainstream education system instead of special schools. Special schools still have their place in society but integration is better for the sake of fairness and inclusion.
It’s all about Empowering Yourself. I remember as a College student complaining to the directorate of college about discrimination. The learning support department didn’t seem very efficient to me. IEP meetings can also be a pain. This also encourages disability representation.
Speak with Me Not for Me!
I agree with this video because some people think we’re irrelevant and treat us like we’re invisible. Especially us wheelchair users. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGxVz2jijK8.
Support Self Advocacy for Loved Ones.
Individuals with intellectual disabilities deserve a seat at the table! Just because someone can’t talk doesn’t mean they don’t have anything to say. Freedom of speech or expression shouldn’t be a challenge. Advocacy includes speaking up on other people’s behalf. This could also cover unemployment amongst people with disabilities.
This may include:
The service that supports you
This should include a Recruitment Policy, Culture and Structure of an Organisation, and Consultation Process.
There should also be a Partnership Board co-chaired by someone with a disability. It helps to change policy.
Seniors and Self Advocacy
Encouraging seniors to think about their needs and wants to advocate! This includes refugees.
It raises consciousness and helps to organise seniors and local communities. Goals of advocacy should effect change in attitudes, policies, services and actions.
Their needs may include welfare, they may want to work beyond retirement age or become an entrepreneur. Access to healthcare.
Seniors can be or feel marginalised.
Self Advocacy Skills
Relocating
Emotional Needs- Social Isolation
Tips for Advocacy
Advocacy also includes petitions, protests, lobbying, placards, propaganda, elections, party politics, and pressure groups. Being an advocate makes you an agent of change.
By: Daniella Jade Lowe
What is Equality?
Equality is the state of being equal, especially in status, rights, or opportunities. Equality is a human right. It prevents discrimination. It’s all about inclusion.
The Equality Act 2010
It was created in 2010. It is comprised of 115 sections, which includes the DDA. Inclusion is a key theme of this Act. It covers the workplace and society.
Example of Unconscious bias in the Workplace
Historically, there has been a gender pay gap. However, this has changed, at least since 2017, according to the gender pay gap factsheet. file:///C:/Users/Daniella%20Lowe/Downloads/Gender-Pension-Gap-Factsheet.pdf. This factsheet shows evidence that people (women in particular) are now encouraged to discuss salaries with each other. This will definitely expose and clamp down on discrimination.
For more information on how to beat the Gender Wealth Gap visit- https://www.hl.co.uk/free-guides/thank-you?SQ_DESIGN_NAME=ppc&guide=https://www.hl.co.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/16042734/Gender-Pension-Gap-Factsheet.pdf&pub=TGWG&name=on%20how%20to%20beat%20the%20gender%20wealth%20gap.
What stayed the same?
Also, taxi drivers still overcharge wheelchair users despite the Equality Act 2010 Taxi Annexa. Well, at least that’s what my experience has been.
What does the future hold?
As an overview, this means that there is still work to be done. Law reinforcement and accountability must take place. Hopefully ten years from now we can expose all inequalities and have disparities resolved.
By: Daniella Jade Lowe
What is Disability?
Over the years, classifying and defining disability has become quite tedious. There are various examples to describe disability.
Disability is seen as a ‘social construct.’ It is the idea that society and its’ institutions have the authority to construct disability around social expectations. In medieval times, disability was constructed around a person’s moral behaviour.
Disability is defined as a physical or mental condition that limits a person’s movements, senses, or activities. According to an article I read from meriahnichols.com, ‘dis’ is another way of doing and being. The term disability is an ability to do or be in another way. The term disabled is an ability to do or be something, in another way-https://www.meriahnichols.com/3-reasons-say-disability-instead-special-needs/.
Even though, I’ve only identified three models of disability, according to research there seems to be loads more.
Models of Disability are tools for defining impairment and for providing a basis upon which government and society can devise strategies for meeting the needs of disabled people.
Medical Model of Disability
The medical model describes disability as a consequence of a health condition, disease or caused by a trauma that can disrupt the functioning of a person in a physiological or cognitive way.
This model is a conceptualization of disability as a condition a person has and focuses on the prevention, treatment or curing of the disabling condition.
Functional Model of Disability
This model is similar to the medical model because it conceptualizes disability as an impairment or deficit. Disability is caused by physical, medical or cognitive deficits. The disability itself limits a person’s functioning or the ability to perform functional activities.
Social Model of Disability
The Social Model of Disability includes people’s views, opinions and attitudes. It has been the prominent approach to disability over the last 30+ years.
It was developed by disabled people based on real life experience of discrimination, inclusion and challenging disabling barriers. It is outward looking and focused on the things in society that can be changed or improved, like, the environment, information, communications and people’s attitudes.
It’s a problem solving approach which gives disabled people greater control over vital, even basic decisions, like, from what time to get out of bed on a morning to employability and education choices.
This approach enables you to better understand how reasonable adjustments can be implemented. It also focuses on the things you can influence or change and promotes valued skills.
In conclusion, the purpose behind the models of disability is to highlight the political struggle of disability. It analyzes the ‘problem of disability.’ It also affects policy making, so that we can make positive change in our society for people with disabilities.
Since laws are already created to discriminate against disabled people by default, we need to make sure that the Social Model of Disability is pushed to ensure equality.
For more information on the various models of disability, check out this website: https://www.disabled-world.com/definitions/disability-models.php.
By: Daniella Jade Lowe
Disabled shoppers now have equality in business called the ‘Purple Pound’. The Purple Pound represents the spending power of the disabled household. A disabled household is a household in which at least one of the members has a disability.
The Purple Pound here in England is equivalent to the Black Dollar in America. This is England’s way of ensuring Inclusive Marketing for the disabled population.
Organisations are missing out on the business of disabled consumers due to poor accessibility (both physical and digital) and not being disability confident in their customer services approach. Out of this came ‘The Purple Shopper’.
The Purple shopper was created to make the disabled person’s shopping experience a personal one, where stores are accessible at their convenience. No more queuing at checkouts, no over bright and loud environments.
Businesses can join this initiative and become a Purple Shopper by signing up on their website at http://www.purpleshopper.co.uk.
The Power of the Purple Pound
In the UK, it is thought that some seven million people of working age have a disability, which all adds up to an awful lot of spending power.
It is reckoned to be worth around £249 billion to the economy.
According to statistics, 75% of disabled people have left a store or website due to inaccessibility. To combat this, ‘Purple Tuesday’ came into effect.
Purple Tuesday 2020 is a change programme for organisations of all sizes from all sectors to get involved in, with the common goal of improving the customer experience for disabled people 365 days a year.
Purple Tuesday is about creating a step change improvement in the awareness of the value and needs of disabled customers. It is about making the customer experience accessible.
Participating organisations will make public commitments (a minimum of one new activity or initiative) to ensure sustainable changes are made. For organisations, this will result in the opening up of products and services to the disability market.
I like these initiatives because they tackle isolation while promoting independence. Bermuda is a Purple Tuesday campaigner which makes me happy: https://bernews.com/2019/11/bermuda-joins-global-purple-tuesday-campaign/. For more information about this go to http://www.purpletuesday.org.uk.
By: Daniella Jade Lowe
This is the first segment of my article series ‘Dealing with Disability’. In this article, I will cover Dealing with Disability on the Job, using examples from my personal experiences.
Lived Experience
How does one handle disability in the workplace?
While living in Bermuda, I’ve had sporadic summer jobs and work experience. One paid job was working as a Junior Counselor at an inclusive Summer camp for disabled and non-disabled children.
Another paid summer job included representing Bermuda at the London 2012 Paralympic Games as a reporter. That was fun and unforgettable.
However, after graduating from university in 2017, my real career development and job searching began. My personal experience with job searching has been very tough.
Job hunting can be quite frustrating for the disabled community. We have special skill sets based on level of ability.
The problem is, we need a job to get work experience, and we need work experience to get a job. Going from interview to interview without any success can be quite discouraging.
Nowadays, there are an increasing number of disabled people starting businesses because the job searching and interview process is proving to be difficult.
If you desire to apply for benefits, you must be eligible for it. Before one is eligible, they must have a financial assessment. The unemployed who are actively seeking work can apply for the Jobseekers’ Allowance which is paid into their bank accounts from their local Jobcentre, fortnightly.
There is also the Employment Support Allowance and Universal Credit that one can apply for.
Business owners are entitled to the Income Support Scheme. All of this is provided at the local Jobcentre Plus through the Department of Works and Pensions.
Purple Tuesday is an accessibility initiative for businesses and I am proud to know that Bermuda has joined this community. This initiative promotes inclusive marketing for the disabled shopper.(www.purpletuesday.org.uk)
All employers are expected to make reasonable adjustments, especially for wheelchair users. They’re also expected to conduct risks assessments for health and safety reasons. They should also provide a Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan in case of any emergencies like fires or flooding.
From personal experience, I know that, the Park Place Jobcentre in Leeds, England, definitely prioritises and values the disabled community because they take precautionary measures first.
For example, during a placement that I completed under the Department of Works and Pensions at the Park Place Jobcentre, I had to complete a risk assessment for them to make reasonable adjustments in order for me to start the placement. This included checking the accessibility of escape routes for fire drills.
All employers have some level of a duty of care and can be held liable for accidents.
Employers must look at job design. Job design should play to people’s strengths. Talents and skills are important.
Employers should not give disabled people jobs out of sympathy. Problem solving skills make disabled people good candidates because they always have to overcome barriers which could make one employable.
Inclusive WorkplacesChannel 4 is a Disability Confident employer and they judge job applicants on their abilities against job descriptions. They try their best to recruit from groups in society that are underrepresented.
Job Agencies for the disabled include Remploy, Evenbreak and Scope. Remploy helps get our disabled community into cleaning jobs unless they have alternative career goals.
There’s a consultation agency called Inclusive Employers which also does this. Inclusive Employers is an organisation created to help employers develop an inclusive workplace, avoid the pitfalls of discrimination and get more from their workforce.
Inclusive Employers provides knowledge and networks to help build workplaces where people feel valued, and can add value. Their employer members are committed to creating an inclusive workplace, maximising the potential of all employees. They strive to lead the way in breaking barriers and building success.
Delsion Ltd. is another inclusive employer known as the People & Development Consultancy. They’re the award winning specialists in Learning & Development, Diversity & Inclusion and all things that help people and organisations reach their true potential.
Why should organisations employ disabled people? Why not? Political correctness is the enemy of inclusion. Political correctness is the avoidance of forms of expression or action that are perceived to exclude, marginalize, or insult groups of people who are socially disadvantaged or discriminated against.
The alternative is working from home but it doesn’t necessarily promote inclusion or diversity neither does it clamp down on discrimination.
Another interesting aspect is blind interviews vs physical interviews. Blind interviews are better than physical interviews because candidates are judged on skills not memory or tests.
Using technology and specialist equipment can make workplaces more inclusive for people with disabilities too.
Wheelchair Accessibility and mobility issues are just some of the problems that wheelchair users and the physically challenged face daily. Access alleviates the amount of limitations and restrictions on wheelchair users. Failing to ensure wheelchair accessibility is neglecting to provide reasonable adjustments. It is like functioning in dysfunction.
According to the British Government, the British can apply for dropped kerbs. However, I get really annoyed with drivers who park across dropped kerbs. Dropped kerbs are meant to make it easy for wheelchairs to enter and exit sidewalks. The Government needs to clamp down on these drivers with a fine. The same should happen in Bermuda.
AccessAdvisr helps to monitor wheelchair access. Disabled people going places. AccessAdvisr Board members are Rob Trent and Martyn Sibley.(https://accessadvisr.net)
The AccessAdvisr website allows disabled people to rate and find first-hand accessibility information. Photographs can also be uploaded alongside reviews. This helps to tackle wheelchair accessibility issues. It also encourages accountability and inclusion.
So, in ‘Dealing with Disability on the Job’, we must work towards inclusion, equality and diversity in the workplace by creating inclusion in the workplace, and inclusive workplaces. This could possibly help to improve the economy on a global scale. All jobs should be Disability Confident. I think Bermuda should also adopt this scheme to work on a better future for Bermudians.
Sammy is Awesome.
He may not have the use of his legs, but he can do amazing things.
Sammy is Strong.
Sammy is Fast.
Sammy is Awesome.
What is so Awesome about Sammy?
Well, Sammy is a short, black, 5 year old boy Para-superhero.
He had a ready smile that would light up any room.
When he giggled, it was contagious and you couldn’t help but giggle with him, even if you didn’t know what he was giggling about!
One thing everyone knew about Sammy, you couldn’t be around him for too long before, you too, had a smile on your face. That is just how he was, “Smiling little Sammy”.
Super Sammy loved to have fun and explore, just like any other 5 year old. He loved to laugh and when he was in the company of people he loved, you would hear shrieks of laughter and when curiosity got the better of you, you would find that Sammy was smack bang in the centre of it all.
It was during one such family occasion with his two friends Jamar and Johnny, when everyone was laughing and having fun, that Sammy made an amazing discovery. He realised that he had something that was a bit out of the ordinary. Nobody had told him about his self-discovery, and he kept it a secret.
Sammy loved to be of help to others, but not only that, he found himself dreaming about helping others. He dreamt he had an extra special ability to help others, but never imagined, for one moment, that it was a power that was to be used in reality.
This dream happened regularly and would often occur just before he awoke from his sleep. He would dream that he was helping people who were in need in different types of ways.
In his dream, Sammy was doing all sorts of things that he was unable to do in real life. Sammy was in a wheelchair and had little use of his legs but, in this dream, his legs were not bound. He was not in a wheelchair. There was nothing he couldn’t do. The disability became invisible. He would think about these dreams often, wondering what they meant, as they happened a lot.
In this dream, he had been given super powers. These super powers aren’t genetic or hereditary. They help him to fight off bullies. He could also fly in his dreams, which meant that he has the ability to rise above his problems in reality.
As a disabled superhero, Sammy has grown to dislike bullying. He also doesn’t like the drama that comes with it. As a victim, he has been called all sorts of names like, ‘chocolate-cripple’.
‘See me first, not my wheelchair,’ he cried.
He even has advocates and tactics to help him overcome them. These advocates include Johnny, who has been teased because of his race, and Jamar has been bullied because of his hair. They eventually formed an anti-bullying gang alongside Sammy. He also wears blue to help ‘stand against’ bullying, in support of anti-bullying day.
Johnny and Jamar, helped Sammy come up with five solutions to overcome bullying. Johnny and Jamar were Sammy’s sidekicks.
These tactics include speaking to a caring teacher, trusted adult, parent, calling a helpline or get a personal emergency alarm. Johnny and Jamar teach Sammy that bullies are not born bullies. Bullying is learned behaviour.
So Sammy tried to get to know his bullies and understand why they behave the way they do. Once the bullies realised the error of their ways, Sammy and the bullies worked together to remove the negativity.
Johnny and Jamar also taught Sammy what to do if conflict doesn’t stop.
Conflict 101
Even today, Sammy continues to use the superpowers from his dreams and uses them in reality to help others.
You must be logged in to post a comment.