How have attitudes in modern society changed in order to include people with Sen and disability - Essay Example

? How have attitudes in modern society changed in order to include people with Sen and disability Each and every human being deserves to live a fair life regardless of their condition. People with special education need (Sen) or any other disability should not be discriminated by other people. Disabled children with these kinds of disabilities feel frustrated by lack of support from their colleagues or other sources. This might affect the qualities of their life in the future. Thousands of families have at least one child suffering from Sen. These parents complain that the system is bewildering and adversarial and that it does not reflect the children’s needs. The system to support children with this disability seems to work against the parents wish. Parents do not have adequate information on how to treat their kids, type of schools to take them, plus what to expect in their children (Burton 1996, p.33). For example, the city of Southampton has developed a way of helping children with Sen i.e. through early identification and intervention, improving the experience of the children and their families through clear and definite accessible information about services offered and also through building capacity through partnerships with other organizations. The local authority launched the Jigsaw service which brings about all health specialists and social care services for young people with learning disabilities under a single management. Services offered include; broadening the eligibility form to accommodate the child’s disability in the context of their family problem; strong focus on early child intervention and integrated working criteria between nurses and the social workers so that the kids will learn through a single well developed and integrated process (Burton 1996, p.27). There has been a strong focus on early identification, intervention and building capacities through strong established partnerships, with academic institutions to raise the levels and achievements of people with Sen. There are programs to support Sen Kids in schools. A lot of given work been conducted to improve the accessibility and number of information regarding the services and activities for the families of children with disabilities (Burton 1996, p.55). Disabled children like all other children experience bullying. These include; verbal abuse that can lead to their perceived impairment; physical violence particularly against children with physical disabilities; threats and intimidation; exclusion and isolation from their peer groups; manipulation and false friendships. Repeated bullying, which had not, been responded to have led the disabled kids to developing a negative self identity concerning their disability. Some kids have developed individualized responses in regards to bullying. They feel that they should alienate themselves entirely from certain situations adapting their own behaviors’ (Burton 1996, p.66). Most of these kids fear reporting bullying when it happens due to the fear of retaliation, the teachers not believing them particularly amongst children suffering from Autistic Spectrum Disorder. Also, when these kids reported bullying to their teachers, they report often that the teachers never listen to them (Sally & Marian 1999, p.100). In order to prevent bullying, disabled kids believe that awareness should be created among other kids in order to understand and value disability. This should include disability awareness, equality trainings and vocations, lessons for teachers, students and even the staff to display positive picture of disability throughout the school. The disabled kids feel that these would develop their confidence and enable them build a positive self esteem and awareness of their rights of not to be bullied. Disabled children need to be understood. The staff and teachers should develop a positive and supportive relationship with the disabled kids (Burton 1996, p.82). The major discrimination that people with disabilities face is social discrimination. This often becomes seen worldwide as the most fundamental problem to people with disability. People see individuals with disabilities as owners of the problem rather than its limitations caused by the environment. The society practice prejudicial acts such as, preferential treatment against people with disabilities. Stereotypes may limit the opportunities of people in this category. Discriminatory stereotype pertaining to employment is a negative attitude that focuses on the person’s disability rather than the ability the individual posses. The department of Labor (DOL) is discussing the need of people to have a concerted effort, in order to eliminate these attitudinal barriers that blocks people with a disability from joining the world of work. Advocates representing people with disabilities in the US believe that attitudinal discrimination is cause of unemployment in the country (Burton 1996, p.32). Attitude is another thing that Swain and French believe to be linked to motivating the behavior of an individual. They believe attitude often becomes made up of three elements namely; affect, behavior responses and cognition. The authors suggest that attitudes become learned. They define attitude as the cognitive influences that determine the direction of favorability and behavior towards people. The way people think can affect the way they react to people with disabilities. Negative social attitudes towards people with disabilities lead to circumstances that reinforce socio environmental barriers to activities such as work, for people with defects. These negative attitudes that people have, get based on myths, stereotypes and fear. These negative perceptions can cause unemployment or create, poor working conditions. The government is sensitizing people on the idea of respecting others and treating people equally (John 2003, p.44). People with disabilities should also get provided with the same opportunities as others. The government is attempting to maximize the fully the economic productivity of people who can work but suffer from various disabilities. The employment opportunities of people with disabilities should not be extremely low compared to others. ADA requires organizations with fifteen and above employees, to give qualified people with disabilities equal chances in the work place. Despite this legislation, employment rates of people with disabilities reduced drastically compared to that of men and women without disabilities. Attitudes in the work place are a significant reason for these discrepancies. Changing the attitudes of people will see an increased employment rate to people with disabilities (John 2003, p.64). Employer attitude is a significant factor that keeps a large pool of potential works (disable) out of the job industry. Majority of people with disabilities are willing, able and ready to work and are a vital source of talent in the industry. An employer led coalition: Business Leadership Network with networks across the country promotes the employment of the disabled people. The network sees people with disabilities as a talented and motivated source of untapped labor. This labor pool is perfect for business growth (John 2003, p.90). There are a lot of suggestions for improving hiring practices regarding people with disabilities. An example includes, introducing a regular recruiting process that picks employees from the disabled community; establishing long- term relationships with the given organizations in the given community that participate in the employment of people with disabilities; teaching and providing information to all employees about disabilities. Having people with disabilities in the work force, increases the diversity and more creative solutions to problems can be found. A policy of non discrimination can play a key role in developing positive attitudes towards the disabled people. DOL advocates for the education of all individuals regarding the advantages of hiring qualified workers more so those with disabilities (John 2003, p. 72). Training and educating the public is another way of sensitizing the community about certain people with disabilities plus their importance. Some people believe that disabled people are different from other people. If this people can be educated, tension gets reduced in the workforce. According to Sally French, individuals with physical disabilities, receive favorable evaluations in the workforce, during the application process compared to people emotional disability. This is particularly due to the misconceptions people have regarded types of disabilities. Educating these people will bridge this gap (Kaplan 2000, p.83). Education is an excellent way of teaching people and providing current information concerning disability. French (1996, p. 67), feels that comprehensive training regarding employment of people with disabilities should be part of all management programs. She suggests this training should include activities such as, role playing that will enable the managers evaluate their stereotypes and how their misperceptions can influence their work decisions. Attitudinal training will address interviewing and insert confidence in the managers when dealing with people with disabilities. This active, experimental training and learning process will improve the working conditions of the entire organization (Kaplan 2000, p.76). The formation of Tilting at Windmills, an employer-focused, training schedule has been able to address all the rising issues concerning people with disabilities. This is a workshop that became created to increase awareness of what role attitudes play in employment of people with disabilities. Supervisors get advised to change their attitude concerning people with disabilities. This will make them more open to their behavior changing and will promote the employment of disabled people. Most state vocational rehabilitation programs always conduct an employment outreach to enhance the employment of people with disabilities. Supervisors are also able to learn where to find qualified employees who are ready to work. Changing the employer attitude is a vital step in curbing discrimination and improving the employment level of people with disabilities (Kaplan 2000, p.56). Sensitivity training will serve to educate managers, improve their attitudes, and increase the hiring percentage of people with disabilities. By teaching about stereotypes and negative attitudes, employees are likely to avoid possessing negative stereotypes towards people with disability. According to Sally and John, disability and communication go hand in hand? In order for to develop, understanding of a disability communication is necessary. Improving the health and social care of people with disabilities gets equated with better flow of information and improved listening skills. The two have come with two models of understanding disability. They include the social and medical model. The social model brings out disability as a political issue i.e. transforming consciousness. The medical model becomes, however, inclined towards normalcy such as to hear or walk (Kaplan 2000, p.87). In order to help the disabled, from the medical point it is maintaining them and providing them with better services to cure them from these disabilities. The social model claims full participatory to work and equal rights given to the disabled. To them, the unfair treatment of the disabled in the society is not just built in organizations and their policies but through communication, language and client professional discourse (Kaplan 2000, p.103). Priority needs to be given to the inclusion of the disabled people in the given planning plus evaluation of changing the policy, provision and practice in developing better guidelines on ethical treatment for the benefit of the disabled people. This includes getting democratic representation of their views and a wide consultation process (Kaplan 2000, p.99). Bibliography Barton, L. (1996). Disability and Society: Emerging Issues and Insights . London: Longman. Johh Swain, S. F. (2003). Controversial Issues In A Disabling Society (Disability, Human Rights & Society) . New York: Open University Press. Kaplan, D. (2000). The defination of disabilty: Perspective of the disabilty community. Journal of Health care law & policy,3 , 352-364. Mairian Corker, S. F. (1999). Disability Discourse (Disability, Human Rights & Society. New York: Open University Press. Read More