WEEK 10

1. WEEK 10 Identifying and responding to Special Needs

2. Group Activity Special Needs.

3. Student Reading Cultural Diversity in Healthcare

4. Degrees of Cultural Awareness • My way is the only way - At the first level, people are aware of their way of doing things, and their way is the only way. At this stage, they ignore the impact of cultural differences. (Parochial stage) • I know their way, but my way is better - At the second level, people are aware of other ways of doing things, but still consider their way as the best one. In this stage, cultural differences are perceived as source of problems and people tend to ignore them or reduce their significance. (Ethnocentric stage)

5. My Way and Their Way - At this level people are aware of their own way of doing things and others’ ways of doing things, and they chose the best way according to the situation. At this stage people realize that cultural differences can lead both to problems and benefits and are willing to use cultural diversity to create new solutions and alternatives. (Synergistic stage)

6. Our Way - This fourth and final stage brings people from different cultural background together for the creation of a culture of shared meanings. People dialogue repeatedly with others, create new meanings, new rules to meet the needs of a particular situation. (Participatory Third culture stage)

7. How Do I Manage Cultural Diversity? • Admit that you don’t know. Knowing that we don’t know everything, that a situation does not make sense, that our assumptions may be wrong is part of the process of becoming culturally aware. Assume differences, not similarities. • Suspend judgments. Collect as much information as possible so you can describe the situation accurately before evaluating it. • Empathy. In order to understand another person, we need to try standing in his/her shoes. Through empathy we learn of how other people would like to be treated by us.

8. Systematically check your assumptions. Ask your colleagues for feedback and constantly check your assumptions to make sure that you clearly understand the situation. • Become comfortable with ambiguity. The more complicated and uncertain life is, the more we tend to seek control. Assume that other people are as resourceful as we are and that their way will add to what we know. “If we always do, what we’ve always done, we will always get, what we always got.”

9. Celebrate diversity. As a practitioner of alternative medicine/ health provision embrace the alternative and difference in our society and communities

10. Working with People with a Disability

11. Disability in our Community • In a the comprehensive survey conducted by Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, in 1995; • 2,500,200 people (about 14 % of the population) reported a life-restricting disability and needed access to products and services which would assist them in their daily lives.

12. Disability in our Community cont • 1,827,500 people have difficulty in moving around their homes and in the community • 1,497,500 people (about 8.8 %) have difficulty in accessing employment and training and may also need their workplace to be modified to enable them to work • 990,000 people (5.8 %) need assistance in caring for themselves • 480,000 people (2.8 %) need assistive devices to help them to communicate better with others

13. Fewer than 40 % of these people use state or private disability services. • 94 % (2,357,200) live in households and a majority of these rely on support from family and friends acting as carers.Thus, there are many people in the community who have a disability. They are no different to anyone else in terms of the services they have every right to expect.

14. The words we use; • The words we use to describe people with a disability is important. • impairment - the functional damage • disability - the restriction of normal activities • handicap - the resulting social disadvantage

15. Student Activity Using the previous phrases; how would you ask a client how a disability affected their life or may affect the treatment offered?

16. Student Reading Handout: A Way with Words

17. Key Points • Avoid stereotypical or stigmatising depictions of people with disabilities. • Avoid phrases and words that demean individuals with disabilities. • Promote the "people first" concept, i.e. not "disabled person" but "person with a disability". • Portray people with disabilities in the same multidimensional fashion as others.

18. Expectations of people with a disability • Always speak directly to a person with a disability, even if they are with another person. • If the individual is in a wheelchair, speak to them at eye level by pulling up a chair or crouching down to their eye level. • Listen carefully to what the person with a disability requires. It may be necessary to ask them their preferences. • Genuine listening and trying to meet their needs on an individual basis will show that you are taking account of their requirements. 

19. Group Discussion How are people with a disability usually viewed? How has this changed in the last 10 yrs

20. Interacting with People with a Disability • Good service behaviours such as active listening, a service orientation and a results focus work equally well with people with disabilities as with all other people • Accept people with disabilities as individuals • Be yourself, be natural, and don’t force enthusiasm. Do not patronise or be inappropriately friendly. • If the person with a disability has a communication problem they will usually let you know and indicate a preferred method.

21. Group Discussion Can you think of other best practice ways to interact with People with a Disability?