Understanding The Challenges Faced By Marginalized Groups In Australia

Physical Disabilities in Australia

Question:

Discuss about the Inclusive Practice for Nursing.

This report  focuses on two groups to show an understanding of the difficulties faced by the people from misunderstood and marginalised group in participating equitably in the Australian community

Physical disability can be a limitation on an individual’s functioning, mobility and dexterity thus rendering a person to move in a wheelchair (Bray et al., 2014). Examples of physical disabilities include cerebral palsy, hemiplegia, arthritis and quadriplegia to mention just a few. Statistics show that over 2.5 million Australians have a physical disability of some kind, transgender, vision impaired or Down syndrome. However, of those 2.5 million with disability 85% had a certain restriction or limitation. That is an impairment restricting their mobility, communication or a restriction associated with employment or schooling

There is a huge stigma about being in a wheel chair since not everyone will treat you as an equal. In this point of view, stigma can reflect to the low social value that society assigns to the wheel chair users which can be prolonged into a person’s presentation as an expert in health as well as social welfare services (Ellis , 2016). Explicit in this write up is the stereotyping representation   associated with physically impaired individuals as a social group that is wheel chair users who are dependent on others for their upkeep, charity for their well being and by implication they are socially inept. According to Goodyear et al., (2015) a vast number of social interactions of wheel chair users are without a doubt tainted by the effect of stereotyping imagery. However, communication with new people cannot be fresh or barrier free since they (people) draw on their visual sense first and takes the cue from there. The people make quick judgements since they’re privy to visual information about the person in a wheelchair which they feel at liberty to discuss. The opening to a conversation can pose a question like, how long have you been in a wheelchair or what happened to you? Although some people are interested in knowing the reason behind moving in a wheelchair, it may also pose a serious problem in new friends since the agenda for the conversation is not always genuine (Bauer et al., 2015).

However, when an illness is seen as an infection or perceived as a mark of shame or dishonour, people with such condition especially those in a wheelchair can be rejected by the healthy population. Another fear that can erupt for non-disabled individuals is the uncertainty regarding how to behave as well as communicate with wheelchair users (Harbison, 2015).

Stigma and Stereotyping of Wheelchair Users

Everyone as the responsibility and power to make society inclusive for all people including those with disabilities. To achieve this, some things need to be considered, and they include;

 Create employment opportunities for people with disability; according to research, less than one in every five people on a wheelchair is employed. The research also states that wheelchair workers earn about $9, 500 less a year compared to non-disabled employees. According to Divan et al., (2016) the disability community is also discriminating against at work from being refused to work or denied the final interview. When it comes to this, workers need to see an individual, including disability as an assent and not a potential liability.

 Increasing disability representation in the political setup; this can be achieved by electing or increasing the number of disabled people in the political seats. Through this, they will act as spokespersons or representatives of those disabled and are oppressed in the society. They will also create opportunities for them and provide means of inclusion in the society (Herbison , 2015).

Building on the individual as well as community strengths; taking a strength-based approach implies respecting, supporting as well as building on the strengths of the people, families  as well as  culture. Ideally, supporting strong and positive views of people with disability can be significant in reducing social exclusion of disabled, dealing in conjunction with certain plans to improve health, housing, learning as well as employment prospects (Harris, 2017). However, identifying different plus positive contributions of individuals from diverse backgrounds as well as with different disabilities are also essential aspects of social inclusivity.

Giving priorities to early intervention plus prevention; it is of great paramount to handle abrupt issues of social exclusions that people encounter like disability. However, it is preferably essential to bar such issues from occurring.  Finding the route cause of a problem as well as the connection between various forms of disadvantage will enable interventions to be made to bar the prevalence of issues as well as provide sufficient support to those at risk before prior to the problem becomes entrenched (Masters , 2015). This can help prevent international transmissions of the secluded. However, universal services like school plus healthcare centres provide a myriad of opportunities to find disadvantaged people early in advance.  However, allowing early intervention as well as prevention implies concentrating on young individuals on the identification of potential threats, but not taking effective plan to handle them.

Creating an Inclusive Society

Wage gaps; wage gap analysis has been used by analysts to measure employment discrimination against transgender people. Evidently, studies show that self-identified transgender individuals have lower employment rates, as well as household incomes and higher poverty rates compared to non-transgender people. However, a growing body of research holds that many transgender people who face discrimination alongside different axes of inequality, the resulting impact it too way greater than the total of the parts (Velho et al., 2016). The same body shows that non-discrimination policies assist in closing sexual orientation wage gaps. Therefore, it is vital to note that many transgender individuals earn less compared to no n-transgender individuals due to the gender wage gap.

Poverty in transgender community; while national average shows that transgender people may be more likely to have high household income, such averages can mask that transgender people are disproportionately poor and that poverty is concentrated in particular groups within the transgender community.

Health differences for transgender adults; Experiences of discrimination plus harassment and living in a nation without supportive policies and social climates have been known to contribute to health disparities in transgender people (Wotherspoon, 2016). Research has also shown that transgender people experience disparities on a range of health outcomes as well as health-related risks compared to the non-transgender individuals. Studies also show that rates of anxiety disorders, depression as well as attempted suicides are at high rates in the transgender people than non-transgender.

Health disparities for transgender youth; Patterns of poor health plus risks observed among transgender adults have been documented among transgender youths as well. Studies have linked the disparities in health as well as risk behaviours along transgender youths to discrimination plus unsupportive environments. A 2012 Meta-analysis of 12 studies found that compared to non-transgender youth, transgender youths were more likely to report that there had attempted suicide, plus more than five times as likely to have attempted suicide such that they needed healthcare attention.

Although there are different examples of human rights progression for transgender people, much of the change is isolated insufficient as well as non-systemic. According to Harris (2017), transgender people continue to live in hostile contexts and what is required is change as well as progress at scale. Prevent human rights violations plus social exclusion is the key to sustainable and equitable development.  This applies to the transgender people like other people.  However, to achieve social inclusion, there are a couple of things that need to be done such as reduce inequality within as well as among nations and promote peaceful as well as inclusive societies for sustainable development (Masters, 2015) 

Addressing Wage Gaps and Poverty in Transgender Community

Planning for sustainability; Policies plus programs need to focus on the long-term sustainable improvement. To achieve this, it is vital to ensure that interventions create an individual capacity as well as develop protective measures that will allow them to self-manage via life course events (Ellis, 2016). For the state, it will be paramount to develop benchmarks as well as adopt formal quantifies goals that are ambitious and attainable, measurable as well as time specific. The government should also focus on long-term policies and integrate long-term social inclusion objectives in broader reform efforts including budgetary reforms as well as reforms being pursued via the council of governments.

Employing local approaches; Evidence shows that various types of disadvantages could be focused in certain regions especially in Australia. Divan et al., (2016) holds that focusing effort on creating social inclusion in some areas, neighbourhood and communities can ensure that they are not left behind as well as help us learn how planning, community engagement and economic development  plus service delivery can be integrated to achieve  better outcome

References

Bauer, G. R., Scheim, A. I., Pyne, J., Travers, R., & Hammond, R. (2015). Intervenable factors associated with suicide risk in transgender persons: a respondent driven sampling study in Ontario, Canada. BMC public health, 15(1), 525.

Bray, N., Noyes, J., Edwards, R. T., & Harris, N. (2014). Wheelchair interventions, services and provision for disabled children: a mixed-method systematic review and conceptual framework. BMC health services research, 14(1), 309.

Divan, V., Cortez, C., Smelyanskaya, M., & Keatley, J. (2016). Transgender social inclusion and equality: a pivotal path to development. Journal of the International AIDS Society, 19(3Suppl 2).

Ellis, P. (2016). Evidence-based practice in nursing. Learning Matters.

Goodyear, M., Hill, T. L., Allchin, B., McCormick, F., Hine, R., Cuff, R., & O’hanlon, B. (2015). Standards of practice for the adult mental health workforce: Meeting the needs of families where a parent has a mental illness. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 24(2), 169-180.

Harbison, J. (2015). 1 How ageism undermines older people’s human rights and social inclusion. Ageing, Wellbeing and Climate Change in the Arctic: An Interdisciplinary Analysis, 11.

Harris, P. (2017). Are human rights regressing on almost every front? Confronting some of the current social inclusion challenges. Journal of Social Inclusion, 8(1), 1-3.

Masters, K. (2015). Role development in professional nursing practice. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

Velho, R., Holloway, C., Symonds, A., & Balmer, B. (2016). The effect of transport accessibility on the social inclusion of wheelchair users: A mixed method analysis. Social Inclusion, 4(3).

Wotherspoon, T. (2016). Indigenous children and social inclusion in Canada. Childhood through the looking glass.