Talitha Kinslow
Table of Contents
• Introduction – Page 1
• Labelling and Stereotypes – Page 2
• Discrimination – Page 1
• Marginalisation – Page 3
• Inequalities and Health Inequalities - Page 3
• Demographic Data – Page 4
• What Essex are Doing – Page 6
• Conclusion – Page 7
• Works Cited - Page 7
Introduction
This report will be discussing the social inequalities between disabled and non-disabled
individuals throughout society.
Social inequality is prevalent throughout society in many different ways. Social inequality is
"the extent to which there are differences between groups in society." (BBC Bitesize, 2021).
Social inequality can be related to differences in incomes, gender, ethnicity, disabilities and
health issues, and age. Inequalities also lie within health care; health inequalities are
differences between people or groups of people that may be considered unfair (HM
Government 2017).
Disability mistreatment is widespread in society and commonly throughout different
establishments. Under the Equality Act 2010, a disability is defined as "a physical or a
mental condition which has a substantial and long-term impact on your ability to do normal
day to day activities." (Government Digital Service, 2011)
Different forms of disabilities include physical disabilities, vision and hearing impairment,
mental health issues, and more.
The main types of mistreatment that individuals living with a disability include; stereotyping,
labelling, discrimination and attitudes, and marginalisation.
Labelling and Stereotyping
Labelling is "applying the stereotypical view of a particular group and ignoring individual
differences." (Billingham et al. 2016), and stereotyping is when someone groups multiple
characteristics associated with a particular group to every member of that group; this
involves discounting individual characteristics that someone may have (L. Rosenthal,
science direct, 2016).
Labelling and stereotyping are widely seen in society, especially for people who have a
disability and or mental health problems. This can present itself in many ways; for example,
people may view or associate people with mental ill-health as being violent or dangerous
when, in fact, this is the complete opposite. According to The Mental Health Foundation,
people living with mental health conditions are more at risk of being attacked or harming
themselves than harming other people. This is backed up by an article in The Lancet, which
states, "People with mental illness are much more often the victims of violence rather than
the perpetrators." It then says that some people with certain disorders can be violent, but
they rarely are (Thornicroft, 2020).
The stigma, stereotypes and labelling that occurs within mental health and disabilities can be
changed and extinguished through education; campaigns can spread awareness that people
living with mental health conditions are not likely to be violent and are usually the victims of
violence. This needs to change as it is incredibly damaging to them and can further decline
their mental health.
, Discrimination
Discrimination is the intended or accomplished differential treatment of persons or social
groups for reasons of certain generalised traits (Salentin, Britannica, 2021). There are
multiple types of discrimination which includes direct and indirect discrimination, victimisation
and harassment.
The Equality Act 2010 states that you must not be discriminated against because you have a
disability, someone thinks you have a disability or because you are connected to someone
with a disability (this falls under discrimination by association). (Equality Human Rights
Commission 2020)
Disability discrimination can occur in many forms, through direct discrimination it can present
itself in ways such as an employer not employing someone because they expect that person
to take lots of time off, this can be for medical appointments, therapy, because they are in a
lot of pain and cannot move and more. This is an unfortunately common form of
discrimination that happens to people every single day.
A form of indirect discrimination against people with disabilities can present itself if an
organisation has a policy in place that negatively impacts disabled people. This can include
requiring a driving licence to apply for a particular job, putting disabled people at a significant
disadvantage if they are physically disabled and cannot drive. If an organisation cannot
prove that there is a good reason for this policy, it falls under discrimination and unlawful.
A very significant and damaging form of discrimination is a lack of reasonable adjustments
that occur every day throughout organisations. A very well known form of this is when people
are boarding public transport; if someone uses a wheelchair, they will need to either call
ahead of their travel or request before they board for a ramp to get onto the train. This can
significantly impact someone's life if they use public transport often because more often than
not, there is only one ramp available on public transport and can cause someone to miss
their transport and completely ruin their day. This goes along with a lack of accessible toilets,
a lack of disabled parking, and many more. (Equality and Human Rights Commission, 2020)
As a result, this can make disabled individuals feel less significant than the rest of society,
leading to marginalisation.
Another form of discrimination is positive discrimination; an example of positive
discrimination is when an employer may give a disabled person a job, not because they are
the best candidate but because they need to show that they are not discriminating against
the disabled community. This, however, is a form of discrimination; they are still treating that
person differently.
These forms of discrimination can be prevented in many ways, the Equality Act 2010 has
prevented it in some ways, such as employers fearing being reported and through the
education it provides, but with the help of policies and legislation in place, it can help a lot
more. A considerable change that should have already been put in place is having all forms
of public transports have a built-in ramp, this is starting to happen on newly made trains, but
it needs to be in place for all public transport. It would not impact physically abled people
lives at all, and it would make disabled individuals lives a lot easier and be the right step
towards the change.
A great step towards change could be placing posters throughout establishments stating
what discrimination is and the signs of discrimination in an establishment; this can help
educate people and possibly help someone realise they are being discriminated against.
Along with this, having a confidential report box in establishments can bring more people
forward to report discrimination that they are being faced with or witnessed.
In relation to the Post Modernism sociological perspective, a way of tackling restriction and
lack of access would be to input elevators in commonly used places such as train stations,
small shops with stairs, workplaces, and more. The postmodernism perspective is the "view
