Treatment FAQ

how does society's cultural make - up influence the treatment of people with disabilities'

by Abbigail Jacobs III Published 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago

How does society view those with disabilities?

Society often views the disabled (handicapped) as “less than human.” There is the perception they do not feel pain the way typical individuals. They do not have the same needs, desires, or feelings as typical individuals and therefore are not entitled to the same rights and considerations as typical individuals.

What are some cultural barriers for people with disabilities in our society?

Religion and societal structures have been identified as the major sources of cultural barriers. On the other hand, stigmatization, stereotyping and prejudice have been highlighted as the barriers to social inclusion of people with disabilities in society.Jun 26, 2019

How can a person's cultural background impact their perception of disability?

Some cultures freely combine traditional beliefs with biological models such as disease degeneration and dysfunction. Mexican, Haitian, and Latin American cultures may see disability as the result of a mother (or family) being cursed.Aug 1, 2015

What is an example of a cultural perspective on disability?

Cultural Views on Disability Included in their communities and in leadership roles. Protected from the outside world by their families. Exploited or neglected and begging on the streets. Valued or limited in community roles or employment areas.

How can society reduce the problems of people with disabilities?

Way ForwardPeople with disabilities need to be better integrated into society by overcoming stigma.There should be awareness campaigns to educate and aware people about different kinds of disability.Success stories of people with disabilities can be showcased to inculcate positive attitude among people.Jan 9, 2020

How does culture influence access to healthcare?

The influence of culture on health is vast. It affects perceptions of health, illness and death, beliefs about causes of disease, approaches to health promotion, how illness and pain are experienced and expressed, where patients seek help, and the types of treatment patients prefer.

Why is the social model of disability important?

The social model helps us recognise barriers that make life harder for disabled people. Removing these barriers creates equality and offers disabled people more independence, choice and control.

How does disability and culture interact?

Studies of disability culture indicate that people who have impairments often define themselves not by their impairments but in relation to disablement in cultural contexts. Different cultural beliefs and practices, however, make biological impairment difficult to define or to separate from disablement.

What is cultural familial intellectual disability?

By. cognitive retardation, typically slight, which takes place in lieu of any recognized natural cause and is thereby credited to genetic or early environmental facets. Commonly referred to as familial retardation and sociocultural mental retardation.

What are cultural factors?

Cultural factors comprise of set of values and ideologies of a particular community or group of individuals. It is the culture of an individual which decides the way he/she behaves. In simpler words, culture is nothing but values of an individual.

What are cultural beliefs?

Cultural beliefs are beliefs that are learned and shared across groups of people. Because the amount of information in a culture is too large for any one individual to master, individuals know different subsets of the cultural knowledge and thus can vary in their cultural competence.

What are cultural needs?

Cultural needs are things that are necessary or helpful for an individual to thrive due to their cultural background. This is relevant to employment, marketing and services including public services such as policing and healthcare.Oct 6, 2021

How does growing up with a disability affect self worth?

For example, growing up with a disability and living in a society that treats its disabled people as defective can negatively impact that person's self-worth. This can also contribute to how others, particularly counselors, view people with disabilities.

What is the intersectionality of culture and identity?

The intersectionality of culture and identity define who we are as individuals within a specific group. Culture refers to the shared experiences, beliefs, values and customs of a specific group. Disability affords individuals the ability to become part of new cultures, whether they are born with a disability or become disabled during the lifespan.

Why is systematic labelling important?

Counselor understanding of the importance of systematic labelling is critical to knowing how having a disability can impact personal worth. Labels contribute to stereotyping (attributing negative perceptions to a specific group), which then contributes to stigma.

What is stigmatization?

Stigma is a negative social consequence or mark of disgrace of identifying personally with a non-dominant trait or group. Being stigmatized can result from being labelled in a socially perceived 'undesirable' category, and being disabled is viewed as one of those categories. In U.S. culture, there exists an 'invisible' hierarchical system of privilege. Generally stated, being white, male, able-bodied and heterosexual are valued the most. Any person who identifies as anything other than the dominant group is valued less, and the resulting consequences include being oppressed and stigmatized as well as experiencing varying degrees of discrimination.

What is discrimination in counseling?

Discrimination happens when we hold the belief that certain groups are inferior to others and we treat them differently based on that perception. Discrimination can be subtle, and easy to ignore as a behavior. For example, a counselor may believe that disabled people are weak, lazy, or unintelligent.

What is attitude labelling?

Attitudes and Labelling. Attitudes are habitual ways of thinking or acting based on one's personal beliefs and ideas. We all learn beliefs and attitudes regarding disabilities and may hold negative perceptions about impairments that create functional limitations.

How do people learn about themselves?

People learn how to feel about themselves based on how the dominant culture treats and labels certain groups of people. All individuals belong to multi-layered groups that share experiences, values and beliefs ( culture ). Disability culture is specific to the shared experiences of specific groups within the disability realm (oppression, ...

What is the definition of culture in disability?

Webster (2009) defines culture as customary beliefs, social behaviors, and traits of a group that are transmitted from generation to generation. Members of the same culture share a similar way of life and experience everyday life in similar ways. This leads to shared language, customs, and values.

What is culture within a culture?

Culture Within a Culture. From the earliest days of life in the New World, persons with disabilities were viewed as a burden on society. In fact, persons with obvious physical problems were sent back to England in the early days of the colonies (Shapiro, 1994).

What is the ADA law?

Importantly, this law also protects the families and caregivers of persons with disabilities and persons with mental and/or psychiatric conditions. The ADA prohibits discrimination in employment and guarantees access to government services and programs (Title I, ADA, 1990).

How has plastic made things easier to handle?

Plastic has made common items used at work and at home lighter and easier to handle. Lifts have allowed persons in wheelchairs access to public transportation. These are just a few of the inventions that have improved quality of life for persons with disabilities.

How many people with disabilities live below poverty?

This is compared to persons without disabilities, 88% of whom were employed. As a result, 26% of persons with disabilities live at or below the poverty level. This has a negative impact on the level of independence they are able to achieve. Many are forced to live with relatives, rather than on their own.

How many people use wheelchairs?

Surprisingly, only 2.7 million people over the age of 15 use wheelchairs. The vast majority of persons with disabilities have physical limitations. Persons with problems in cognitive functioning or mental illness make up the second largest group with 14.3 million persons affected by these disabilities.

When did the fight for disability start?

The fight for the rights of persons with disabilities began in the era of the civil rights movement for African-American people in the United States. In the fall of 1962, Ed Roberts, a quadriplegic, began his college education at the University of California at Berkeley (Shapiro, 1994). Mr.

How do people with disabilities live?

People with disabilities live in every country. But, the degree to which they participate in society (school, work, community life) is significantly influenced by the cultural roles and expectations placed upon them. People with disabilities may be: 1 Included in their communities and in leadership roles 2 Protected from the outside world by their families 3 Exploited or neglected and begging on the streets 4 Valued or limited in community roles or employment areas 5 Isolated in institutions with restricted rights as citizens 6 Perceived as religiously superior or closer to God 7 Educated in segregated or mainstream settings 8 Excluded from full involvement due to a lack of resources, including adaptive equipment or services, accessible transportation, and other barriers

Why is there shame attached to being disabled?

In some cultures, there is shame attached to being disabled that comes from a belief that one’s disability is caused by that person or his/her immediate family having done something wrong, by black magic or by some ancestral sin.

What is the lack of attention to and sensitivity toward the transition to adulthood in persons with disabilities?

A lack of attention to, and sensitivity toward the transition to adulthood in persons with disabilities might be another provider practice that reflects cultural incompetence and, in turn, might contribute to health disparities experienced by persons with disabilities.

What are the cultural domains of medical education?

Race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and age are commonly recognized in medical education as cultural domains in which various groups may have different care needs, different values, and different beliefs with regard to health and health care.

What is cultural competence?

Cultural competence extends beyond understanding those values, beliefs, and needs that are associated with patients' age or gender or with their racial, ethnic, or religious backgrounds. People hold many simultaneous cultural associations, and each have implications for the care process. The “culture of disability” is a pan-ethnic culture for which a set of physician competencies are required to ensure appropriate, culturally sensitive care to persons with congenital or acquired disabilities. Such competencies include communicating with patients who have deficits in verbal communication and avoidance of infantilizing speech; understanding the values and needs of persons with disabilities; the ability to encourage self-advocacy skills of patients and families; acknowledging the core values of disability culture including the emphasis on interdependence rather than independence; and feeling comfortable with patients with complex disabilities. Medical schools have developed programs to increase students' exposure to persons with disabilities and it is suggested that such programs are most effective when they are the result of collaboration with community-based facilities or organizations that serve persons with disabilities in the natural environment. Combining lecture-based instruction and structured experiences with the opportunity for students to interact with patients in their natural environments may facilitate development of competencies with respect to patients with disabilities. The culture of disability should be included as one of the many cultures addressed in cultural competence initiatives in medical school and residency curricula.

Why are medical schools so effective?

Medical schools have developed programs to increase students' exposure to persons with disabilities and it is suggested that such programs are most effective when they are the result of collaboration with community-based facilities or organizations that serve persons with disabilities in the natural environment.

What is implicit disability?

Implicit is the notion that these artifacts and shared experiences build over time, strengthening and perpetuating the group identity of persons with disabilities. The concordance between the concept of disability and the definition of culture offered by Bates and Plog is substantial.

What are some examples of medical conditions that require a multidimensional approach?

For example, a patient with a primary disabling condition may have other clinical conditions as well. These other clinical conditions may be related to the primary disability or independent of the disorder.

What is folk illness?

Flores suggests that physicians must be able to recognize folk illnesses, which are defined as ailments that have a unique sociocultural component and are not clearly defined in a traditional biomedical framework. Once a folk illness is recognized, the physician needs to determine its impact on care, suggest alternatives to folk remedies that might be harmful, and thoroughly explain to the patient and/or family the biomedical condition and treatment rationale.

How did disability culture develop?

Although disability culture began in different ways in different countries and regions of the world, the primary impetus for its development, particularly in the modern era, has been attributed to the institutionalization and segregation of the disabled from mainstream society. In the United Kingdom and other parts of western Europe, for example, organized groups of disabled people raised the consciousness of their members and brought them together to form a social movement for change during the latter part of the 20th century. The social movement emphasized inequalities in society and focused on economic and institutional discrimination. In the United States, organizations of disabled people built on the momentum of the American civil rights movement, focusing on litigation and legislation connected to civil rights. In that country the disability rights movement began to take form in the 1960s, developing largely as a political movement that emphasized identity as citizens and individual rights.

What is disability culture?

Disability culture, the sum total of behaviours, beliefs, ways of living, and material artifacts that are unique to persons affected by disability. Particular definitions of culture take many different forms and are context -bound (dependent on the cultural and geographic context in which they are formed), but three common ways ...

What is functional impairment?

Functional impairment gives rise to disability, which, because of physical and social barriers in the environment, limits affected individuals’ opportunities to participate in the life of a community to the same degree as nondisabled individuals.

Why is disability culture associated with identity politics?

Disability culture has been associated with identity politics (political views and activities based on shared injustices) because of its emphasis on collective identity to work for social change. That collective identity is based on an understanding of shared oppression and has the principal goals of forging positive images and changing society to meet the requirements of social justice and equity. Notions of disability culture that emphasize a collective identity have been criticized by disability activists and disability scholars as the paradox of disability culture. The paradox lies in the argument that claiming unity against oppression is actually a source of oppression in itself. In other words, claiming unity leads to simple dichotomies of “us” (disabled) and “them” (nondisabled), ignoring and devaluing differences among disabled people.

How much of the world's population is impaired?

It has been estimated that in some regions of the world as much as 25 percent of the population is impaired. In some countries disability is a condition of everyday life, such that disability and impairment are not merely the experience of a minority group but rather the normal condition of humanity.

What media preserves the history of disability?

At the same time, popular media such as newspapers and magazines preserve and record the history of disability and disseminate cultural knowledge of disability. In the 21st century, expressions of disability culture became increasingly focused on the celebration of difference.

What is the second model of disability?

In the social-model way of thinking, the environment disables the individual and needs fixing. The second model of disability is known as the medical model. That model assumes that the individual needs fixing in order to adapt to the environment—either by therapy, medicine, surgery, or special treatment.

What is disability culture?

Disability culture is about visibility and self value. As with many groups in society, recognition by others only comes with self awareness within the group of the groups' differences and strengths. Disability culture offers ways for people with different disabilities to pursue their own, as well as shared goals.

What is the purpose of cultural movement?

However, one of the powerful objectives of identifying a cultural movement is to be able to bring about positive changes of attitude, systems and laws, through shared thought and action. Disability culture offers people with a disability another framework of possibility or choice.

What does Sally Chance mean by "the restless"?

Sally Chance states that the idea of belonging to a culture of disability is offered to the members of Restless, within the specific context of the company, as a possible means of forging individual identity. Often this is a means of counterbalancing the views of some members of society.

What is the celebration of disability in South Africa?

Celebration of Disability (South Africa) A South African Minister identified "disability culture" as a way to celebrate disability: The struggle for inclusion is going to be a long one as the evolution of "disability culture" is still in an infant stage in our country.

What is disability in the United States?

The definition of disability that may have become the most known is that of someone who has a major life impairment preventing them from participating easily in a major activity such as walking, seeing, hearing, thinking. But that definition is one of only dozens in the United States alone.

Who is the father of a disabled child?

In fiction, Horwood, a writer and a father of a disabled child, successfully created a legend of a hero with cerebral palsy, who was forced to live in an oppressive institution for decades but never gave up hope (Hor wood, 1987). Artistic activity is also an essential area for the development of disability culture.

Is the deaf community part of the disability movement?

On the other hand, Deaf people may become an integral part of the disability culture movement, which presents a precious opportunity to open up a wholly new path of liberation, in solidarity with other disability groups. It is up to the Deaf community. Difference, Equality and Disabled People.

What was the disability in the 1800s?

In the 1800s, disability is portrayed as weak and pathetic in works like A Christmas Carol (Tiny Tim), and there is also an attempt to institutionalise disabled children for life. The 1900s sees eugenics and institutionalisation to be the norm.

Who were the first to talk about eugenics?

Babylonians would look at babies born with disabilities as good predictors of the future; Romans would drown disabled babies; Greeks were the first ones to talk about eugenics, they also thought that those born deaf couldn’t think rationally.

What happened in the 1400s?

In the 1400s, the Church allows the murder of those with disabilities, and a few years later witch hunts begin, causing the death of many women who were disabled or struggling with mental health problems.

Do people with disabilities have to be accepted?

People with disabilities have always been a part of society, but they were not always accepted and looked after like we do now. Social constructs and ways of thinking have framed the views of society and therefore how people with disabilities were treated.

Was disability stigmatised in the 1900s?

Looking back to what has been the treatment of people with disabilities through the ages, even in the early 1900s, it is clear to see that difference has always been stigmatised in societies far and wide. Not only stigmatised, sometimes even demonised!

What are the beliefs about disability in Namibia?

These findings reflect myths that have both positive and negative undertones, and have significant implications for developing and implementing disability policies and programmes within Namibia.

What is the National Disability Policy in Namibia?

These community views occur despite the fact that there have been regular sensitization campaigns regarding an inclusive and welcoming society in Namibia since independence, including some with a specific emphasis on disability. While the current sensitization programmers are commendable as is the National Disability Policy, these programmes have not been designed to specifically address how disability is currently understood within communities, and how communities’ understanding of disability impact on persons with disabilities and their families. Any community campaign in Namibia regarding community inclusion or inclusive education must start with understanding the nuanced view of disability within Namibian families, without either legitimizing negative or stigmatizing beliefs, or demonizing people who have such beliefs.

What is qualitative design?

qualitative design from a phenomenological approach was used for data collection in order to collect rich data in the natural settings of individuals without providing a preimposed framework. This is an appropriate design for any exploratory study aiming to uncover myths and beliefs from the perspective of the people involved. Two groups of student researchers, under the supervision of a university lecturer and in line with Namibian ethical research standards, conducted qualitative narrative interviews with key informants regarding their beliefs about disabilities, including myths and beliefs about the origins of disability and about appropriate community responses to people with disabilities.

Historical Perspective

  • During the past 40 to 50 years there have been numerous changes in our society with respect to the management and treatment of people with disabilities. In addition, there have been many advancements in medical care. As a result, most of these individuals reside in the community ra…
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How Did These Changes occur?

  • Prior to the twentieth century, social attitudes reflected the view that persons with disabilities were unhealthy, defective and deviant. For centuries, society as a whole treated these people as objects of fear and pity. The prevailing attitude was that such individuals were incapable of participating in or contributing to society and that they must rely on welfare or charitable organiz…
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Changed Terminology

  • The terminology used to describe people with disabilities has been changing along with changes in society’s attitudes. Very old terms include; idiot, imbecile and moron. These terms were replaced with “mentally retarded” and “disabled”. In recent years, it has become important to emphasize the individual, not the person’s disability; e.g., “individuals with mental retardation” rat…
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Current Status

  • The numbers are dramatic, approximately 52 million Americans have some type of disabling condition such as cerebral palsy, mental retardation, depression, spinal cord injury, visual impairment, arthritis, and muscular dystrophy; to name a few. As health care has improved and many of the once acute and fatal conditions become chronic and manageable problems, these …
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