Social and Health care for the Elderly

Social and Health care for the Elderly
Social and Health care for the Elderly

Social and Health care for the Elderly

Introduction

This essay revolves around the case review associated with elderly abuse in health and social care. Elderly abuse has been on the high increase in the recent past largely because the government has failed to perform its obligations. This paper sets out to put certain issues into perspective so as to enable a friendly environment to the elderly to the elderly persons in the community.

Task 1.1 Description of how information could reach the public

The content based on the case study analysed in this paper ought to reach the public sphere at all costs. To begin with, there is a need for a well-structured response mechanism to facilitate the disclosure of all manner of abuses to the concerned authorities (Seale, 2003). Again, the abused persons should not be afraid of the outcomes of disclosing the wrongs meted against them.

There has been a culture where wrongs meted out by one party are perpetuated because the injured party is ignorant of the right channels that would help them seek help or talk about them to get the required public attention. In our contemporary world, for instance, help relating to electronic shopping, fast foods among other associated aspects is widely available.                              

Nonetheless, no one pays much attention to  the elderly. Moreover, available channels of communication have been outrun with time, an aspect that makes it intricate to communicate.  This backdrop calls for an appropriate review of the situation by the regulators. However, because the government may not be able to do everything for everyone, people ought to take initiatives when it comes to reporting the issues to the relevant authorities. In the UK, for instance, the modifications to the components of Southern Cross have culminated to several mistakes (Hara, 2011).                                                                                                            

The Southern Cross has been relentless to providing new information concerning the projected new operators for a momentous proportion of its residential and nursing homes in England.  Nonetheless, owing to poor management and communication methods, there is a scenario of chaos right now (Johnston & Andy, 2013). The authorities and the law enforcers should work closely with those respective houses. On the other hand, the locals should help the authorities as much as they can to ensure these cases are reported promptly.

Task 1.2 Analysis of different media techniques such as media, leaflets, newspapers used for communicating information associated with elderly care.

Media plays an integral role when it comes to disseminating societal issues. However, information linked to elderly care never reaches the public because of the failure of the media to report about it. Nevertheless, the media house should not be subjected to blames or held responsible for not covering some issues, or for simply reporting issues that the public is interested to hear. Contemporary media for instance, reports more about the popular trends regardless of whether or not they have any relevance to the public (Hickey, 2014).

During prime time, media goes out to report sensational news too. In this respect, the perception of the media attitude should be altered (Davies, 2005). Moreover, information associated with elderly issues should be disseminated without any repression or omission. With the advents of social media, it becomes easier to disclose social ills rather fast. There is a need to put into use social media.

Task 1.3 influence of divergent ways on people’s attitudes, thoughts, and behaviors

Much as  people’s attitudes and behaviors are diverse, it is easier to influence them through different channels. For instance, type of media, presentation layout, content, logical visual basics, and sound influence people’s attitudes and behaviors. And because the people’s attitudes can be altered through visualization and sounds, it becomes effective per se. In due course, enhancing people’s understanding about particular issues through graphical representations will certainly enhance their attitudes and behavior. 

Task 2.1 Influence of media on the attitudes and behaviour of people

The media has many functions and the key one is informing the public about current events. In the healthcare sector, the media informs the public about current issues related to health and social care including an outbreak of illnesses, new medicines, treatment techniques and so forth. The increased demand for data has contributed to advancement in periodicals, newspapers, television programs that address health, and social care. Discussions on current events associated with health and social care is done to inform public.

Such debates involve professionals from different fields of health and social care to influence perception of the public (Willby, 2008). For instance, in the US there was a discussion on a department in Novartis that paid a large sum of money to physicians following a prescription manufactured by the company. This scenario will affect public behaviors and attitude towards the products of these firms.

The media can be used as a watchdog of political structure to influence people’s attitude and behaviour. This way the media creates awareness about political structures, by releasing important political opinions, and conditions associated with health and social care. Therefore, a person is empowered to access information about the government, rights and assists them in formulating decisions in health and social care (Davies, 2005).

Moreover, the media is in charge of educating people on health and social care, as it is able to reach many. For instance, the media can educate the public about risks associated with smoking. This can be carried out through health education programs through social media platforms. Again, the media can be used as a platform for announcing events related to health and social care including risks of certain drugs, and epidemics.

Health and social care institutions can also utilize the media to market services to the larger public. However, they should ensure that the ads are convincing and also attractive to help people make informed decisions (Kelly et al. 2005). The objective of any ad is to attract the attention of people; the more attractive the ad is the higher the ability to influence their attitudes and behaviors.

Task 2.2 Evaluating the Reliability and Validity Of Media Content

It’s vital for people to assess validity as well as the reliability of information prior to considering it factual. The public can ascertain this by evaluating the source of information, the issuance of the data and the manner in which it is released and presented. There are different sources of data, for example, government websites, and advocacy groups, political, and religious institutions. The public must understand the agenda behind any information or basically to create awareness. For instance, information released by the Ministry of Health (MoH) on a given policy issue is reliable in comparison to that provided by lobby groups (Hopson, 2013).

Presently, UK is campaigning for quality health and social care by incorporating the elderly people. This campaign is organized by the government, making it valid and reliable as it values the interests of its population. Conversely, in the United States, there is Obama care, which purposes to modify insurance sector to cater for the healthcare needs of low-income earners. The bill was widely debated; some opposed it while other supported it. However, the media plays an important role of presenting facts and views about the bill (Hopson, 2013). By and large, the public must get information from reliable sources like government sites and publications.

Task 3.1 Contemporary Issue

Compared to previous years, Britain population is healthier than ever. Nonetheless, regardless of the improving health of the population, minorities’ health is increasing at a remarkable low rate in comparison to the general population. In the attempt to address the issues, it has been challenging, particularly, for healthcare providers as well as policy makers. It is evident that causes of inequalities are determined based on social factors (Hara, 2011).

Employment industry and education structures plan access to job opportunities based on the society. Moreover, inequalities are influenced by sexuality, gender, and racial background. Experts have demonstrated that addressing unequal allocation of the variable of health is vital in terms of improving Britain’s health sector. Facts on the mortality rates of immigrants demonstrate the presence of heterogeneity across minorities.

Task 3.2 Monitoring different perspectives

In the UK, ethnic groups comprise of about eight percent or 4.6 million individuals of the entire population. Previous studies have shown that racial communities have a low quality of health in comparison to white Caucasians in conditions like heart diseases, mental health, and stroke among others (Hickey, 2014). In the past years, healthcare inequalities of various ethnicities are common in various healthcare institutions across the UK. The UK government in the past decade provided data on the healthcare gaps across the nation and also certain areas that the gap was increasing (Davies, 2005).

The inequalities start at birth, for example, children born in poor households are in danger of being born premature and developing chronic illness in adulthood. This leads to the cycle of inequalities. As such, the government has initiated a number of measures with the objective of investigating aspects of healthcare inequalities while reducing it among racial communities. Some of the initiatives are; Health Challenge England; Spearhead Primary Care Trusts; Race for Care and so forth. Much as initiatives were introduced to not only improve, but also minimise healthcare gaps. Some have been successful, while others were have failed in addressing inequalities in healthcare.

Task3.3 Significance of results to health and social care

Previous studies on health and social care documented in a number of journals have been the basis upon which health experts use to practice while improving service delivery. These studies are crucial when it comes to creating awareness about challenges in health and social care and presents a general understanding of handling such challenges. For example, many intellectuals have investigated about the significance of training of healthcare experts on ethnicity and cultural diversity of UK’s populace (Davies, 2005). This a suitable step because it helps health care experts to be conscious of the expectations of racial communities, including beliefs, practices, and social conditions.

Furthermore, findings are used publicly as the foundation for informing them about new events in health and social care industry such that the they are aware of the healthcare gaps across health care institutions across the UK. Data from government published on their sites about health care gaps is helpful since it informs the public on current issues on health and social care. In addition, advocacy groups publish information about social and health care on their sites and other channels to create public awareness.

Task 3.4 Factors influencing development of various perspectives

A number of factors are attributed to the development of various perspectives over a given time frame, for instance, ignorance about the health care requirements racial minorities. Regardless, of the enhanced outcomes conducted through ethnic diversity initiatives, three is a lack of provisions for health care experts across the UK apart from in psychiatry.

Therefore, it is important for health education to integrate principle that purpose to achieve the objectives of improving health for the entire population, and identification of special health requirements, belief and communication challenges of racial groups (Anon, 2013). Many health professionals state that changing lifestyles in inner cities have contributed to increasing the number of ethnic minorities. In fact,

Asians people in the UK has increased considerably, hence, it is crucial to find a remedy to these issues. Other elements that influence the growth of various perspectives include economic constraints, availability of adequate information, and changing roles of corporates in managing hospitals. These factors were evident in the past and they have greatly influenced the perception of people. As such, this is a field that planners and policy makers should take into account when making decisions (Anon. 2013).

Task4.1: The extent of local attitudes reflect those found at a national level

Recently, NHS has been under pressure to review measures aimed at reducing health inequalities. On one hand, reports indicate that NHS is not effective in terms of minimizing health inequalities, on the other, the gap is increasing considerably. The reports call upon the government to concentrate on issues at different health institutions while highlighting the main cause of such inequalities.

Social and economic issues are main causes of changes in behaviour and attitude in local and national levels are not adequately emphasized (Morris, Carrell & McDonald, 2016). There is the need for education and training programs on social causes of illnesses while encouraging health specialists to advocate for patients. The media has played its role of reporting health gaps as well as changing racial minorities face in the UK.

While the released data can be deceptive, its necessary for the government to provide information so as to ascertain accurate facts on health inequalities reach the public. Furthermore, the government must use various modes of media to release the information including television, radios, websites among others (Hara, 2011). Again, the government must inform the public on necessary measures to address health inequalities, for instance, integrating progress records on initiatives they have implemented.                                                                                                                

With respect to local level, there is a wide range of beliefs and practices that greatly influence health status. The majority of people in local areas do not want to change the manner in which they take medication, they still believe in their practices. This is an aspect that contributes to spreading of diseases. At the local level, social care facilities are regarded as ineffective and simply a place for caring for elderly individuals.

Subsequently, local attitudes lead to many national issues. If individuals are not able to reduce the spread of endemic, it is reflected at the national level, which leads to remarkable risks to economic, health and physical issues. Therefore, to reduce while ensuring the country’s population is health, everyone should be involved.

Task 4.2 Evaluation of validity of public attitudes and behaviors

Healthcare is a field that entails creating awareness about health related issues (Willby, 2008). This also entails wide areas  associated with social, spiritual, intellectual, physical, and environmental health.  This is the basis upon which people learn to conduct themselves in a way that is appropriate to the promotion of health. In many instances, media post news without taking into account the element of empathy.

The variation in public attitude and behaviour can be as a result of the gap in income. The public’s response to social platforms in the promotion of health is positive. As a matter of fact, social platforms are commonly employed to influence individuals’ behaviour towards health. Social promoters use several marketing strategies including placing information in clinics, community outreach, and promotion. Therefore, based on the case study the information will significantly influence public attitude as well as behaviors. In addition, releasing information on elderly abuse in the public will demonstrate the increased health gaps of this group.

In turn, this will contribute to the formation of groups that aims to create awareness about elderly abuse. The groups can also organize peaceful protests to get the government to enact laws that prohibit abuse of elderly. The groups can also educate elderly people about their rights and how to increase their wellbeing. Releasing such data contributes to contemporary thinking in terms of health and social care, which makes the government be effective in the provision of services to all.

Task 4.3 Effects of contemporary thinking

Contemporary thinking in the delivery of health and social care can result in many consequences. For instance, it helps in educating the public about what  the government is doing and ways of addressing a given social and health event. Nonetheless, the public should be cautious regarding the sources of the information. Moreover, the public must ensure the information is not only valid, but also reliable (Willby, 2008).

This is because the released data impacts on the public’s attitude, behaviour, and thoughts.  Caution should then be considered prior to release. Contemporary thinking involves the utilization of informatics in health and social care, which is imperative in obtaining good outcomes including; management of care setting; team collaboration; and negotiation.

Conclusion

In the end, this paper determined to highlight not just an overview and insight on global health issues, but also the role played by the media to inform the wider society. Accordingly, the public has a pertinent role to play as well. While almost everyone has an obligation towards reporting, individual attitudes and the motive behind reporting is of a great importance .

The national health issues tend to play out in the global sphere. Hence globally major issues tend to happen to owe to the attitudes of local peoples. Again the relevant authorities should take a lead to create public awareness, in healthcare related issues and determine the veracity of publications. While it is vital to champion the notion that the young should always be educated through media, they should always take limited interest in media publications. It is imperative for the public to assess the consistency and legitimacy of media content before they can think of consuming it. 

This starts with evaluating not just the information source, but also who is dispensing the information and how the content is disseminated. Some of these sources may include the political class, religious agenda, government sources and lobby groups among others. The public ought to analyse whether or not the information presented is aimed at playing with the public emotions or simply reporting plain facts.

References

Anon., (2013). NHS told to do more to ‘reduce health inequalities’. Accessed on 24th May, 2016 at http://www.bbc.com/news/health-21807157

Davies S. (2005). Research Governance Framework for Health and Social Care Accessed on 24th of May, 2016 at http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/research-governance-framework-for-health-and-social-care-second-edition

Hara, O, M (2011). Sustainability: Living our values. Why the responsible reporting of mental health issues is so important. Accessed on 24th May, 2016 at http://www.theguardian.com/sustainability/blog/editorial-mental-health-reporting.

Hickey, S. (2014). How technology in the home can improve health and social care. Accessed on 24th May, 2016 at https://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/jul/13/technology-home-improve-health-social-care

Hopson, C. (2013). Is the NHS really that bad – what does the evidence show? Accessed on 24th May, 2016 at http://www.theguardian.com/healthcare-network/2013/may/08/nhs-what-does-evidence-show

Johnston J. & Andy D. (2013). Care homes let my dad starve to death. PUBLISHED: Accessed on 24th May, 2016 at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2315603/Wanda-Maddocks-secretly-jailed-trying-save-father-Here-exposes-shocking-neglect.html#ixzz34QOSusrL

Kelly, M. P., McDaid, D., Ludbrook, A., & Powell, J. (2005). Economic appraisal of public health interventions. London: Health Development Agency.Accessed on 24th May, 2016 at www.hda-online.org.uk

Morris, S., Carrell, S & McDonald, H. (2016). How healthcare differs across the UK. Accessed on 24th May, 2016 at http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/feb/09/how-healthcare-differs-across-the-UK

Seale C (2003). Media and Health Guidance and units – Edexcel Level 4 BTEC Higher Nationals in Health and Social Care– Issue 1 – October 2004 155

Willby P. (2008). The media’s addiction to the controversy can seriously damage your health. Accessed on 24th May 2016 at http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/aug/13/pressandpublishing.health

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THE ROLE OF PUBLIC HEALTH IN HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE

Public Health in Health Care and Social Care
Public Health in Health Care and Social Care

The Role of Public Health in Health Care and Social Care

Public Health

Introduction

 The concept of public health has grown in importance and stature since its inception in the UK.  The main aim of public health is prevention of illness and diseases in the entire population as well as promoting and sustaining health of the citizens. This is facilitated by recognizing many social factors that contribute to health (WHO, 2015).

This paper aims at investigating the roles of different agencies that work within the community to reduce the incidence of diseases. This paper will investigate both non-infectious and non-infectious diseases which are widespread as well as explore the various strategic approaches and statistical methods applied to evaluate, monitor, and regulate the incidence of the diseases.  The paper will also explore the various effects of illness and diseases in delivery of health care and social care services. The paper will put into consideration the current lifestyle in the community that impacts the delivery of quality health and social care services (Department of Health, 2013).

Roles of different agencies in the UK

Public health refers to science and art of ailment prevention and prolonging of life using planned efforts to help the society make informed choices. The main role played   by the different agencies is to identify incidences of diseases   within various communities. The different agencies involved in  public health include International agencies such as World Health Organization (WHO)  and European Union (EU); National level agencies (Government  and UK Department of Health  (DH) and the local authorities  and local health trusts (Social welfare 2013).

The World Health Organization (WHO) has six core functions. To begin with, they provide strong leadership on critical health issues and engage in partnership especially in areas that are in need joint action. They are also responsible in research agendas that facilitate dissemination of knowledge on health issues.

The organization also sets norms and standards that should be used to promote and monitor the effectiveness of specific interventions of public health issues.  The organization facilitates the establishment of evidence based policies that are ethical. This includes provision of technical support by catalyzing change and developing sustainable institutional policies. WHO also monitors the health situation and evaluates the current health trends (Forest & Denis 2014).

 The European Union has the responsibility of complementing the national policies. It does so by helping the EU affiliated governments to achieve the established shared objectives, pool resources so that they can generate the scale of economies as well as tackle the shared challenges. The role of this international organization also includes promotion of healthier lifestyle, and ensuring equitable distribution of resources to tackle the serious health threats that are predominant among EU member countries (Social welfare 2013).

 At the national level, the UK Department of Health (DH) leads the strategy, policy and outcomes of health improvement. The agency leads by establishing policies that protect the citizens from a range of health threats.  It leads in emergency preparedness, providing health programs for Olympics and Paralympics et cetera. It helps the health care providers at the national level to harness the cutting edge in the advancement of medical science to improve health care.  The agency also designs the systems for England public health.  

The Department of Health (DH) helps the UK residents to have better and longer life. The role of the agency is to lead, shape, and provide funds for the healthcare system in the UK.  This ensures that people have adequate support as well as helping to, maintain the dignity of the citizens. The agency also creates national policies and healthcare legislation. It also supports the integrity of the healthcare system by ensuring delivery of quality care and accounting for the funds provided to it by parliament in a way which represents the interests of the patients.

The agency also champions innovation and supports research and technology, transparency, openness, and honesty. This improves the out-patient care by establishing the safest and highest quality of healthcare services. Ultimately, the efficiency and productivity of the healthcare system is improved (Department of Health, 2013).

  The local authorities have a convening role and also promote co-existence between the Local authorities and the GP consortia. The key role of the local authorities is to lead joint strategic needs assessments (JSNA) to ensure coordinated and coherent strategies.  The agency also supports local voice and promotes patient’s autonomy. The local agency also leads on local health in order to prevent occurrence of diseases.  The agency promotes the commissioning of the social care and Local NHS services to improve delivery of quality care (Reiner et al. 2013)

Epidemiology of infectious and non-infectious disease

 Epidemiology refers to the study of distribution of infectious and non-infectious diseases, and the determinants of these health related events within a specified population, and application of research studies to control the health issue.  Epidemiology involves studying of global patterns, risk factors, and preventive measures that can be applied to improve the health issue.  

Non infectious disease is also referred to as non-communicable disease. This refers to a health condition that is non transmissible. More often than not,, most of non-communicable diseases are chronic and progress slowly. Examples include asthma, obesity, malignant disease. and cancer. Infectious diseases are highly contagious, which implies that they are transmitted from one person to another. They are often caused by pathogens.  Examples of infectious diseases include HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, influenza, childhood diseases, MRSA, influenza, food and water borne diseases (Social welfare 2013).

  UK is reported to have the highest level of obesity in the Western Europe. Obesity is a non-infectious disease and it refers to body mass index (BMI) that is between 25 and above.  According to the Health and Social Care Information Centre, 24.9% of the population is obese and approximately 61.7% is overweight. The levels have increased in the past three decades, and it is projected that if intervention measures are not put in place, half of the population will be obese by 2050.

This trend is attributed to the fact that most people have adopted modern lifestyles which includes unhealthy dietary and physical inactiveness. Obesity is the biggest health crisis in the UK because it is also associated with other health complications such as diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disorders (National Obesity Forum n.d).

 The most common type of infectious diseases is influenza. The latest epidemiological reports indicate that influenza has continued to increase considerably.  The influenza virus is the leading cause of respiratory tract infections, which is associated with severe complications which lead to hospital admission and mortality.  The internet based surveillance indicates that influenza affects 18.4 per cent out of a population of 1000 people. However, 20-44 people report higher rates of infection which is reported at 23.1 per cent out of a population of 1000 people   (Social welfare 2013).

The effectiveness of different approaches as well as strategies of diseases control

There are various approaches being utilized by the Department of health in controlling obesity and influenza in the UK.  Some of these approaches include screening, vaccination, legislation, education, and creating awareness and surveillances (Social welfare 2013).

The Department of health has established interventions that will help people make healthier choices by ensuring that they are in a position to make healthy dietary and to become more active. This includes programs such as Change4life. The department has established strategies that will help effective labeling of drinks and food which will help people to make informed choices.

The legislation requires the factories to include ingredients such as calories.  The National institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has established a series of initiatives that aims at reducing obesity. This includes improving the physical environment and leisure parks to improve the amount of physical activeness among the population (Public Health England 2014).

The departments at national and community level encourage the use of school based programs as the main strategy to tackle obesity. For example, the Croydon Healthy Schools program was established in order to ensure that local schools support healthy food programs and promote physical activeness. The public health agencies at the national level deal with four specific networks including food, physical activity, alcohol, and health safety at the workplace.  These initiatives have helped people to adopt healthy lifestyles.  In addition, regular education has helped to reduce discrimination as well as enhance self confidence among people with obesity (Social welfare 2013).

 The Public health of England also conducts surveillances of the Influenza after every week to monitor the influenza activity at community and national level. Influenza is the leading cause of hospitalization in the UK. For this reason, the healthcare agencies at the government level (Department of Health) supported by the local authorities have developed annual a flu program that seeks to vaccinate individuals at high risk of developing influenza. The high risk individuals include the older people, infants and toddlers, pregnant women, immune-suppressed, and those suffering from cardiac diseases.

In addition, the program provides training to help the citizens in detecting signs and symptoms of influenza. The public health department also requires that any suspected case of avian flu must be reported to the nearest animal and Plant Health agency. This helps the agencies to effectively control the infection. A recent case of low severity (H5N1) avian flu was reported in Dunfermline early this year, but the agencies managed to control the infection by using restricted movement (Public Health England 2014).

The current priorities and approaches

The priorities for delivery of health services are influenced by evaluating the burden of a disease. The analysis of the community burden of disease provides comparable assessment of the cost of health, injuries, risk factors and mortality rates. This is normally done using the disability-adjusted life year (DALY). DALY that normally evaluates the number of years lost as a result of premature deaths within a certain time (Social welfare 2013).

According to DALY report in the UK, the leading health burden is mental illness, heart complications, cancers diseases and respirational diseases respectively. In 2010, the leading causes of DALY were cardiovascular disease, chronic osteoporosis (back pain), as well as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Most of these disorders are associated with unhealthy lifestyles such as poor dietary, alcoholism, smoking, and lack of exercises.

Therefore, the current healthcare priorities in the UK include preventive services for mental health, smoking, diet control, alcoholism as well as promoting physical activeness.  The second priority is to improve the clinical services by providing adequate support for mental health services, respiratory disorders, and cardiovascular disorders (Public Health England 2014).

 The approaches being used to provide healthcare include primordial prevention. This involves   identification of legislation that aims at delivering quality services. Other approaches include education and awareness, environmental controls and social welfare.  The second approach is through primary prevention. This primarily focuses on health promotion interventions such as health education on immunization, chemoprophylaxis, and serophaylaxis. Environmental modifications will help to protect the community from various hazards in the environment. The nutritional interventions and behavioral changes will ensure that people adopt healthy lifestyles (Social welfare 2013).

 The other approach is the secondary prevention which mainly focuses on halting the progression of the disease and prevents complications. The main activities in this stage include screening tests, laboratory findings, and adequate treatment programs. The fourth approach is through tertiary prevention. This involves use of all interventions to limit disabilities and impairments associated with the health event and help promote a patient’s health condition.

This mainly focuses on interventions that prevent disability limitation as well as rehabilitative services.  Rehabilitative services are coordinated through medical, vocational, educational, and social training measures to help the patient retain their functional ability to the highest level (Public Health England, 2014).

The approaches being used include monitoring and surveillances. Monitoring is used to describe the performance and analysis of measurements that are aimed at evaluating the environmental changes such as water quality and other forms of pollution, dietary intake et cetera. Monitoring also entails all other forms of measurements of health services and the extent to which patients adhere to the advice provided by healthcare professionals.  On the other hand, surveillance is the inspection of the determinants of health, and the distribution of   the other health related illnesses (Public Health England, 2014).

Relationship that exists between the prevalence of disease and the service requirements

There are considerably adequate healthcare resources including hospital, community health services, personal medical services, and community health services.  The community health services providers (HCHS) and dental staffs are about 105,000. There are bout 41 300 healthcare providers who provide consultation services and an additional 53,000 who provide training services. 

There is about 971,000 non-medical staff whereby 319,000 are qualified nurses, 136,000 are technical and therapeutic professionals, 187,000 in infrastructure support, and 36,000 are managers.  In the new health and social care setting, these healthcare providers consist of clinical commissioning groups (Department of Health, 2013).

The UK health and well-being board brings together organizations to work in partnership in order to deliver powerful that advocate for the needs of communities and patients.

 These healthcare professionals have combined efforts to help people lead healthier lives.  This involves ensuring that people have adequate support, care and treatment as needed, and in the most compassionate, respectful, and dignified manner.  The specialists are working together to ensure that they provide evidence based care. This is achieved by bringing in the multidisciplinary teams together in health and social care to manage healthcare efficiently and effectively. 

This facilitates timely referrals which are important in reducing time for making diagnosis. Although there have been massive improvements in healthcare, the public health of England continues to be burdened by diseases such as obesity and influenza.  This often calls for strategic frameworks and policies (Department of Health, 2013).

Impact of current lifestyle choices on the health care future needs

The UK people’s health is determined by their lifestyle choices.  This is attributed to the increased globalization and   busy schedules that make it difficult for people to engage in healthy lifestyle.  For instance, obesity is associated with poor dietary and increased physical inactiveness.  The food available in the UK today is just refined ingredients mixed with some chemicals. These food products are cheap, and taste very good that one cannot have enough.

This makes the food to become hyper-palatable which makes people eat them in high quantity due to food addiction.  Food addiction is a complex issue that can be very difficult to overcome. This often leads to mental disorders and increases a person’s susceptibility to other infectious diseases such as influenza (Health Protection Agency 2010).

 Obesity is associated with energy imbalance. The main variable factor and one that can be modified is physical activity. Most people are not active. Physical activity has continued to decline in developed countries. The pattern is being reflected in developing countries. Over the past decades, each household in the UK own second hand carts and appliances that help to cut on labor. Outdoor activities have also reduced considerably; consequently, one in every four people in the UK is at risk of becoming obese. The impact of physical inactivity affects the   future of the healthcare industry because increases cardiovascular disease burden through the increased cost of preventive care (Department of Health 2013).

Most of the health complications are associated with behavioral risk factors.   Chief among the behavioral risk factors includes smoking and binge drinking. It has been hypothesized that smoking helps in reduction of weight gain. However, these beliefs are over-simplistic. Both smokers and non-smokers are at risk of becoming obese if they feed on unhealthy foods and are physically inactive. The impact of tobacco smoking and alcohol affects the   future of the healthcare industry because it increases the cost of preventive care (Enfield 2013).

Priorities for people in specific health setting

 The well-being and health of the populace in this community are highly related to each other. According to WHO, health has a great influence on the nation’s economic development. The healthier a community is the more productive it becomes.  The healthcare settings of a community are influenced by many factors such as communication, poverty and social services.

These determinants can be categorized by many physical factors such as the individual health factors which include hormonal imbalance, genetic disorders, and immune system.  These factors increase people’s risks of cardiovascular and metabolic disorders. These factors also affect the behavioral, cultural and psychological factors. For instance, stress is a psychological factor whereas unsafe sexual behavior, abuse of alcohol, and smoking are behavioral factors that have an impact on an individual’s health. (Public Health England, 2014).

 The environmental factors involve all factors that affect the wellbeing of humans. These include safe water and a clean environment. Other factors include chemical factors, biological and physical environment. The socioeconomic factors such as income affect the well-being of an individual. For instance, in the UK, health disparities are evident between the high income and low income earners. The high income households get better medication and education, and are less likely to be affected by infectious and non-infectious diseases (Social welfare 2013).

Priorities of elderly people’s health should be based according to the health issues facing the age group, and are projected to face the age group if not addressed adequately.  Infectious diseases such as Influenza affects the elderly people especially those living in low economic zones. Such diseases are associated with long term effects; hence, they need immediate and appropriate health solutions such as preventive management.

Abuse of the elderly people is another issue that must be prioritized. The elderly people are abused physically, emotionally and psychologically. The protection agency must ensure that they are adequately prepared to help the frail human beings.  This is to ensure that they are housed, fed, and their healthcare is taken care of (Paterson 2014).

Effectiveness of strategies systems and polices

The effectiveness of the policies that are implemented in taking care of the elderly involves enactment of policies by the various agencies of the public health. There are various agencies that contribute towards the enhancement of children’s health and are all working to meet the same goal. The partnerships established by these institutions are designed to facilitate incorporation of effective healthcare services.

These services include involvement of the PCTs, CCCs and other local authorities. Due to the modifications conducted in the white paper, these policies and systems have been found to be very effective in delivering care .However; there are some areas where the ground level implementation has not been successful. In such instances, there is need to establish more interventions to help implement the policies more effectively (Stewart, Cutler, & Rosen 2009)

 Changes that could be established to improve the healthcare

 The changes that are needed in the UK healthcare system are changes that will influence positive behavior. For example, there are limited opportunities that promote physical activity. In this context, the public health agencies should respond to the private sector to ensure that recreational facilities are not interfered with to ensure that there is enough space for physical activity. This includes maintaining of the cycle routes, sports areas, children play ground areas and pedestrianisation (Social welfare 2013).

 The second priority is to change the local culture and beliefs of physical activity. Most people in the UK do not value physical activity. The public health agencies must put in place awareness programs that will help to ensure physical activity is valued by everybody in the community.  The public health is also responsible for community safety. There have been few worries regarding personal security especially when exercising. The public health must liaise with the community groups and the police to help restore a safe community (Public Health England 2014).

 The public health community must work in partnership with the groups such as educational institutions and communities to increase awareness on preventive measures such as healthy foods, physical activeness, and vaccination programs.  The commissions should improve access to organic food at affordable prices especially among the socially marginalized people (Public Health England, 2014).

Task 3.4 Evaluation of an activity that have been implemented to promote behavior change

 Under the Health and Social Care Act 2012, the main agency in charge of improving the health of the populace is the local authorities. They have a statutory function to improve public health by providing advice to the clinical commissioning groups. The local authorities are entrusted to deliver National Child Measurement Program.  One of such program is “cooking from scratch”. This is an initiative established by NHS and Bristol county council.

The scheme targets to teach the low household income on ways to make simple healthy foods that can be achieved at specific budget.  The program also trains the community on importance of physical activeness and adhering to vaccination programs. The program has been successful as it trains people from diverse settings including the elderly in community day care centers, staff working in these centers, youth clubs, and new mothers. This has helped to reduce the rates of obesity in this county (Public Health England 2014)

References

Department of Health, 2013. “Making mental health services more effective and accessible.” Retrieved from https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/making-mental-health-services-more-effective-and-accessible–2

Einfield, 2015. Health and wellbeing strategy. Retrieved from http://www.enfield.gov.uk/healthandwellbeing/info/4/health_and_wellbeing_strategy[ Accessed May 24 2016]

Forest, PG., & Denis, JL. 2014. Real reform in health systems: An introduction. Journal of health Politics, policy and Law 37(4). Retrieved from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=74dd209f-1a28-44e5-ab25-1b9d89a63ad3%40sessionmgr113&vid=0&hid=126[ Accessed May 24 2016]

Health Protection Agency, 2010. What the Health Protection Agency Does? [Online]. Available at: http://www.hpa.org.uk/AboutTheHPA/WhatTheHealthProtectionAgencyDoes/ [ Accessed May 24 2016]

National Obesity Forum, n.d. Welcome to the National Obesity Forum [Online]. Available at: http://www.nationalobesityforum.org.uk/ [ Accessed May 24 2016]

Public  Health England. 2014. Public health training for health protection and allied professionals. Retrieved  from https://www.phe-protectionservices.org.uk/hpet/ [ Accessed May 24 2016]

Paterson, J. (2014). Strategies for enhancing the delivery of person –centered care. Nursing standard 28(39); 37-43. Retrieved from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=67611298-afa4-41a9-ab58-a986835b5bd8%40sessionmgr198&vid=0&hid=126[ Accessed May 24 2016]

Reiner, M., Et al. (2013) Long term health benefits of physical activity- a systematic review of longitudinal studies. BMC Public Health 13; 813

Stewart,S., Cutler, D. & Rosen, A., 2009. The New England Journal of Medicine. Forecasting the Effects of Obesity and Smoking on U.S. Life Expectancy [Online]. 361, p.2252-2260. Available at: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa0900459 [ Accessed May 24 2016]

Social welfare. 2013. “The state of health care and adult social care in England.” Retrieved from http://socialwelfare.bl.uk/subject-areas/services-activity/health-services/carequalitycommission/168545state-of-care-201314-full-report-1.1.pdf[ Accessed May 24 2016]

WHO (2015). An introduction to the World Health  Organization. Retrieved  From http://www.who.int/about/brochure_en.pdf[ Accessed May 24 2016]

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Disabilities in Society

Disabilities in Society
Disabilities in Society

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Disabilities in Society

Introduction
Disability may take two different approaches depending on the frame of reference or the circumstances. The meaning of disability may take a bio-medical approach or a functional approach. For the purpose of this research paper, disability shall be assessed on two main points of view. First, a disability shall be defined as any condition that when judged on the basis of function, it renders an individual impaired in comparison to the typical or standard way of functioning.

Statistically, disability can be understood as a condition that renders an individual’s performance or functioning in a particular area to fall below the population average or the average performance of the general group in the same area. This impairment may be cognitive, intellectual, physical, mental disability, or some types of chronic diseases.  

Disabilities are everywhere in the society. In learning institutions, there are students with learning disabilities. At the workplace there are individuals or employees with disabilities. While some disabilities originate from childhood or childhood experiences, some originate from the adulthood when an individual is already in the working-age. This research paper explores both scenarios and makes an attempt to draw a connection between them consequently assessing the policy implications of disabilities in the society and the practicability of these social policies in achieving their objectives.

The main aim of this research paper is to explore disability on a wider perspective and examine it with respect to the society’s attitude to disability then explores policy implications of the experiences of the disabled members of the society with a more inclination on the learners and those in the working-age.

Disabilities in Society

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Theoretical Framework

The theoretical framework used in this research paper is based on the framework developed by Connors (2007), which traces disability in the society from the sociology of childhood and through the social relationship model while at the same time incorporating the aspect of difference in the model. Even though the Connors’ theoretical was basically focused on exploring the experiences of children with disabilities in the society, the model is fit for this particular study since it gives an appropriate approach to the roots of disability and provides a better understanding of the experiences disabled members of the society experience from childhood to adulthood.

Therefore, the theoretical framework of this paper is developed on the basis of the social model of disability and the social relational model of disability and incorporates the concept of difference to explore the subject of disability in the society. One part puts emphasis on the importance of the environment on the participation while the other puts emphasis on the significance of the quality of life.

The Sociology of Childhood

The majority of previous childhood studies have dwelled mainly on exploring and researching on the development of the child and the main areas of focus have been the child’s psychological development, social development and physical development. it is important to trace disabilities in the society from a childhood perspective because most disabilities originate from early days of human development.

However, as has been mentioned, the studies on childhood development did not put into consideration the disabilities that children acquire or are born with and which they live with into their adulthood. The studies mainly viewed children in adult eyes thereby giving children a passive role in their development. They were therefore viewed by the society as adults in training (Mayall 2002). 

The notion that childhood, as opposed to biological immaturity, could be a result of socially constructed aspect that results from the interplay of factors like social class, individual’s gender and ethnicity only came to materialization in the course of the ‘sociology of childhood’. A number of studies (e.g. Mayall 2002 and James 1993) recognized that children possess a distinctive perspective and dynamically shaping their own lives.

These studies, which have provided a clearer picture of children’s accounts of their experiences, have enabled the society to realize and appreciate that the lives of the children in the society are not homogenous. This lack of homogeneity therefore necessitates studies that look at the children all their diversity (Brannen and O’ Brien 1995). Studies must pay special attention to the children’s experiences if at all the general themes in the lives of children should be understood.

This approach, according to Colver (2005) in his paper  on social model of disability, brings out greater potential for understanding the social model of disability and integrating the understanding with the sociology of childhood and this in turn allows a better understanding of the experiences of the disabled children. The social model accentuates the significance of the environment to participation. 

Disabilities in Society

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The social relational model of disability

Connors’ work (2005) was principally important to the achievement of this paper’s objective because of the extensive work laid out in the study relating to the experiences of the disabled people in the society. The author provides an extensive relationship between unequal social relationship and disabilities in the society. The author further likens this relations hip and its origins in the society to that or racism and sexism, which both result in social impositions of restrictions “of activity on the impaired people by the non-impaired members of the society” (Connors 2005).

These imposed restrictions could be through creation of barriers to the individual to do something or to being someone. Barriers could be created and imposed on the disabled individual to do something that is physical or economic. Such barriers could also be material barriers such as inaccessibility to buildings, transport, and these by nature will restrict the disabled person from undertaking activities related to the barriers created.

This point is further reinforced by the study carried by Bradbury et al (2001), who reiterate that creation of socio-economic barriers to the disabled members of the society is an impetus to prevalence of apathy and the notion that disabilities are a tragic accident and a mess to the enforcement of socio-economic policies. 

Disabilities in Society

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Literature Review

Disabilities in Learning Institutions

Learning disability affects the intelligence quotient of the individual. It is a condition that leads to fall in individual’s intelligence quotient below the normal range. Brain is affected adversely which makes the individual unable to perform very well in various activities. Children with learning disabilities encounter difficulties in sensory information processing which in turn impacts on the ability of the individual to interpret various activities in the learning institution.

Learning disability limits individual ability to see, hear and properly understand what is been imparted to them in school like other normal students. It is important to take care of these persons in order to avoid severe impacts.

Duquette (1998) provides an explorative assessment of the various teaching techniques that should be used in the learning institutions that have students who have learning disabilities. It is imperative to understand the fact that children with learning disabilities are not very attentive, cannot realize their dreams by their own. They have to be assisted to learn various ways of doing things.  Learning disabilities generally affect the process of information relay in the nervous system. This affects the way information is received, processed or communicated. 

Disabilities in Society

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Allyn and Bacon (2007) posit that instruction intermarried with effectual teaching for students with learning disabilities calls for expert familiarity in the areas of spoken language and reading and proficiency in writing as well as specialized knowledge in handling math. This further calls for evidence based teaching within each area as proposed by Summer (2007).

As an instructor, it is important to realize that there are learning disabilities which encumber learners of average or above-average acumen in easily and reliably processing a range of types of information.  For instance learners with dyslexia exhibit a perceptual deficit that scuttles sequences of letters or numbers. For this reason, it would be a big achievement for the teacher to understand how the learning disability exhibits itself and the methods that the student previously used to handle the disability in the past.

The instructor will only gain the knowledge of that if he discusses with student about the issue. In addition, it is vital that the instructor appreciates that learning disabilities do not stem from a learner’s intelligence (Allyn and Bacon 2007). They also don’t result from physical or emotional health of the student; neither are they as a result of the student’s cultural background or socioeconomic circumstances.  

It is possible for learning disabilities to exist amid other disabilities. For example learners who have head injuries that are brought about by traumatic accidents may require adjustments (accommodations) similar to those provided to persons with learning disabilities.

Disabilities in Society

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Secondly, as supported by Hartman’s study (2008), there are a number of universal teaching techniques which may be very supportive and helpful in making learners with disabilities experience the necessary comfort in the classroom hence show maximum performance possible. First and foremost, while preparing the syllabus, it is important to incorporate a statement learning disability accommodation.

For instance it would take something like: “If you have a disability and would wish to have specific accommodations, kindly discuss this issue with the professor.” Such a statement would clearly act as an indicator to the students with disabilities that the instructor, mentor, tutor or teacher is at ease to discuss the potential need for accommodations. Additionally, it acts as a fillip to the students by encouraging them to talk about accommodations prior to the actual need for them.

The instructor carries the tool that can create an amicable environment for learning. For this reason, the instructor should inform the students in every meeting of every class about the Centre for Special Services (for students with disabilities), if any. The instructor may also be obliged to discuss privately with the students with learning disabilities more so those that have disclosed their condition and hence go further to ask them how the course could be made a good learning experience for them (Allyn & Bacon 2007).

This would be helpful in bringing confidence in them. Students with disabilities may most likely have a problem with time management. To help them out of this, the instructor should issue sufficient notice concerning due dates for assignments. The students may also find reading and writing to be quite hectic and time-consuming. The instructor should therefore allow for extensions for assignments so that such students do not feel punished for their disabilities.

Disabilities in Society

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It is not only in the classroom that the people with learning disabilities will have problems. Even in examinations and undertaking of assignments. Duquette (1998) advices that the instructor should consider alternate methods for the exams as well as the assignments so that the students with disabilities are permitted to have input into the dialogue about alternate methods (for instance allow for handing in of electronic exams for hard copies).

If the instructor encourages the students to play an active role in the classroom, it would be an impetus to their self- confidence and give them an opportunity to make it evident to others that they are not academically disabled. This would further enhance the student’s own learning (Abbott et al 2004). 

For those students with visual impairment, it is appropriate for the instructor to address the particular student with his/her name. Apart from that, the students with visual impairment especially those with low vision should be provided with copies of overheads and board work. For easier follow-up of the lectures by the students, the instructor should allow them to audiotape the lectures. There are names whose spelling may not strictly follow conventions. Such proper names should be spelt out by the instructor for clarity to the students.

Disabilities in Society

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Abbott et al (2004) argue that visual aides may be necessary if the concerned students have hearing impairment (this may call for items like acetates and slides). Secondly, the instructor should make use of a microphone in a large room and understand that while such a student with hearing impairment speech-reads, she or he does not see the instructor’s lips and therefore the instructor should talk while facing the class rather than the chalkboard.

The instructor has a responsibility to extend his or her teaching expertise to the laboratory and in the fieldwork too. To achieve this, the instructor should ensure that when assigning group lab projects, it is done in such a manner that allows every individual of the group to contribute in accordance to individual member abilities. The laboratory equipment should be arranged in a way that makes them accessible to every individual and visible by everyone (Duquette 1998).

According to Summer, (2007), it is very important to employ appropriate teaching technique so as to ensure that students with specific learning disabilities can also get equal learning opportunity. These techniques are applied under different situations. Moreover, Hartman (2008) reiterates that these depend entirely on place where learning process is being carried out such as classroom, laboratory, examinations room and field work as discussed above. The technique to be used is predetermined to ensure efficiency (Hartman, 2008).  

When students are in classroom, it is important for the institution to select courses in advance to enable the students with learning disabilities get enough time to translate them to audiotape or large print. The teachers should make syllabus in advance, short assignment sheets so that they can be used by these students (Duquette 1998). The lecturers should give lectures in very supreme way in that they write key phrases and lecture outlines on the overhead projector.

Disabilities in Society

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Disabilities in Society

As Hartman (2008) adds in his paper on student disability paper, when students are going to learn in the laboratory, it is recommendable that the students with learning disability are permitted to take a tour in advance so that they can learn safety concerns so as to avoid injuries. Lab projects should be assigned according to abilities so as to enable all students undertake their projects efficiently and complete in time. The institution should ensure that the lab equipment is arranged in a manner that all students can access all the equipments necessary for learning. Lecturers should give oral or written lab instructions. 

Some past studies have recommended that students with learning disabilities should undertake their exams in an environment free of distractions (e.g. Summer 2007 and White et al 2000). The exams should focus on the skills and abilities of each student (Hartman 2008). Students with learning disabilities should be given extra time during the time of examination. Exams should be composed in a way that disabled students can easily access them and that they are clearly typed in large black letters with spaces between lines (Duquette 1998). The items in between should be double or triple spaced so as the students can easily read.

Teachers should be very sensitive to students with learning disabilities who may not be able to read aloud due to certain impairments. Teachers and lecturers have the obligation to discuss ways in which students with learning disabilities can participate in class work upon realizing their deficits.

Some of the most powerful tools that an instructor can develop include respect to the students, positive attitudes, flexibility and acceptance (Summer 2007, and Hartman 2008). In situations where the students are faced with teachers who mistrust them or who are not flexible, they (students) become disheartened and may easily fail to maximize on their performance.

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Disabilities in Society

Attitude towards Disability

Studies have shown that research into the area of disabilities in the society would be meaningless if the studies cannot lead to a quantitative contribution to the subject by creating a positive attitude towards disability and people with disabilities (Connors, 2005, and Hannon, 2010). In the study by Hannon (2010), the author posits that the key to improving the efficacy of the efforts pit into addressing the negative experiences of the disabled people in the society should focus on changing the attitudes to people with disabilities.

Hannon further observes that there have been persistent negative attitudes to disability around the world though the trend is improving with more awareness being put into action and governments as well as other stakeholders investing considerably in the creation of awareness in the area of disabilities in the society.

In another research study, White, Jackson and Gordon (2006) explore the implicit and explicit attitudes toward sportspersons with disabilities and they reiterate that there is a positive relationship between the attitude and the experiences of the athletes with disabilities. Their study further show that the prevalent attitudes, which are negative in nature, provide evidence that the members of the society that have disabilities are not yet fully integrated into the society especially given that they are expressed towards intimate relationships for the individuals with disabilities.

Disabilities in Society

Studies have indicated that more positive attitudes are expected when individuals who have disabilities voluntarily get together with other members of the society who have disabilities. Negative attitudes among the people with disabilities deserves special attention since it is likely to slow progress towards equality when  it is the disabled people who have negative attitudes about disability. It means policy making also slows down since the campaigns must target the negative attitudes from the individuals without disabilities and those with disabilities. The campaign is all about the change of the mindset. 

The attitudes could be related top employment where barriers have been created to enhance the socially constructed boundaries within the workplaces or the society in general. Appropriate support mechanisms have been explored by Hannon’s study (2010) as a way that can help employers to have positive attitudes towards those with disabilities and disability as a whole. Hannon (2010) argues that if such mechanisms are put in place the welfare of workers that have intellectual and mental health can be improved.

To support this idea by Hannon, Corrigan and Gelb (2006) argue that the welfare of the mentally incapacitated individuals can be improved through the mass approaches that target employers and the society in general through specific group targets.

Disabilities in Society

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Throughout the body of research that has been carried out in the past it is evident that a number of interventions techniques are common for all the authors in the studies. These intervention techniques have been proposed to influence attitude formation in the society and they include direct contact with the members of the society with disabilities and those that do not have disabilities (Connors, 2005, Hannon, 2010 and Blessing et al, 1999). 

The study by Blessing et al (1999) specifically mentions legislation and providing support for the participation of the people who have disabilities and they should be encouraged and supported to participate in all spheres of the society. Besides this support, another intervention technique is to ensure that the society is void of any structures of segregation and discrimination against disability or individuals with disabilities.

Encouraging increased political organization and extensive debate and discussion in academic and public realms focusing on disability issues.  Since each of the interventions proposed by the studies is targeted to play a particular and vital role in generating positive attitudes to disability in the society, every effort must be made to translate research evidence into actual practice.

Disability and the Right to Full Human Development

All reasonable advances to attaining the full participation of individuals with disabilities incorporate doing away with all the socially constructed obstacles to achieving human potential. These obstacles may take various settings that include environmental, political or psychological constructions. They may also be educational in nature, institutional and social. 

Doing away with these barriers provides the people with disabilities with access to the fundamental conditions needed to operate as independent and responsible people. These essential conditions include education, housing, working conditions, impartial and fair remuneration for work, justice, impartiality and the chance to be involved in civic and other socio-cultural aspects in day-to-day life. This has been documented as a proper way of ensuring socio-economic security and social inclusion of the individuals with disabilities. 

Disabilities in Society

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Social integration is an important aspect of the human development and this can be facilitated through participation of the individuals with disabilities in physical activities and sports. According to Hannon (2010) social integration of the disabled members of the society through such events as sports and physical activities also helps in bridging the cultural boundaries that create barriers in human interaction and bolsters efforts that aim at overcoming prejudice or discrimination in the society against that have diverse characters.  

It is through these social interaction opportunities that the individuals (whether those who have or who don’t have disabilities) can learn social issues such as fair play and teamwork and gain more knowledge on solidarity as a strength. In addition Rosenbaum (2009) while looking at childhood disability and social policies argues that social interactions that involve many members of society coming together help the members of the society to understand and appreciate the needs of the other.

These perspectives echo those taken by O’Toole (2006), who argues that socio-cultural and civic participation are more profound to the aspect of human development than most individuals may just think of culture as a part of going or not going to the movie theater.  O’Toole supports the idea of these interactions being important in supporting human development by arguing that sport is essential in improving education while paving the way for more integration between and among members of the society and cultures.

Disabilities in Society

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Material Barriers

The disabled members of the society may be faced with situations that seem to create a social barrier that hinders them from achieving an objective that would help them in fulfilling their fundamental needs in the society (Swain et al 2004). Studies have showed that social barriers have a very restricting aspect and need to be identified to a particular setting of the external social world such as in the employment environment, in educational setting (institutions of learning), transport and housing among other settings.  

In their study, Connors and Stalker (2003) focused on the barriers that are restricted to learning institutions environment and came up with four barriers they considered significant in impacting the lives of the disabled students negatively. The researchers noted that lack of access to recreational facilities and clubs is a major barrier more so for teenagers. Another factor that plays a major role as a barrier is the transport difficulties. Scarcity of after-school activities that the disabled in learners can creatively engage in is also a major barrier in the learning environment.

Communication being a major element in human interactions, it also becomes a barrier the disabled individuals do not get the support they need to communicate effectively and this  further affects ability to interact hence limiting extent of human social development. Apart from the learning institutions, barriers can also be seen in the employment environment or the workplace (Swain et al 2004).

Practical Application
While the government or the society may come up with social policies to address the plight of people with disabilities and their rights, the society is not stagnant but a constantly changing and dynamic that the relevance of a policy may have to be revised from time to time to incorporate some of the realities that come up as these changes in the society are embraced.

The practical application of effective disability policy is impeded by a number of hurdles. Some of these hurdles relates to the working of the social policies while some challenges lie in the implementation. Coming up with a consistent policy goal has been an obstacle to the effectiveness of the social policy programs that address the rights of the individuals with disabilities. 

Disabilities in Society

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Prior to the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, it was commonly believed and held as wisdom that working-age people who have disabilities were not able to work and therefore not expected to work. The Act however challenged this notion based on a key input from proponents who contended that the chief barrier to employment was the unequal access to jobs and not a worker’s impairment as was commonly construed.

These proponents felt that to say a worker is disabled was to fail o accommodate particular citizens in the society by constructing a social barrier that had multifaceted impact on the society. The impact could be economic, unequal wealth distribution, unequal access to employment that creates huge disparities in income among other factors.

According to the proponents of the ADA, social policies addressing the rights of the disabled in the society had a practical application if everyone is provided equal rights in all spheres of the society because the disability-transfer population would be zero. However, an important and equally disturbing question is whether the disabled members of the society should categorically be expected to work and this question concerns the rights and responsibilities of the disabled people who are of the working-age.

Disabilities in Society

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Social Policy 
The society is highly dynamic and the first step in having a social policy for disability is the creation of a common understanding of the terms and related terms. By having legal definitions of disability and other terms such as impairment, it creates a common point of reference since the society understands disability very differently from the way the policy documents would put.  Therefore, social policy programs have their definitions of disability and these definitions provide boundaries of who is covered under the program.

For instance, Americans with Disabilities Act and Disability Insurance policy both have definitions of disability that allows them to cover a given set of individuals with disabilities. The society’s understanding is different and that is why special efforts must be put into action to ensure negative attitudes to disability are dispelled. For this reason, the government must, from time to time to ascertain that there are measures guaranteeing the social and economic welfare of the disabled members of the society.

Since the advent of the pragmatic social policy and particularly between 1989 and mid 1990 several changes were made that actually showed how disability policy is a changing and dynamic aspect of the society. The government issued three key documents and made other far-reaching proposals targeting the economic welfare of the disabled in the society and their social welfare as well. Nevertheless, the disabled people have not had homogenous reactions to the social policy changes made in past.

For instance, in the United Kingdom, some changes were made in 1990 which aimed at extending the benefits to the disabled people in the UK by proposing to take care of the extra costs of disability and provide other supplementary allowances to the disabled people who work in low-paid work (Hannon 2010). In the same country, there was the caring for peoplepolicy document, which focused on procedures for evaluating “the social care needs of disabled people and the development of care packages set against the background of local authorities’ limited resources” (Hannon 2010).

Disabilities in Society

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In the United States, the rights of the disabled people in the society are protected by the American with Disabilities Act- ADA of 1990.  This Act extended civil rights protection for the disabled people against being discriminated against at the place of work and in employment. The passage of the ADA-1990 characterized a clear effort to transform the spotlight of US disability policy further than income transfers for individuals with disabilities who stayed out of the labor market(Oliver 1999).

The focus was rather put on the employment support for people with disabilities who faced disability-related barriers at their places of work that impeded employment. The point underlying this change in focus was that by eliminating disability- related obstacles to employment, people with disabilities would have increased freedom to opt for work over the benefits receipt that disability attracted.

In spite of these efforts, the biggest influence of federal government social policy on individuals with disabilities is still being felt through the Disability Insurance (DI policy) and through Supplemental Security Income (SSI). While the DI is a social insurance plan that targets the regularly employed members of the society who might experience a disability that could entirely prevent them from working and SSI is a categorical welfare plan that offers benefits to those who are completely prevented from working by their disability; both programs were founded under the Social Security Act (1935) even though SSI was created under  Title XVI while DI under Title II of the Act.

Disabilities in Society

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Despite the good intention of the social policy programs in addressing the issues that affect the disabled people with respect to employment, there have been some arguments that some evidence indicate that these programs have not had considerable impact on improving the employment opportunities of the individuals living with disabilities (e.g. Burkhauser & Daly 2002). The authors have argued using the 1990s data, which shows that employment rate among people of the working-age, plunged while the benefits rolls and expenditures went up. The authors call this circumstantial evidence nevertheless.  

Social policy that targets disability in the US incorporates two main components one of which is the employment protection. The other component comprises transfers. The federal disability transfers are limited only to those individuals who have disabilities that prevent them from functioning in a substantially gainful way. However, ADA (1990) provides a much broader employment protection for those with disabilities and also targets a broader group of individuals with disabilities. It includes even individuals who have the capacity and ability to work in the labor market. The following analysis looks at the social policy in terms of the transfers and employment protection on the basis of the available social policy programs.

DI and SSI

These two policies trace their origins to the 1935 Social Security Act of 1935. The two social policy programs are managed by the Social Security Administration that provides qualifications for eligibility. According to the SSA, “the inability to engage in substantial gainful activity, by reason of a medically determinable physical or mental impairment that is expected to result in death or last at least 12 months” (Social Security Administration, 2000).

Therefore, to qualify for eligibility, an applicant must be impaired such that they cannot in any area that is recognized within the economy and for which hold qualifications with respect to their age, education and experience in the area of work. In addition, the programs only start issuing benefits after a mandatory five–month waiting period. Upon request for application for disability consideration, the officials and the applicant gather sufficient information and then the applicant feels the appropriate form after which the application is passed over to state agency for determination verification of the disability.

The criterion for determining eligibility for disability benefits is homogenous across all the states while the results of the process vary from one state to another. The two programs have different goals even though they share same administration center and eligibility criteria. The object of the Disability Insurance is to offer qualified members with “earnings replacement insurance” when they exit the labor market due to disability. The benefits of this program are provided through a special tax on the payroll and contributed by the employer and the employee. 

Disabilities in Society

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Americans with Disabilities Act- ADA

This Act provides a broader definition of disability hence covers a broader set of individuals with disabilities. According to the Act, disability is considered to be any physical or mental impairment that significantly limits an individual or individuals key life activity, a verification of such an impairment, or being considered as having such an impairment. To this effect, Title I of the Act obliges employers to make reasonable considerations to employees with disabilities except where such accommodations would cause unwarranted hardship on the normal operation of business. 

Conclusion

The results of this research shows that the reaction of the society towards disabilities and individuals with disabilities plays a major role in determining the success in elimination of the social barriers that are constructed by the same society and which impede the achievement of equity within the workplace, political environment, learning environment, civic and social arena.

The research further established that the effective practical application of the social policies and other social initiatives established by non-governmental institutions depends on the seriousness with which the policies are passed and implemented. For the students and learners with disabilities, most of policy changes that need to be made are explored within the literature with reference to the various studies that have focused on the improvement of the welfare of the students and learners with disabilities. The changes include making accommodations within the curriculum and teaching techniques. 

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Reference:

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