Inclusion, Diversity and Equality
This week we began a new topic which saw: Religion, Culture and Diversity come to a finish. We started off the lecture in an interesting and interactive way. The lecturer asked us to think and make a mind map on what we thought Inclusion and Equality were. This allowed all of us to get the brain in gear and either show the knowledge we had on these areas or have a guess to see if we knew anything about these topics. It was very intriguing to see what others knew and what I knew and how we shared our knowledge and analysis with one another.
We were then given a PowerPoint Presentation on what the clear and official definitions were relating to this topic. We were also given an insightful view of what different scholars had to say about the definitions and the different parts that relate to Equality and Inclusion. A summary but clear definition which clarified what Inclusion was, is: ‘inclusion encompasses policies and practices that support diversity and give voice and choice to individuals, groups and communities which have been traditionally marginalised’ (Nelson and Prilletensky 2010). I also did not know that with inclusion there are three different levels. The first is; the recovery of a personal and political identity. This gives people a personal story of empowerment. The second is relational, where inclusion here is welcoming to communities and supporting to relationships. The third is societal, where inclusion is the promotion of equality and access to valued social resources which have been previously been denied to people (Nelson and Prilletensky 2010). I also found what the importance of promoting inclusion within a society. A few new topics hear which I think I will need to re-read and gain further clarification before fully understanding what is on offer here.
We then progressed onto the next part of the unit which was all about Equality. The main definition that stood out for me was: ‘equality is to create sameness for many people and to see differences as a problem to be solved or a difficulty to be avoided’ (Thompson 2011). I had a little previous experience with the main aims and what Equality stood for due to studying Higher Modern Studies at school. However, I thought that this was one of the clearest aims of Equality and what we should all strive to be in a fair and loving world. ‘Equality is seeking fairness to individuals or groups that are not treated unfairly, not barred from contributing to society and to be fully respected and treated equal within a society’ (Thompson 2011).
The one area that I never went into much detail at school and had never thought about is, why we can be unkind and prejudice towards some people and how we do not as a culture offer inclusion and do not treat people fairly and equally. This was due to the PCS analysis. The P is for our personal thoughts and ideas we have around the people we do not treat equally. Our experiences can create serotypes and cause us to be unequal to those around us. The C is for the culture we assume to be right. We may treat those who have different beliefs and act in a different way unequal as we do not see it as ‘normal’ so categorise in a negative way. This can lead to us discriminating which is not was equality stands for. Lastly, the S stands for how being prejudice and discriminating against one certain type of people can have a chain reaction so the whole society begin to be against and discriminate against this group of people. Negative ideas and thoughts need to be contained of we are going to create an equal and inclusive society.
The last thing that I have previous knowledge in is about the Equality Act 2010. I studied this in-depth at school but to have a refresher, further implemented to me the benefits its central aims can bring to our society. The nine main aims are against discrimination in: age; sex; gender; marriage; pregnancy; race; religion; disability; sexual orientation. If we become a society that does not discriminate due to these things we will be a very fair and equal society. We will have created inclusion if we are fair and equal to everyone.
I have summarised above the main learning aims and ideas that stuck-out and interested me most in todays: workshops, tutorials and the lecture. I am fairly confident now that I have the knowledge I need to take these ideas and explain them in the exam. However, with further work on scholars and understanding of which scholars believe what, then I will have very secure knowledge within these two units. I found today very interesting and although I had some of this knowledge from Higher Modern Studies my knowledge has been re-clarified and has deepened. I am now thinking more about this topic and analysing it more than I did at school. An interesting morning for me indeed.
Stay tuned for more Equality and Human Rights for next week
Have a nice week and see you after. Christopher.
