Equality and Diversity Essay
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Word Count: 719

Itroduction
This essay will contain information on legislation such as The Data Protection Act 1998 and The Equality Act 2010. It will also explain the different types of discrimination and some examples of these types of discrimination within a care setting.

Main Section
When assisting a service user with care you must insure you do not discriminate in any way. The Equality Act 2010 insures no one is discriminated against one of the nine characteristics their religion, race, age, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, disability, sex, marriage or civil partnership or pregnancy; everyone is entitled to be treated as equal. When promoting the service users rights, independence you must make sure their right to have information protected by the confidentiality agreement via the Data Protection Act 1998. When making sure you’re not discriminating against anyone you must inform the service user they are still in control of their own lives and choices such as what they would like to wear or what they would like to eat for dinner. The impact of discrimination on an individual can be mentally, physically and emotionally upsetting, their self esteem can be affected and they might not want to interact with other service users or key workers they may not want to interact with activities or even leave the care setting. Service users may experience mental health issue such as stress, anxiety or depression. Physically a service user might become withdrawn and might not want to eat which can result in them becoming underweight and ill. Strategies for promoting equal opportunities within a care setting would be policies and procedures such as new members of staff may be asked to read an equal opportunities policy to insure they understand fully what is expected of them when trying to promote equal opportunities within a care setting. An example of direct discrimination is when a person discriminates against another because of one of the protected the characteristics someone treats a service user less favourably than they would treat others. Such as if the characteristic is disability someone might not employ this person because of their disability but might employ someone without a disability. An example of discrimination within the care setting would be a service user discriminating another service users choice of football team the challenge to the care worker would be to try and resolve this situation without discriminating against anyone themselves. They could explain to the service user that it is unacceptable behaviour to discriminate against anyone and they could report it to the head nurse and manager. They could also give the other service user the right to make a formal complaint against the service user. Indirect discrimination is when someone is aiming to