Self-Assessment Quiz Question #3 Which of the following persons is most likely to live in poverty? a. A woman who self-identifies as Alaska Native.
b. A man who is 45 years of age. c. A married man with two children. d. An unmarried woman without children. Disability
Physical, intellectual, mental health, and other long-term disabilities constitute another facet of diversity within the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC; 2020), 61 million adults (26% of adults) in the U.S. live with a disability. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC; 2021) Enforcement and Litigation Statistics and Agency Financial Report for Fiscal Year (FY) 2020, retaliation was the most frequently alleged discriminatory claim, accounting for 55.8% of all charges. Disability (36.1%) was the next most alleged category of discrimination, followed by race and sex. The percentage of each category decreased or remained stable compared to FY 2019 except for claims of retaliation, disability, color, and genetic information (EEOC, 2021). Table 5 shows the percentage of adults with specific categories of disability in the U.S.. The CDC (2020) points out that: ● Two in five adults age 65 years of age and older have a disability. ● One in four women have a disability. ● Two in five non-Hispanic, Native American Indians/ Alaska Natives have a disability. Evidence-based practice! Research shows that adults living with disabilities are more likely to smoke, have obesity, have heart disease, and/or diabetes (CDC, 2020). Healthcare professionals must be alert to the diseases linked to disability. These diseases can compound the challenges that people with disabilities face.
People with disabilities face several barriers to accessing healthcare. These include the following (CDC, 2020): ● One in three persons does not have a primary healthcare provider (Age group: 18-44 years). ● One in three people has an unmet healthcare need because of cost in the past year (Age group: 18-44 years). ● One in four people did not have a routine check-up in the past year (Age group: 45-64 years). Disability often compounds issues of poverty and access that can lead to an array of health consequences such as substance abuse, domestic violence, malnutrition, and even chronic mental health conditions. Table 5: Percentage of Adults with Functional Disability Types in the U.S. Functional Disability Description Mobility Serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs. 13.7%. Cognition Serious difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions. 10.8%. Independent Living Difficulty doing errands alone. 6.8%. Hearing Deafness or serious difficulty hearing. 5.9%. Vision Blindness or serious difficulty seeing. 4.6%. Self-Care Difficulty bathing or dressing. 3.7%. (CDC, 2020) Major findings from the survey include the following (Gruberg et al., 2020): ● More than one in three LGBTQ Americans faced discrimination of some kind in the past year. ● More than three in five transgender Americans faced discrimination of some kind in the past year. ● Discrimination adversely impacted the mental and economic well-being of many LGBTQ Americans, including one in two participants who reported moderate or significant negative psychological impacts. ● More than half of LGBTQ Americans reported hiding a personal relationship to avoid experiencing discrimination. ● An estimated 3 in 10 LGBT Americans faced difficulties accessing necessary medical care because of cost issues. ● Fifteen percent of LGBTQ Americans reported postponing or avoiding medical treatment because of discrimination. ● Transgender individuals faced unique obstacles to accessing healthcare, including one in three who had to teach their physicians about transgender people.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning population (LGBTQ) The LGBTQ population is another historically oppressed group in the U.S.. Until the 2015 Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage, LGBTQ individuals were not able to marry in most states.
There are more than 5.5 million LGBTQ individuals living in the U.S.. The LGBT community face barriers to fair and equal access to employment, housing, healthcare, and public accommodation. There are several nondiscrimination laws on federal, state, and local levels that protect people from discrimination based on such factors as age, sex, and national origin. However, until 2020, federal law did not protect individuals from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity (Roebig, 2020). The Center for American Progress conducted a national public opinion study on the state of the LGBTQ community in 2020. The survey included interviews with 1,528 self- identified LGBTQ adults ages 18 and older. The project was funded and operated by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago (Gruberg et al., 2020).
Page 86
Book Code: SWNY1224
EliteLearning.com/Social-Work
Powered by FlippingBook