Yet another minority issue or good news for all? Approaching LGBT issues in European social work education

ABSTRACT

This article addresses the questions of why to include and how to approach LGBT issues in the context of European social work education. Referring to social work’s commitment to LGBT people, the article points out its ongoing relevance as questions of marginalisation and discrimination point far beyond formal equality in legislation and normalisation of homosexuality within existing societal institutions. Furthermore, new questions and dynamics in rapidly changing and highly diverse societal contexts bring about new challenges in addressing LGBT issues. Against this background, the article discusses problems of representation and knowledge and underlines the potential of a queer approach. A queer perspective questions taken-for-granted assumptions about sexual orientation, gender identity and intimate relationships. It challenges normalising categories of sex, gender and desire and brings out possibilities existing beyond the heteronormative order. This way, it offers social work education a powerful theoretical lens to address issues on sexual orientation and gender identity not only as yet another minority issue, but as transversal matter and as good news for all. In this article, we use the acronym LGBT to refer to lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people. LGBT is meant to include and at the same time emphasise the differences between people who do not (exclusively) define themselves as heterosexual and who cannot or do not want to match or identify with binarities of sex, gender and desire. We do not use the acronym LGBTI because we find it problematic to include intersex people without taking explicitly into account their specific situations and needs. Making a plea for a queer approach, we share – of course – a critical view on categorisations and identity labels.     

Discursive discrimination against the 'deaf-mute'/'deaf ' and the importance of categorization in 20th century Sweden

This article sheds light on issues concerning discrimination in the history of deaf people in Sweden in the 20th century. With the help of a specific typology of concepts for analysing discrimination exercised through the use of language, it is shown how the categorization of the hearing impaired has changed over time and how, in this process of change, official discourses on 'deaf-muteness' or deafness has shifted from more to less discriminatory in certain respects and from making deaf people out as very different from the majority population to de-emphasizing differences. The overall social practice is described as moving from assimilation towards inclusion.     

向女性伸出法律援助之手——记“中国妇女法律援助行动”(英文)

中国法律援助基金会与全国妇联权益部、全国妇联法律帮助中心共同开展的"中国妇女法律援助行动",自2006年启动以来让近6000人受益。     

Catering to sex,sexual, and gender diversity: An exploratory study on the effects of LGBTI awareness training on aged care staff in Tasmania,Australia

The Australian National LGBTI Ageing and Aged Care Strategy seeks to address the lack of recognition of older lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) adults living in aged care. Awareness training for aged care staff forms a crucial part of this strategy, but the impact of such educational programs are yet to be examined. In this article, we examine the effects of LGBTI awareness training on staff working in an Australian aged care facility. These staff perceived the awareness training as valuable, but the outcomes from it were limited. Therefore, we indicate changes that are necessary to support the translation of training into practice.     

A survey of the employment problems of physically handicapped persons in New South Wales

In the last of his series of four articles, Scott Christie describes how Community Aid Abroad organises its work within Australia and how the approach taken parallels the development process on which Community Aid Abroad bases its work amongst overseas communities. He suggests that supporters need to understand development as a partnership in which they have as much to gain as the people who benefit from their contributions. Finally, he reminds us that a simple transfer of resources from the haves to the have-nots will never eradicate poverty unless its structural causes are addressed. He concludes with an invitation to readers to become Community Aid Abroad supporters.     

Drivers of workplace discrimination against people with disabilities: the utility of Attribution Theory

The purpose of this paper was to determine what drives workplace discrimination against people with disabilities. These findings are then compared to available literature on attribution theory, which concerns itself with public perceptions of the controllability and stability of various impairments. The sample included 35,763 allegations of discriminations filed by people with disabilities under the employment provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Group A included impairments deemed by Corrigan et al. [1988] to be uncontrollable but stable: visual impairment (representing 13% of the total allegations in this study), cancer (12%), cardiovascular disease (19%), and spinal cord injuries (5%). The controllable but unstable impairments in group B included depression (38%), schizophrenia (2%), alcohol and other drug abuse (4%), and HIV/AIDS (7%). The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had resolved all allegations in terms of merit Resolutions (a positive finding of discrimination) and Resolutions without merit. Allegations of workplace discrimination were found to center mainly on hiring, discharge, harassment, and reasonable accommodation issues. Perceived workplace discrimination (as measured by allegations filed with EEOC) does occur at higher levels in Group B, especially when serious issues involving discharge and disability harassment are involved. With the glaring exception of HIV/AIDS, however, actual discrimination (as measured by EEOC merit Resolutions) occurs at higher levels for Group A.     

Training issues in churches

The national and local frameworks of the Christian churches in the UK provide important resources to families and to young people and children. To promote awareness and effective responses to child abuse, training needs to address organizational issues and individual learning, and should do so at community, regional and national level. In training within churches, the part played by beliefs and values cannot be overlooked. Key concerns are identified and discussed.     

Framing Faith: Explaining Cooperation and Conflict in the US Conservative Christian Political Movement

Despite the burgeoning literature on coalition work, very little is known about the cooperative potential within social movements. Drawing on archival, interview, and secondary data, we examine cooperation and conflict in the US conservative Christian political movement from 1970 to 1994. We highlight how framing, political elites and intramovement dynamics within the conservative Christian political movement altered the cooperative potential over time. Specifically, we find that the conservative Christian political movement initially had a strong coordinative potential and even engaged in organization building as a way to formalize cross-denominational cooperation. However, as the evangelical wing of the movement sought to build and consolidate its political power, it began to frame issues in ways that reflected a particularized world view regarding the role of the state in fostering a moral society. Other conservative Christian organizations responded by couching their understanding of political issues in their own faith traditions, creating divisions within the movement and ultimately making cooperation impossible. Conceptually, this research broadens how we think about cooperation and points to the importance of specialization and political elites to cooperation within movements.     

Older transgender women in Thailand: views of service providers

The social and cultural construction of aging and how it is experienced by transgender women in Thailand has been neglected within the academic literature. This qualitative study explored how Thai lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) service providers construct aging transgender women. Fourteen semi-structured in-depth interviews and one focus group were conducted in Thailand between 2016 and 2017 with LGBTI staff members whose roles ranged from volunteer to senior management. This research was a part of a larger doctoral research project. In considering both gender identity and older age, a clearer understanding is established on how notions of “older” for transgender women are constructed by service providers. Thematic analysis was undertaken, which established that there is a lack of heterogeneity and shared understanding of the concepts of “age” and “older transgender women.” This key finding was compounded by the invisibility of older transgender women in the Thai landscape, which limited the extent to which older transgender women have been included in targeted service provision. Older transgender women lack agency and voice and have failed to be involved in the shaping of services that meet their needs.     

Challenging Stereotypes Surrounding Disability and Promoting Anti‐oppressive Practice: Some Reflections on Teaching Social Work Students in Northern Ireland

Relatively high levels of dependency on disability benefits in Northern Ireland has led to widespread assumptions within this society that fraud and abuse are rife within the social security system. Consequently, many of those in receipt of disability benefits are stereotyped as dishonest, malingerers and scroungers. This stereotyping is damaging to all disabled people and undermines the security that the welfare system is supposed to provide. Social workers are obliged to work within an anti‐oppressive framework, addressing issues of oppression and discrimination. It is therefore imperative that strategies and techniques, which raise their awareness of these issues, are developed. This article describes a teaching strategy that was introduced in the first year of a social work degree programme, to enable students to recognise and reflect upon cultural stereotypes, and comments on its effectiveness.     

Achievements of and challenges facing the Korean Disabled People’s Movement

Abstract

This paper provides a critical review of the development of the disabled people’s movement in South Korea since 1945, reflecting both its achievements and the obstacles it has faced. In particular, political positions and responses to the movement’s agitation against socio-cultural discrimination and inequality are discussed. Further, three key theoretical foundations of the movement are examined in order to describe the diversity inherent therein. This paper concludes that the disabled people’s movement has heavily influenced the values, norms, and systems of Korean society, but it has predominantly focused on integrating disability issues into policy and legislation, not on changing society and culture. Hence, the Korean Disabled People’s Movement is currently facing many challenges that are major threats towards its future development.     

Australian Mandatory Retirement Challenged

Australia experienced declines in older workers' participation in the labor force similar to that of the United States during the 1970s, but it has taken more than 10 years to enact the same policy changes in age discrimination in employment. In order to promote a considered internationalism as opposed to parochialism in policy, this paper considers two questions about this case, namely, "Why did Australia take so long to change?" and "What has been learned from the North American experience?" On the first question, it is argued that Australians are beginning to move only slowly from a European view of retirement as leisure in "old age" towards the more active notions in North America and among its Asian neighbors. Elites in government are responding to a growing political consciousness among the seed seeking a new deal in rights of a access to work and other activities. On the second question, it is argued that the North American experience leads us to moderate strong claims about age discrimination and to be less optimistic about major improvements in older workers' participation arising from legislation outlawing age discrimination. This evidence has reduced the contentiousness of the issue in Australia and allowed focus on the more practical issues of how to make the legislation work to protect the rights of older people.     

Discrimination Against Gay Men,Lesbians, and Transgender People Working in Education

Abstract

This paper explores the workplace experiences of 120 gay men, lesbians, and transgender people who were employed as teachers, academics, and educators. The data, drawn from a larger collaborative research project, explored the workplace experiences of 900 gay men, lesbians, and transgender people. Homophobic harassment and treatment were widespread amongst the lesbian, gay men, and transgender teachers, academics, and educators. The paper will utilize the stories of those who experienced discrimination to explicate the issues confronting gay men, lesbians, and transgender people who work in the education system.     

Risk,Recovery and Capacity: Competing or Complementary Approaches to Mental Health Social Work

Mental health social workers have a central role in providing support to people with mental health problems and in the use of coercion aimed at dealing with risk. Mental health services have traditionally focused on monitoring symptoms and ascertaining the risks people may present to themselves or others. This well-intentioned but negative focus on deficits has contributed to stigma, discrimination, and exclusion experienced by service users. Emerging understandings of risk also suggest that our inability to accurately predict the future makes risk a problematic foundation for compulsory intervention. Therefore it is argued that alternative approaches are needed to make issues of power and inequality transparent. This article focuses on two areas of practice: the use of recovery-based approaches, which promote supported decision-making and inclusion; and the assessment of a person's ability to make decisions, their mental capacity, as a less discriminatory gateway criterion than risk for compulsory intervention.     

Home and away: modern Korean identities and minorities

ABSTRACT

South Korea is an evolving country that encourages immigration, and which presents itself as a multicultural country. Nevertheless, multiculturalism has not gone as smoothly as the government would like us to believe, and discrimination and racism are serious issues, especially due to Korea’s self-imposed ideology of Korean purity and homogeneity. This complicates Koreans’ sense of identity, both at home and abroad, issues dealt with in this special issue, which features three articles that deal with the complexities of ethnicity and identity in the twenty-first century. These articles look at the transformative notions surrounding Korean identity in Korea, and how the lingering legacy of colonial history negatively frames this identity in Japan. Finally, there is an examination of Korean immigrant entrepreneurship in Argentina, looking at the Korean community there in a very different socio-historical reality, where people negotiate their identities beyond the structures of Japan’s colonial legacy.     

“I Found God in The Glory Hole”: The Moral Career of a Gay Christian

This article examines processes wherein Gay Christian men transition from closeted religious people to openly Gay Christians. Based on 36 months of fieldwork in a southeastern lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Christian church and a synthesis of research into LGBT Christian experience over the past 25 years, we conceptualize these transformations as a moral career consisting of (1) essentializing religious belief and practice (2) emotionalizing early religious experience, (3) spiritualizing coming out of the closet and religion, and (4) sexualizing coming back to religious participation. In so doing, Gay Christian men interpreted the stages of their lives as an ongoing sexual–religious process wherein they became the spiritual and sexual beings they believed God always wanted them to be. In conclusion, we draw out implications for understanding (1) the moral career of a Gay Christian, (2) the usefulness of conceptualizing religious and sexual transitions as elements of a moral career, and (3) the reproduction of religious privilege.     

Is Discrimination Against Evangelical Christians a Problem in Social Work Education?

This article reviews the literature regarding discrimination by social work practitioners and educators against evangelical Christian social workers. We examine the methodology of articles that compare religiosity and political ideology between social workers and the general population and also of articles that address discrimination against evangelical Christians in social work education. Our results indicate that there are limited studies to support arguments that such discrimination exists and that these studies have significant methodological weaknesses. We conclude that the claims about social work and social workers discriminating against evangelical Christians are not supported by a sufficient body of rigorous research.     

The essential role of cultural safety in developing culturally-relevant prevention programming in First Nations communities: Lessons learned from a national evaluation of Mental Health First Aid First Nations

Mental Health First Aid is a population health approach that educates people to recognize and respond to mental health challenges. Since 2012, the Mental Health Commission of Canada has worked with six First Nations communities to develop a culturally-relevant version of the program called Mental Health First Aid First Nations (MHFAFN). This paper presents mixed methods, multi-informant data from a national evaluation to assess the extent to which the course was experienced as culturally safe by Indigenous participants, factors that contributed to these experiences, and ways in which cultural relevancy of MHFAFN can be improved. Our evaluation team conducted participant interviews and surveys, as well as facilitator interviews. Nearly all Indigenous participants (94.6%) experienced the course as safe. Participants and facilitators identified a range of factors that promoted cultural safety, including the knowledge and skills of the facilitators and the cultural components of the course. Participants that did not experience safety identified trauma-related factors and facilitation style. The findings suggest that MHFAFN may be situated in a way where shared cultural backgrounds are imperative to the success of the course. Further evaluation of the MHFAFN curriculum, with the goal of continual improvement, may help to further enhance participants’ experiences in taking the course.     

The Role of Perceived Racial Discrimination in the Marriage Gap Between Black and White People

Abstract

Many explanations offered for the gap in marriage rates between Black and White people are economic and cultural. Less often considered are how racial social psychological factors influence marriage rates. In this study, we use critical race theory and the life course perspective to investigate how perceived racial discrimination impacts the likelihood of marriage for Black and White people. Data for the study are taken from the Portraits of American Life Study (N?=?678). The results of logistic regression analyses show that among people who report perceived racial discrimination, White people generally have a higher probability of being married compared to Black people. Analyses by age demonstrate that among younger adults, Black people who perceive racial discrimination are equally likely to be married as White people and have a higher probability of being married than Black people who do not report perceptions of racial discrimination. A negative influence on the odds of marriage related to perceived racial discrimination for Black people becomes clearer as respondents age. The findings highlight the importance of considering perceptions of racial discrimination to better understand the marriage gap between Black and White people across the life course.