Ethnic Enable Forgotten Citizens

Who are we? Ethnic Enable is a charitable organisation set-up by people with disabilities for individuals with disabilities from the Black and Minority Ethnic Communities Established 2000 by chair Imran Sabir

Forgotten Citizens Very limited statistical data available Within our client group 20% of families have more than one child with learning disability Prevalence of learning difficulties in South Asian between 5 – 32 yrs is 3 times higher than other communities (Azmi at al)

Prevalence in other minority ethnic groups not well documented Research impressions suggest that high instance within African Caribbean Community Poor take-up of maternal health care within BME communities, maternity services under-used by South Asian and African Caribbean women

Need to consider inter-group variations within ethnic minority communities. Within South Asian communities the Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities appear more affected by disability than Indian communities Differences also exist between religious groups in terms of diet, lifestyle, socio- economic status and health experience

Mean income of Pakistani’s & Bangladeshi’s about half of white households in same social class category (Nazroo 1997)

Why do the BME community not access support services? Health professionals have lack of Cultural Awareness Linguistic Barriers Negative attitudes held by service providers towards BME community Lack of confidence in asking for help High levels of unmet needs Fear of Stigmatisation Bad experiences Fear of Racism

Feedback “Things are structured around a white way of providing care and our community makes me feel guilty. Agencies don’t realise the pressure we are under from our families sometimes.” “There are not enough facilities for women with learning difficulties”

“Nobody in my family knows (daughter has learning disabilities)- I don’t want to tell them as they will say ‘daughter is mad’ “My experience is that people with mental health difficulties are stigmatised by other members of the community and by their family and friends. It is due to lack of awareness. There are campaigns to change attitudes of people in Scotland about mental health. But they don’t seem to reach out to the ethnic minority communities. So we feel even more stigmatised.”

"Her learning difficulties. She is an adult, so the children's activities are not right but adult classes are not right for her either."

How to Overcome Barriers? BME community MUST be seen as priority BME communities MUST be consulted Services MUST be culturally competent Staff MUST be trained adequately BME organisations are key, partnership work is Essential MUST recognise the link between disability and socio-economic factors

For the Individual Support to help make choices Support in education or employment Avoid use of jargon Adopt plain English Most importantly- LISTEN!

Points to Consider Why should the BME community be considered a priority? What change can you as an individual make within your organisation/place of study/place of work to ensure that individuals from the BME community with learning disabilities do not become ‘Forgotten Citizens’?

Contact Details Furrah Arshad