Occupational apartheid

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Occupational apartheid is the concept in occupational therapy that different individuals, groups and communities can be deprived of meaningful and purposeful activity through segregation due to social, political, economical factors and for social status reasons.

Occupational therapy

Occupational therapy (OT) is the use of assessment and intervention to develop, recover, or maintain the meaningful activities, or occupations, of individuals, groups, or communities. It is an allied health profession performed by occupational therapists and Occupational Therapy Assistants. OTs often work with people with mental health problems, disabilities, injuries, or impairments.

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Occupational apartheid may occur due to race, disability, age, gender, sexuality, religious preference, political preference, and creed. A war environment can also contribute to occupational apartheid in which the constraints of war prevent the people living in the midst of combat from accessing past occupations. [1] Occupational therapists recognize that many people facing occupational apartheid do not have the opportunity to freely choose their occupations, and thus are disadvantaged. [2] The health and wellbeing of these individuals, groups and communities is compromised through the deprivation of meaningful and purposeful activities.

Apartheid system of racial segregation enforced through legislation in South Africa

Apartheid was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa from 1948 until the early 1990s. Apartheid was characterised by an authoritarian political culture based on baasskap, which encouraged state repression of Black African, Coloured, and Asian South Africans for the benefit of the nation's minority white population. The economic legacy and social effects of apartheid continue to the present day.

Racial segregation separation of humans

Racial segregation is the systemic separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, riding on a bus, or in the rental or purchase of a home or of hotel rooms. Segregation is defined by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance as "the act by which a person separates other persons on the basis of one of the enumerated grounds without an objective and reasonable justification, in conformity with the proposed definition of discrimination. As a result, the voluntary act of separating oneself from other people on the basis of one of the enumerated grounds does not constitute segregation". According to the UN Forum on Minority Issues, "The creation and development of classes and schools providing education in minority languages should not be considered impermissible segregation, if the assignment to such classes and schools is of a voluntary nature".

Religious segregation separation of people according to their religion

Religious segregation is the separation of people according to their religion. The term has been applied to cases of religious-based segregation occurring as a social phenomenon, as well as to segregation arising from laws, whether explicit or implicit.

In the light of day to day existence, every individual should be of equal status, no matter what their economic, political, health or social status. Occupational apartheid explains the reality that some people may be occupationally more equal than others. [3] [4]

Groups that may experience occupational apartheid

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LGBT Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons

LGBT, or GLBT, is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the term is an adaptation of the initialism LGB, which was used to replace the term gay in reference to the LGBT community beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s. Activists believed that the term gay community did not accurately represent all those to whom it referred.

A refugee, generally speaking, is a displaced person who has been forced to cross national boundaries and who cannot return home safely. Such a person may be called an asylum seeker until granted refugee status by the contracting state or the UNHCR if they formally make a claim for asylum. The lead international agency coordinating refugee protection is the United Nations Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The United Nations have a second Office for refugees, the UNRWA, which is solely responsible for supporting the large majority of Palestinian refugees.

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Simó-Algado, S; Mehta, N; Kronenberg, F; Cockburn, L; Kirsh, B (2002). "Occupational therapy intervention with children survivors of war". Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy. 69 (4): 205–217. doi:10.1177/000841740206900405. PMID   12395622.
  2. ↑ Cage, Anthea (May 2007). "Occupational therapy with women and children survivors of domestic violence: Are we fulfilling our activist heritage? A review of the literature". The British Journal of Occupational Therapy. 70 (5): 192–198. doi:10.1177/030802260707000503.
  3. ↑ Kronenberg, F. Simó Algado, S. and Pollard, N. (2007) Occupational Therapy Without Borders: Learning from the Spirit of Survivors. London: Elsevier Churchill Livingstone
  4. ↑ Pollard, N. Sakellariou, D. and Kronenberg, F. (2008) A Political Practice of Occupational Therapy. Edinburgh: Elsevier Churchill Livingstone
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