Discrimination
Discrimination
Discrimination means treating some people differently from others. It doesn't matter if the discrimination was deliberate or not. It's about how the recipient receives the discrimination not the intention of the perpetrator.
It is worth remembering discrimination isn't always unlawful - after all, people are paid different wages depending on their status and skills and pharmacy is no exception. However, there are certain reasons for which your employer / colleagues etc can't discriminate against you by law and the most common examples are:
Direct discrimination: This is when you are treated worse than someone else because you have a disability. You must show that there's a link between your disability and the way you've been treated. This can be difficult. But you don't always have to give an example of a specific non-disabled person who was treated better than you. It just needs to be clear from all the circumstances that your disability was the reason why you were treated as you were.
An example might be William a counter assistant isn't offered a Pharmacy Technician apprenticeship because he has depression. But his colleague Harry, who doesn't have depression, is offered an apprenticeship – even though he has less experience and fewer qualifications.
Direct discrimination can also include discrimination by association where you may be treated worse because of your connection or association with another person with a disability e.g., because you spend a lot of time with them. This applies even if you don't have a disability yourself. Also discrimination by perception where you can also be treated worse because a person or organisation believes you do have a disability when you don't e.g. by the way you look and dress.
Discrimination arising from disability
This is where you are treated badly because of something that happens due to your disability.
Unlike direct discrimination, there's no need for you to compare yourself with anyone else. You just have to show that you were treated badly. And this treatment was linked to your disability.
Indirect discrimination
Indirect discrimination is where a person or organisation has practices or arrangements that seem to treat everyone in an equal, non-discriminatory way. But these practices or arrangements put you and others with your disability at a disadvantage compared with those who do not have your disability. An example here might be a community pharmacy on the second floor of a shopping centre with no disabled lift. You are not directly discriminating against a disabled patient coming in but indirectly they can't come in because they can't get to the second floor in the first place!
Harassment
Harassment is behaviour from others that you don't want, that violates your dignity or creates an environment that is intimidating, degrading, offensive or humiliating. It can or cannot also relate to a disability. It does not have to relate to a disability that you have!
Hate crime
Hate crime is when you're the victim of an incident where you were targeted because of your race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity. It can be quite hard to work out when something is hate crime rather than harassment. Or when it's both harassment and hate crime. Hate crimes are criminal offences and people who commit them can be prosecuted. Either way hate crime or harassment they are both wrong!
Victimisation
Victimisation is when an employer or organisation puts you at a disadvantage. It could be because of one of the following:
- You've made allegation about discrimination
- You've supported someone who has made an allegation of discrimination
For example, Sally makes a complaint that her community pharmacy has discriminated against her because of her mental health problem. As a result (and without any investigation into the allegation / complaint made by Sally) the community pharmacist tells her she must leave the pharmacy and go to another one. This is likely to be victimisation.
What are reasonable adjustments?
Reasonable adjustments are changes those organisations, people providing services, or people providing public functions have to make for you. They must make these changes to prevent your disability putting you at a disadvantage compared with others who are not disabled.
For example, when organisations are making plans about how to provide their services or public functions, they need to think about people with mental health problems. They should think about how someone with a mental health problem might be affected when using their service or public function. A great example of a reasonable adjustment in a community pharmacy might be a quiet room or counselling room for a patient with anxiety and or depression.
