I disclosed my disability. Now my manager treats me differently

Does your honest approach work for you?

By HEATHER MACKENZIE AND SANDRA SAFRAN -Special to The Globe and Mail

When organizations need to accommodate disabled employees, this often generates jealousy, resentment, even hostility because co-workers only see the end product of accommodation (like a shorter work week, flexible hours, or reduced responsibilities) without knowing the reasons behind the changes. But it is especially unacceptable when a manager acts in the way you describe, since management is privy to those private details.

While your manager may not be making decisions that directly affect your job security, behaviour like this can constitute discriminatory harassment under human rights legislation if it is linked to your disabled status. Further, differential treatment that demeans or belittles an employee may constitute personal harassment under corporate internal policies, or even bullying under provincial law, depending on where you work.

I disclosed my disability. Now my manager treats me differently – The Globe and Mail.

10 reasons to stay in child protection social work | Social Care Network

Insights based on the articles on Guardian Professional

The physical and emotional demands placed on you will highlight levels of personal resilience and skill that you never knew you had, or were capable of. When life throws other hardships at you, you’ll be amazed at your ability to resolve them. You will develop a high level of emotional intelligence, and perceptive skills that you never thought possible.

10 reasons to stay in child protection social work | Social Care Network | Guardian Professional.

What are we doing to reduce Poverty?

Click on the picture to see an infographic on the cost of Poverty in Ontario.

Say as much or as little as you like…

the everyday sexism project.

The Everyday Sexism Project catalogues instances of sexism experienced by women on a day to day basis. They might be serious or minor, outrageously offensive or so niggling and normalised that you don’t even feel able to protest. Say as much or as little as you like, use your real name or a pseudonym – it’s up to you. By sharing your story you’re showing the world that sexism does exist, it is faced by women everyday and it is a valid problem to discuss.. For more, visit the above link!

Global Wealth Inequality

‘Visible minority:’ A misleading concept that ought to be retired !

Statscan predicts that one third of Canada’s population will be a visible minority by the year 2031. The largest minority group is projected to be South Asian.

The Globe and Mail

In Canada, anyone who considers themself neither white nor aboriginal is classified by the government, for a number of purposes, as a visible minority. It is an artificial concept that has become unnecessary and counterproductive.

Ultimately, the dividing line is arbitrary. For example, Arabic people from North Africa and the Middle East are counted as “white” in the U.S. Census. Yet anyone who ticks the Arab box on Canada’s National Household Survey is counted as a visible minority – unless they tick both the white box and the Arab box. Then they’re white.Indeed, there is something almost racist about the assumption that whites are the standard against which anyone else is noticeably, visibly different. That may be why the United Nations Council on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has asked Canada to reflect upon its use of the term visible minority.

‘Visible minority:’ A misleading concept that ought to be retired – The Globe and Mail.

Disadvantaged kids are being short-changed in Toronto schools: Toronto Star Editorial

Disadvantaged kids are being short-changed in Toronto schools: Editorial | Toronto Star

A new report by Social Planning Toronto shows about two-thirds of a $128-million fund meant to help students overcome demographic hurdles is instead being channeled into general expenditures by the Toronto District School Board. By this measure, about $40 million is actually used to help kids in need. School board officials challenged that Monday, arguing that poor kids directly get most of the money, with only (only!) $40 million shifted to general expenditures.

Either way, this arrangement is a win-win situation for both the school board and Queen’s Park. Ontario’s Liberal government gets an opportunity to highlight how much it’s spending to combat poverty. Meanwhile the school board receives millions more for what it really needs — help with keeping the lights on and the doors open.

The only losers are poor kids. But they’re easy targets. When deprived of millions in publicly promised funding they don’t complain with a very loud voice..

Immigrant underclass in GTA fuels simmering frustrations

Immigrant underclass in GTA fuels simmering frustrations | Metro.

Many highly educated immigrants are working in low-paying, low-level jobs and increasingly feel frustrated. Others, who represent a burgeoning undocumented class, are forced to work in precarious jobs due to their lack of status.

On the surface, all seems calm.There have been no race riots here as in France, no formation of anti-immigration parties as in Britain and the Netherlands.

But some experts worry the increasing creation of an immigrant underclass will brew trouble — sadly ironic in a region that for decades has taken pride in and built a reputation on its multiculturalism and acceptance of immigrants from around the world. By 2017, the GTA is forecast to become home to a predominantly non-European population.

A recent backlash over the Royal Bank of Canada’s move to replace Canadian workers with foreign workers, and a battle in Brampton over a townhouse development that erupted along cultural lines with accusations of shady “Indian politics,” reveal simmering tensions. And the Conservative Party’s recent attempt to crack down on abuses to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program has done little to appease critics.

“While immigrants and immigration is the heart and soul of the country, if you look at the main basis of inequality in Canada, along with gender, it’s based on race and immigrant status,” said Yogendra Shakya, senior research scientist at Access Alliance.

Strombo | Hillary Clinton: “Women’s Rights Are The Unfinished Business Of This Century”

Strombo | Hillary Clinton: “Women’s Rights Are The Unfinished Business Of This Century”.

Giving the poor access to affordable financial services enables them to seize livelihood opportunities, manage cash flow spikes, and mitigate risks…

12 things to know about microfinance.

Source: Asian Development Bank:http://www.adb.org/features/12-things-know-microfinance

About 2.7 billion people worldwide, or 70% of the adult population in the world’s developing countries, have no access to formal financial services, such as savings or checking accounts. Source: Independent Evaluation news Greater Focus on the Poor Key to Effectiveness of Microfinance in Asia and the Pacific

Microfinance refers to the concept of providing poor and low-income households with affordable financial services, including savings, loans, remittances, payments, and insurance. Source: ADB’s work to develop the financial sector

There are three types of sources of microfinance: formal institutions (i.e., rural banks and cooperatives), semiformal institutions (i.e., nongovernment organizations), and informal sources (i.e., money lenders and shopkeepers). Source: ADB’s work to develop the financial sector

The microfinance revolution provided loans to the poor by requiring social collateral in place of physical assets. It has grown into a $70 billion industry with an estimated 200 million clients. Source: Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) website