Communicating to Culture

The Bible proclaims the gospel story in many forms. The gospel is like a multi-faceted diamond, with different aspects that appeal to different people in different cultures. It has depths we have not fathomed. It defies every attempt to reduce it to a neat formulation.

Cultural awareness is an in-depth self-examination of one's own background, including recognizing one's biases and prejudices and assumptions about other people.

Ethnocentrism is the cause of biases and prejudices that associate negative characteristics with people who are different from a valued group. These are individual beliefs, not cultural beliefs, and do not help people make sense of their experiences.

Discrimination occurs when one acts on one's prejudices. These actions do not allow for the delivery of culturally competent care, and they create barriers for effective intercultural communication and the ability to learn about different groups.

I found it amazing that our health care system understands this so well.  They have a guide book that provides a detailed account of cultural and religious perspectives related to health and disability, along with the implications of such beliefs and issues. This includes concepts of independence and collectivism within the culture as well as perceptions of the role of the family in health care and rehabilitation. It goes further addressing specifically and discussing further the Muslim perspectives and our culture of the service systems as they relate to serving people with disabilities. It examines how they clash and how differences can be accommodated so that the unique needs of this population are addressed adequately. It goes further by providing cultural brokering tools and strategies that may help close the gap between Muslims with disabilities and service providers.  It goes further by providing resources for furthering one's understanding of Muslim communities with respect to chronic health conditions and disability.

Now we need to get this up and running.