Therapeutic Reflexology is a non-discriminatory healthcare modality that is important in the 21st Century where discrimination is occurring regularly in many environments. In today’s post, we’ll consider the non-discriminatory nature of Therapeutic Reflexology.
Discrimination refers to the unfair treatment of a person or a group of people based on factors like age, belief, culture, ethnicity, gender, HIV status, race, religion, sexuality, sexual preferences, skin colour and so forth. In the 21st Century, we often hear of people being discriminated against in different settings and in South Africa, it is not uncommon to hear about discrimination based on skin colour, especially as a result of the system of Apartheid that was implemented in the country for many years. After the democratic elections in 1994, Apartheid has been officially abolished, but discrimination continues and it is even written into law, for example, the Employment Equity Act states that people are not to be discriminated against based on a list of factors (as mentioned above), unless the person is white because it is not seen as discrimination if somebody is white (South Africa, 1998).
Black people often feel that they are still discriminated against while white people often feel that they are now on the receiving end of Apartheid due to legislation enforcing affirmative action, employment equity, and black-based-broad-economic empowerment. Discrimination does not only occur relating to skin colour and many people are discriminated against; it is not strange for the new age movement to accept all forms of religion, except Christianity. It is not uncommon for groups of people to accept only people of certain genders or certain sexual orientations. Discrimination is still occurring in the 21st Century; that is the reality.
The good news is that Therapeutic Reflexology is a formally regulated healthcare profession that does not discriminate against any person. Therapeutic Reflexology is available to anybody regardless of age, belief, culture, ethnicity, gender, HIV status, race, religion, sexuality, sexual orientation, skin colour or any other factor. Any person is welcome to make use of Therapeutic Reflexology.
There may be some conditions that require adjusted treatment, but just as anyone can basically go to a Physiotherapist, so anyone can basically go to a Therapeutic Reflexologist.
Therapeutic Reflexology is effective in many instances and it is always wonderful to see the benefits people get from Therapeutic Reflexology sessions. Yes, it does sometimes occur that patients have unrealistic expectations and they expect that one session should cure them of all their problems, but Therapeutic Reflexology is not a magic trick that can do that. Instead, Therapeutic Reflexology is a formally regulated healthcare profession that may offer tremendous benefit in improving quality of life for many; improvement of symptoms is often seen, but it is not a magic cure for everything, just like Physiotherapy or Medicine is not a magic cure for everything. Therapeutic Reflexology is a healthcare modality that may help, but as in any healthcare modality, there are no guarantees as each person reacts differently to a treatment.
For me as a Therapeutic Reflexologist, it is always such a privilege to provide treatment to a diverse variety of people from different ages, cultural backgrounds, and religions. At the private practice of Christo Scheepers Therapeutic Reflexologist, every person is treated with dignity and respect without discrimination based on any factors whatsoever. I have had the honour of working with a diverse range of people from the onset of my reflexology career in 2003 and every year I get to continue working with a diverse group of people.
What has always amazed me from the diversity of people, is the uniqueness of people’s feet. Every racial group has unique foot characteristics, but even within each racial group, each individual person has unique feet. Having the opportunity to provide Therapeutic Reflexology on such diverse feet, is always a tremendous honour and it continuously fascinates me how different each person’s feet is.
Therapeutic Reflexology is a healthcare modality that does not discriminate against any person for any reason and patients will always be treated with dignity and respect.
References
Kumra, S. & Manfredi, S. (2012) Managing Equity and Diversity. New York: Oxford University Press.
South Africa (1998) Employment Equity Act (Act 55 of 1998). Government Gazette, 400(19370), pp. 1-54, October 19.
—
Christo A. Scheepers: Therapeutic Reflexologist
Dip.T.R.(Cum Laude) [IARAMT]
AHPCSA: A11945
Pr. No.: 1080000737453
Tel. 072-800 7243