Benefits of Diversity Resources

Diversity resources are helpful because they help inform the profession of cultural differences. Resources are great ways to understand more about their culture and what is acceptable and what it not. As stated in “The Amish” article, via the University of Northern Iowa, “The Amish are usually not native speakers of English, but rather speak an old form of high German.” This goes to say that with research a health profession will know that some Amish would need a German translator when seeking medical help. Not to mention, the Amish do not seek medical attention unless seriously needed. This goes to say that doing research about one’s patient’s ethnical background would be most helpful when trying to understand one’s patient.

 Many assume and judge based on norms that are placed on different ethnicities. These norms can be generalized among the ethnicities or specific to only a certain ethnicity. I, for one, used to think that since I know the norms of this specific ethnic group, I know enough to know how they think and function and what they’d do. But that’s not the way to go and never the mindset to have. So far I have broken from that “biased” mindset, instead of being biased and basing everything on what little information I know, I open my eyes and do more research if possible.

Specifically speaking, while reading the resource about Gypsy Americans, when I got to the part where it was talking about the Rom and Romnichals, I would have gotten confused had I not read further on. Due to similarities of the two names, I would have assumed that Rom would be a shortened version of Romnichals. I didn’t think that Rom and Romnichals are two different Gypsy groups. “Many of the Rom came to the New World from Russia or Eastern or Central Europe; the Romnichals came from Great Britain…they also are divided by the cultural differences and prejudices between Great Britain and Eastern Europe.”(Heimlich) This goes to say that getting to know more and opening one’s mindset really helps with getting to know more about different ethnicities. Also when it comes to health issues, Gypsies prefer to perform ritual purifications than seek western medical assistance. As Sutherland stated in the article, “some Gypsy families turn to doctors, either in private practices or at clinics”(Heimlich) when Gypsies do turn to Western medicine, they seek in privacy and somewhat secrecy as they do not want others to know of their visits. This goes to say that Gypsies will seek Western medicine only when necessarily needed.

It’s interesting what one learns when they do even the simplest research of ethnic backgrounds. From reading two resources, I know that I am more knowledgeable than I was a couple hours ago. I know that there are definite preferences when it comes to the Amish and the Gypsies. This diversity resource reading helps and it very beneficial to a professional, especially someone who consistently has face-to-face communication with the patient. At the end of it all, it’s beneficial to know the differences and understand that what may be acceptable in American society is different in another ethnic's society.