New exercise class - I'm a bit miffed.

The lady I contacted has forwarded my email to another member of the team and I can expect a reply after the Christmas/New Year break.

I am expecting the reply to be either "unlikely to be sufficient interest" or "unlikely to be available funding" - or am I being too cynical?

Wyllow3

Well of course they would "promote'/advertise facilities for any group of people that was very needful, a bit of a strange thing to say. Targeted health initiatives happen all the time all over the country.

Cross-posted, Wyllow. Agreed.

Publicly funded bodies often run data collection surveys to see who is taking advantage of their offerings, so they can target those who pay for them (via council or other taxes) but don't access them for whatever reason. If this council realised that there was a significant Nepalese population but very few leisure centre users from that demographic they may have decided to run a scheme to encourage their attendance. Who knows?

Why do (some) people always assume the worst, and worry that others are getting something they haven't got, instead of celebrating the things they do get? On the whole, when a group is 'given' something (assuming the Nepalese are not paying over and above their tax contributions), it is because they have a need. Why begrudge those in need?

Well of course they would "promote'/advertise facilities for any group of people that was very needful, a bit of a strange thing to say. Targeted health initiatives happen all the time all over the country.

I would be miffed too! Actually, curiosity got the better of me and I googled “exercise classes for Nepalese people” and there it was……….a dedicated wellness scheme with exercise classes targeting Nepalese people in the UK……run by a borough council.
Would they be allowed to promote the same facilities for white British citizens…………🤔

Nanna8 it’s not racist it will be as simple as the money bid to run these classes had to have a very particular need or was specific to certain people…. in other words there was money to bid for, but for a very limited group ie elderly isolated ethnic women and then the people running the group will only get the money if they stick to these very definite guidelines

People don’t always understand how strict the guidelines for bidding can be people are constantly saying well that’s a waste of money why aren’t they using it to mend the pot holes and just don’t understand the specifics of bidding for community projects.
Eazybee it is how the system of bidding for community money works it’s not racist the pot they are bidding in is obviously trying to include elderly ethnic women a group that often doesn’t go out the house
(Just to add you couldn’t find a nicer race of people than Nepalese nothing to do with this problem though)

eazybee

Because as she has explained, for her health needs, and it appears to be patently unfair. Advertised as offering exercise for over 65 year olds, to improve health, but apparently reserved for a minority.

Is it more or less patently unfair than one area offering free classes and others not, or that free classes are offered for sufferers from COPD, but maybe not for those with other illnesses? I don’t see that as unfair. COPD sufferers may need different exercises from, say, those with arthritis. If everything has to be ‘come one, come all’, nobody’s needs are catered for.

If they were excluding the British, but allowing all other nationalities it would be discriminatory. Having a class for one group of people is not, if there is a reason they need it.

Of course it is racist if they are excluding people by their nationality. British people don’t have the monopoly on racism and it is about time this was acknowledged.

Because as she has explained, for her health needs, and it appears to be patently unfair. Advertised as offering exercise for over 65 year olds, to improve health, but apparently reserved for a minority.

That’s what I was getting at above. There are so many groups for different kinds of people, and rightly so IMO.

The OP got a course of free classes, and I had to pay for mine. Should I begrudge her her good luck, or be happy that not everyone has to pay? It wouldn’t affect my payments either way - we have a Tory council so very little is free here - so I may as well choose the latter and be happy.

I have no idea why Nepalese people might need a class of their own, but can’t imagine why they would have one if there were no such need, so what’s the point of getting upset about it?

Too much supposition.
A person has used an exercise class which proved beneficial for her health at her doctor's recommendation. Another one has been organised for the same purpose but she is excluded, apparently on the grounds of her nationality.
I hope Aely will continue her investigation and be allowed to participate in the exercise class because of her medical needs, which is the purpose of the class.

Yes - there will always be special needs groups set up when a set of clear needs specific to that group are identified and funding set up for it.

Yes, I find it poignant and have said why that this particular group should be seized upon for criticism,

for, had the group had been say for people with learning difficulties, I doubt the complaints would have been made.

I think this is all to do with funding, and funding comes with provisos.
OP says she has been recommended a course, but has to catch a bus to get there.
My suggestion is that she asks if there is any funding available for a more local class? It is quite amazing how funding can be accessed if there any enough people interested. I think maybe there isn't enough interest in the local population to set one up- maybe do some looking into this?
Meanwhile there is a group set up from which OP feels excluded but there maybe more people interested in attending this one, and so the funding has been sought.
It is difficult to know for sure- but maybe OP should focus on the groups she can access rather than those she can't?
I don't see how this anything to do with racism.

Peaseblossom

foxie48

Premier League Football Clubs: Several clubs, including Manchester United and Liverpool, advertised youth coaching roles as "positive action schemes" stating applications would only be accepted from individuals from Black, Asian, and Mixed Heritage backgrounds, as well as women.

West Yorkshire Police: A major UK police force was accused of temporarily blocking white British candidates from applying for constable roles in a bid to boost diversity. The force defended the move, but critics argued it was discriminatory.

BBC: The broadcaster faced criticism and legal challenges for advertising trainee broadcast journalist and scriptwriter positions specifically for BAME (Black, Asian, and non-white minority ethnic) candidates. The BBC defended these as lawful "positive action" training schemes designed to address under-representation in certain roles.

MI5, MI6, and GCHQ: A summer internship program offered by UK intelligence services was open only to ethnic minority candidates from socially or economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

And that's just for starters!

I genuinely cannot cant understand why you are relating all these examples to a relatively small group having a one off course set up on a "special needs" basis as a health based initiative.

Different groups in the community do have different needs, and it is quite possible, as we find the greater emphasis on prevention rather than later longer and more expensive treatment of conditions, that this group of women,

(particularly if they indeed have come over relatively recently following the settlement long overdue for a small number of Gurkha families)

are in urgent need of specific kinds of help.

For all we know, including greater use of the English Language to talk to doctors and medical staff. It's quite possible that numbers are limited and all places filled and that chunks of the help they get would be irrelevant to people born and lived all their lives in the UK.

Nothing to do with big BAME policies on a large scale,

I find it incredible people object to this group.

The way forward surely is to spend the energy spent grumbling but finding out about how the people in the locality who have health needs of specific kinds to ask for help, to ask for funding, make a good case out. If we cant do it ourselves, we ask via our GP's or the specialists who treat out condition

So it says it’s open to Nepalese women - it doesn’t say it’s only for Nepalese women. Reads to me like an encouragement? And it doesn’t say no ethnic British.

Am almost beginning to think some regard me as old-fashioned that I think everything should be "come one come all" and therefore first come first served. Also the "best person for the job" gets it - and I'm even more convinced of that point after moving to Wales and hearing that sometimes it ain't happening and the best person is being denied the job sometimes.

Any time....any context....there should not be either racism/reverse racism/nationalism. Just "Who is the best/most appropriate person - and that's the one that gets it". It just puzzles me as to why anyone would have any criteria other than "Who is the best person?" You can't start introducing criteria like that if there are two "best people" for one position - but if that ain't the case = as that old pop song goes "Shut uppa yer face" and forget any form of discrimination you might like to do and just take the one best one.

Peaseblossom

foxie48

Premier League Football Clubs: Several clubs, including Manchester United and Liverpool, advertised youth coaching roles as "positive action schemes" stating applications would only be accepted from individuals from Black, Asian, and Mixed Heritage backgrounds, as well as women.

West Yorkshire Police: A major UK police force was accused of temporarily blocking white British candidates from applying for constable roles in a bid to boost diversity. The force defended the move, but critics argued it was discriminatory.

BBC: The broadcaster faced criticism and legal challenges for advertising trainee broadcast journalist and scriptwriter positions specifically for BAME (Black, Asian, and non-white minority ethnic) candidates. The BBC defended these as lawful "positive action" training schemes designed to address under-representation in certain roles.

MI5, MI6, and GCHQ: A summer internship program offered by UK intelligence services was open only to ethnic minority candidates from socially or economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

And that's just for starters!

This post isn’t directed at you peaseblossom
Am I the only one who thinks the above is insulting/ patronising/ condescending.
All that’s missing is a virtual pat on the head.

foxie48

Premier League Football Clubs: Several clubs, including Manchester United and Liverpool, advertised youth coaching roles as "positive action schemes" stating applications would only be accepted from individuals from Black, Asian, and Mixed Heritage backgrounds, as well as women.

West Yorkshire Police: A major UK police force was accused of temporarily blocking white British candidates from applying for constable roles in a bid to boost diversity. The force defended the move, but critics argued it was discriminatory.

BBC: The broadcaster faced criticism and legal challenges for advertising trainee broadcast journalist and scriptwriter positions specifically for BAME (Black, Asian, and non-white minority ethnic) candidates. The BBC defended these as lawful "positive action" training schemes designed to address under-representation in certain roles.

MI5, MI6, and GCHQ: A summer internship program offered by UK intelligence services was open only to ethnic minority candidates from socially or economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

And that's just for starters!

I think we have to trust that the organisers have good reason, possibly numbers, and very specific needs as stated by that group. Its not for us to enforce what they should or shouldn't be doing.

The class is described as
......' having both Physical and Social activities (it lasts for 2 hours instead of the normal 1 hour) to help participants make new friends as well as stay healthy.'

Absolutely ideal for people new to make friends with English and Nepalese while all participating in healthy exercise. No need for anyone to be excluded.

The term 'White privilege' is not suggesting that white people are never poor or disadvantaged. It means that they may (or may not) be poor, but they have the privilege of not also suffering from the discrimination, resentment and assumptions that many who are not white contend with on a daily basis, and that everything they do doesn't need to be justified to others, who think they have a right to question it.

There is a huge difference between having a class for one group of people (eg the Nepalese) and excluding one group of people whilst accepting everyone else. So if the class were for everyone except the Nepalese it would be discriminatory, but having a class only for the Nepalese (or for the old, the young, the unfit, the disabled, for women, for men etc) is targeting the service and not discriminatory at all, particularly if they are paying for it.

It's no different from having a class for advanced speakers of Arabic - I could go along, but it would be pointless, as I wouldn't be able to join in, and I wouldn't have a clue what was being said.

Peaseblossom

Aely Just the same as many jobs advertised are not for us "privileged whites".

Really, what jobs are these?

Aely Just the same as many jobs advertised are not for us "privileged whites".

I would have thought the most important thing, top priority, should be integration.