The CACTI Blog: Breaking the Silence - Language Access and Disability Justice
By Lauren Elizabeth Mitchell, 2024-2025 Undergraduate Certificate in Developmental Disabilities
The state of Arizona is incredibly diverse. Bilingualism is widespread and cultural diffusion is a constant reality. When a bilingual person experiences an event like a stroke, which leads to aphasia, communication and daily life become a challenge, especially when healthcare providers don’t offer support in their native language. For medical services, like speech therapy, culturally and linguistically responsive services are necessary. The importance of inclusive speech therapy was highlighted for me when I attended the Bilingual Aphasia Talk, hosted by the Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences department here at the University of Arizona. The talk was led by guest speaker Manuel Marte, a PhD student at Boston University. Manuel’s research focused on how bilingual individuals recover their language abilities after having a stroke, in which he discovered that the majority of bilingual people with aphasia post-stroke are Hispanic males. The main factors of this demographic are limited access to healthcare, financial status, and/or socioeconomic situations. Out of this experience, I was able to become more aware of language barriers not only in speech-language pathology, but also in healthcare access throughout all races, abilities, and cultures.
The biggest insight to be taken away from inequity in bilingual aphasia is how historical, social, and cultural constructs of disability impact the lives of people with disabilities. Things like language barriers, cultural differences, and systemic inequities make it harder for bilingual people to communicate effectively with healthcare professionals. A person being treated by a professional who doesn’t even speak their language or understand their culture is not just confusing, but also unjust. If the U.S. healthcare system put more work into cultural competency and language access training for healthcare providers, there would be not only a significant reduction in language disabilities, but improvement throughout all disability healthcare in bilingual and marginalized populations.
This issue is also deeply intertwined with the broader disability community. The entire spectrum of disability cannot be addressed without also tackling the social and cultural factors that contribute to its stigmas and biases. In my experience as an Intern at Desert Lily Bilingual Speech Therapy Clinic in Southern Arizona, I’ve seen firsthand how language intersects with disability. Every patient I worked with had a unique background, formed not only by their speech disability but also by their home life, community, native language, and culture. Language access in all healthcare services isn’t just about communication, but true equity. No one should be left out of conversations about their own body and autonomy. As a future Speech-Language Pathologist, my eyes were opened to how cultural disparities influence medical and therapeutic practices. All healthcare workers must be aware of and actively work towards intersectionality within the Developmental Disability service system.
The large presence of bilingual aphasia is not only caused by biological factors like stroke but also by long-standing social issues. Disability Justice calls us to look beyond the two-dimensional medical model and consider how racism, ableism, and linguistic discrimination intersect. Not all disability experiences are the same, and this can often be overlooked in healthcare professions. It’s easy to revert to the same solutions, diagnoses, rehabilitation services, and treatments, but I call on the community to advocate for better, more unique support in disability care. People require individualized care, and the more new questions are asked, the more research and policy changes can emerge to address inequities in not only bilingual aphasia but in all healthcare.
The CACTI Blog features the voices of our interdisciplinary trainees and Community Advisory Council members as they highlight diverse images of people with disabilities and provide community information and advocacy on disability issues. Check Out The CACTI Blog