Diversity in the world of speech and language

Originally written May 18, 2020. With so much going on in our country right now it is impossible to not think of how these current events affect what I do as a speech language pathologist. Race plays such a key part in all of our lives whether we like it or want to admit it. Therefore we have to be responsible in understanding the effect it may have on the children that we work with. It should never be something that we ignore or turn a blind eye to because it makes us “uncomfortable”. Because I am black, I am always aware of the disparities that exist in education and the speech world. I’m always looking for diversity in the speech materials that I buy, in the books that I read. I know and understand how important this is, especially considering how many of the children we work with are of different ethnic backgrounds. Even though this has always made a lot of sense to me, it’s discouraging to see some of the dismissive comments and commentary I’ve witnessed among others in our profession. Although I have seen a lot of support of the black community at this time, I have also seen so many negative dismissive comments in Facebook speech groups that have made me feel discouraged about this country’s perceived progress. All of this has pushed me to make sure that I educate others of the importance of knowing and understanding the cultures of the students we work with and then applying that knowledge to what we do when we work with these students. It’s disheartening to see how small of a percentage black people make up of overall percentage of slps. I want to be apart of that awareness. I want to be apart of creating diverse materials… which I don’t see much of in the products that are available in our profession. We have to do better for our children. I urge anyone reading this who serves children and adults in our field to educate yourselves, get “uncomfortable” and challenge yourselves to treat your students with the most knowledge possible. What will you be doing to ensure diversity in your approach to therapy?