Volume 15, Number 2, Summer 2020Let’s Not Fall Short: COVID-19, Social Justice and Speech-Language Pathology AUTHOR:
It is now well established that COVID-19 negatively and disproportionately impacts the physiological, economic, And educational outcomes of communities of color. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recently updated their website to include a summary report of COVID-19 and Racial and Ethnic Minority Groups (2020). This report details potential factors that contribute to this disproportionality, but it falls short of addressing the depth of systemic racism in our country that leads to these outcomes. I was bothered by it and other reports from the U.S. Department of Education which do the same. I began to wonder. In this climate, how do we address inequities and effectively prepare pre-professional students to engage in practices that can positively facilitate individual change in communication and transform broader society? As an instructor, what will I need to do to help prepare future SLPs to address inequities and injustices? I share with you some musings that I have had during this time to help me answer that question so that I don’t “fall short” in talking about and discussing the role of systematic oppression in health and educational disparities. My reflections are related to a talk I gave at last year’s National Black Association of Speech Language and Hearing (NBASLH) Convention on social-justice and speech-language pathology. NBASLH’s call for papers to address the COVID-19 crisis provides an ideal forum to discuss many of the key points from that talk and why they need to be considered within the context of teaching during this pandemic. DOI: DOWNLOAD FULL ARTICLE |