The Right to Meaningful Communication That is Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate (Right #2)

Culturally Appropriate

Now, for culturally appropriate communication. There are many facets to this, so let’s take a look at three:

1. Availability of culturally appropriate AAC.

Simply translating English words into a different language is not enough. Of course, every culture has many idioms that do not translate literally. But there are also cultural patterns to language use (i.e., sociolinguistics). These patterns govern many aspects of communication:

• volume
• politeness/deference
• intonation
• rate of speech
• turn-taking norms, etc.

This is undoubtedly an area of need in the AAC systems available on the market.

2. Provision of culturally appropriate speech-language (communication) assessment and intervention.

Services must be delivered in linguistically and culturally respectful ways. Again, this is an area of need across speech-language pathology as a field. It intertwines with many complex issues:

• racism
• ableism
• classism, etc.

The SLP field suffers from a lack of diverse clinicians despite serving an enormously diverse client population. See: Our Clients Are Diverse: Why Aren’t We?

3. General understanding and acceptance regarding cultural views of disability.

And more narrowly, cultural views of assistive technology. Each culture has different ways they interpret, approach, and embrace disability. Not to mention disability culture itself. These need to be integrated into care delivery and decision making around goals and outcomes. Dr. Parette and colleagues have done some preliminary research into these topics. Including preferences and views on assistive technology for Asian-American and Latinx families.

We all have a responsibility to confront our own biases. We must continually learn to do better by our AAC users. Full stop. We have an obligation to respect and uphold their right to culturally and linguistically appropriate communication. And the entire Communication Bill of Rights.

Further resources:

• Cultural Competence Check-Ins
• Cultural Competence Checklist: Service Delivery
• Cultural Competency Quiz: Do You Know What You Don’t Know?
• Culturally Responsive AAC | Augmentative and Alternative Communication Studies
• AAC in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Populations: Ethical and Clinical Considerations

Additional Considerations

Sirad Shirdon is a bilingual SLP who specializes in AAC. Sirad shares the following culturally sensitive considerations:

AAC and Dialects of English

When customizing AAC devices, we should consider English dialects. Such as Black English or African American Vernacular English (AAVE), also known as African American English (or AAE). AAVE is a unique dialect of English. Many Black people of all ages speak AAVE. It has its own unique rules, vocabulary, accent, and grammatical features. If you support a Black American AAC user, have a discussion with the person or their family about the use of AAVE in their family. Ask if they would like to incorporate AAVE into the person’s AAC system.

Considerations Around Youth Language

Many of the “slang” terms and grammatical constructions youth use are directly taken from AAVE. It is important that we do not conflate slang and AAVE.

Nonetheless, a wonderful feature of youth culture is that they often have unique ways of communicating with one another! Adolescent AAC users should be able to communicate with their peers using the language of their peers. We should ensure that our youth AAC users have these words and phrases programmed onto their communication system if they choose. Mr. Lindsay (a special education teacher) regularly updates his social media with slang terms heard in his middle school classroom.

Considerations Around Picture Symbols

Many communication systems have options for personalization. Such as the ability to customize picture symbols for a particular skin tone or even faith community. Check to see if it is important to the AAC user that the picture symbols are reflective of their skin tone or religion. If it is, customize to fit their needs. Communication applications like Touchchat allow you to change the skin tone of the picture symbols. TDSnap, for example, lists diverse holidays including Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. Creating buttons with specific words/phrases is also useful when working with diverse communities. For example, a Muslim family may appreciate having the greeting of ‘salaamu ‘alaykum’ on a person’s social greetings page.

It is crucial to have a conversation with the person and/or their family to get their input about what changes to make to their communication system. An important part of culturally and linguistically meaningful communication is ensuring that assumptions are not made about what a person from a particular group would like to have included on their communication system.

Do you have a favorite tip or resource that we missed? Leave a comment to share!