1 00:00:11,309 --> 00:00:14,189 Hi everyone, I'd like to begin by 2 00:00:14,189 --> 00:00:16,229 introducing myself. My name is Chelsea, 3 00:00:16,229 --> 00:00:18,389 Osei. I'm an instructor at McGill 4 00:00:18,389 --> 00:00:19,949 University School of Communication 5 00:00:19,949 --> 00:00:21,989 Sciences and Disorders, as well as the 6 00:00:21,989 --> 00:00:23,399 speech language pathologists at a 7 00:00:23,399 --> 00:00:24,749 specialized school for children with 8 00:00:24,749 --> 00:00:27,299 special needs. I work with kids who have 9 00:00:27,329 --> 00:00:29,879 autism, Down syndrome or other conditions 10 00:00:29,879 --> 00:00:31,259 that impacts their functional 11 00:00:31,259 --> 00:00:33,659 communication skills. And I was inspired 12 00:00:33,659 --> 00:00:36,569 to go into this work because I have a 13 00:00:36,569 --> 00:00:38,699 wonderful brother with autism who has 14 00:00:38,699 --> 00:00:40,979 forever changed my life and continues to 15 00:00:40,979 --> 00:00:43,469 shape my values. I just like to make it 16 00:00:43,469 --> 00:00:45,359 clear that I am marginalized for certain 17 00:00:45,359 --> 00:00:47,879 parts of my identity, but I am privileged 18 00:00:47,879 --> 00:00:50,729 for others. So, I'm a cis woman using she/ 19 00:00:50,729 --> 00:00:53,429 her pronouns. I'm black, queer, first 20 00:00:53,429 --> 00:00:55,739 generation Canadian, born to parents who 21 00:00:55,739 --> 00:00:57,899 immigrated from Ghana, and the list goes 22 00:00:57,899 --> 00:01:00,329 on. But when looking at power structures 23 00:01:00,329 --> 00:01:02,579 and systems of oppression, able bodied 24 00:01:02,579 --> 00:01:04,019 ness, for example, is one of my 25 00:01:04,019 --> 00:01:05,639 intersecting identities that brings me 26 00:01:05,669 --> 00:01:08,399 privilege. Whereas blackness and queerness 27 00:01:08,399 --> 00:01:09,569 are identities that tend to be 28 00:01:09,569 --> 00:01:10,469 marginalized. 29 00:01:18,510 --> 00:01:20,610 So, I'd like to begin with a common 30 00:01:20,610 --> 00:01:22,560 starting point for discourse at the 31 00:01:22,560 --> 00:01:24,930 intersection of multiple identities, which 32 00:01:24,930 --> 00:01:28,200 is the term: "Intersectionality". The term 33 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:30,690 intersectionality was coined in the 1980s 34 00:01:30,690 --> 00:01:33,540 by Kimberlé Crenshaw, but theorized by 35 00:01:33,540 --> 00:01:35,850 activists well before then. And it 36 00:01:35,850 --> 00:01:38,370 conceptualizes how multiple factors such 37 00:01:38,370 --> 00:01:41,130 as gender identification, race, religion, 38 00:01:41,130 --> 00:01:45,930 etc, intersect to form a person's identity 39 00:01:45,960 --> 00:01:47,880 resulting in a unique experience of 40 00:01:47,880 --> 00:01:50,160 oppression. So, the original goal of 41 00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:52,320 coining the term intersectionality was to 42 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:54,180 address the disparities of diverse 43 00:01:54,180 --> 00:01:56,520 perspectives in the feminist movement was 44 00:01:56,520 --> 00:01:58,410 to empower Black and other racialized 45 00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:00,750 women. And it was to emphasize the nature 46 00:02:00,750 --> 00:02:03,660 of fluidity between social groups. So, the 47 00:02:03,660 --> 00:02:05,880 concept has become extremely influential 48 00:02:05,880 --> 00:02:08,250 and is a crucial pillar of critical race 49 00:02:08,250 --> 00:02:12,090 theory. So,here's a quote from Kimberlé 50 00:02:12,090 --> 00:02:14,910 Crenshaw from 2017. It's from an article 51 00:02:14,910 --> 00:02:16,530 called: "Kimberlé Crenshaw on 52 00:02:16,530 --> 00:02:18,960 intersectionality more than two decades 53 00:02:18,960 --> 00:02:21,540 later". She says: "Intersectionality is a 54 00:02:21,540 --> 00:02:24,000 lens through which you can see where power 55 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:27,600 comes at and collides where interlocks and 56 00:02:27,600 --> 00:02:30,000 intersects. It's not simply that there's a 57 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:32,550 race problem here a gender problem here 58 00:02:32,550 --> 00:02:35,220 and a class or LGBTQ problem there.Many 59 00:02:35,220 --> 00:02:37,620 times that framework erases what happens 60 00:02:37,620 --> 00:02:39,810 to people who are subject to all of these 61 00:02:39,810 --> 00:02:43,170 things". So, we also must remember that 62 00:02:43,170 --> 00:02:45,000 these identities can also be influenced by 63 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:47,940 visibility, that those in power may fail 64 00:02:47,940 --> 00:02:50,460 to acknowledge aspects of one's identity 65 00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:55,980 if they do not see it. I draw on Black 66 00:02:55,980 --> 00:02:57,810 disability scholars and Black Queer 67 00:02:57,810 --> 00:02:59,970 scholars to enhance my own understanding 68 00:02:59,970 --> 00:03:01,920 of how to apply an intersectional 69 00:03:01,920 --> 00:03:03,870 framework in my practice as a speech 70 00:03:03,870 --> 00:03:05,970 language pathologist. So, here are a few 71 00:03:05,970 --> 00:03:08,040 extracts that highlight the challenge of 72 00:03:08,040 --> 00:03:10,890 applying an intersectional framework. In 73 00:03:10,890 --> 00:03:13,500 his essay introducing white disability a 74 00:03:13,500 --> 00:03:16,890 modest proposal, Christopher Bell writes: 75 00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:19,980 "Disability studies has historically failed 76 00:03:20,010 --> 00:03:22,680 to engage issues of race and ethnicity in 77 00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:24,960 a substantive capacity, thereby 78 00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:27,330 entrenching whiteness as its constitutive 79 00:03:27,330 --> 00:03:30,120 underpinning". So when one fails to apply 80 00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:32,130 an intersectional framework, power 81 00:03:32,130 --> 00:03:34,410 dynamics are at play and white supremacy 82 00:03:34,410 --> 00:03:38,520 is being upheld. In 2019, Pickens wrote: 83 00:03:38,550 --> 00:03:41,220 "Black madness, Mad Blackness"and she 84 00:03:41,220 --> 00:03:44,280 discusses how acquainting or interchanging 85 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:46,860 racism and ableism is a form of erasure 86 00:03:46,860 --> 00:03:49,140 that lacks nuance. She thinks that 87 00:03:49,140 --> 00:03:51,150 critical discourse around race and 88 00:03:51,150 --> 00:03:53,310 disability tends to implicate but not 89 00:03:53,310 --> 00:03:55,860 include each other. She says right now our 90 00:03:55,860 --> 00:03:58,050 conversations about race and disability 91 00:03:58,050 --> 00:04:01,200 are both stagnated and sequestered. That 92 00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:02,790 is, we tend to only talk about the 93 00:04:02,790 --> 00:04:04,740 relationship between race and disability 94 00:04:04,740 --> 00:04:07,230 in specific ways. And that conversation 95 00:04:07,230 --> 00:04:09,780 tends to be limited, not only to academia, 96 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:13,980 but to specific sites within it. In the 97 00:04:13,980 --> 00:04:16,590 Elena Kiesling article: "The missing colors 98 00:04:16,590 --> 00:04:18,960 of the rainbow" the lack of inclusion of 99 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:20,970 racially diverse perspectives in Queer 100 00:04:20,970 --> 00:04:22,860 organizational frameworks is also 101 00:04:22,860 --> 00:04:25,800 explored. So, Kiesling writes: "Queer 102 00:04:25,800 --> 00:04:28,380 mainstream organizations, activism and 103 00:04:28,380 --> 00:04:31,620 politics cannot ignore anti-blackness if 104 00:04:31,620 --> 00:04:33,720 they truly aspire change. However, the 105 00:04:33,960 --> 00:04:36,090 identity lines of leading LGBT 106 00:04:36,090 --> 00:04:38,340 organizations are often clear cut with 107 00:04:38,340 --> 00:04:40,230 little potential for intersectional 108 00:04:40,230 --> 00:04:42,570 thinking". So, we see that the erasure of 109 00:04:42,570 --> 00:04:44,250 other identities when specialized 110 00:04:44,280 --> 00:04:46,290 organizations can occur at 111 00:04:47,070 --> 00:04:49,740 a structural level. So what 112 00:04:49,740 --> 00:04:51,810 does this mean for other industries? like, 113 00:04:51,810 --> 00:04:53,520 what does this mean for healthcare? for 114 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:58,290 example. We must acknowledge how systems 115 00:04:58,290 --> 00:05:00,480 of privilege and oppression forsters 116 00:05:00,480 --> 00:05:03,240 social inequalities at a larger macro 117 00:05:03,240 --> 00:05:05,370 structural level that propagate health 118 00:05:05,370 --> 00:05:09,900 disparities. Here, Bowleg writes: 119 00:05:09,990 --> 00:05:12,120 "Intersectionality is a crucial step in 120 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:14,070 understanding complexities of health 121 00:05:14,070 --> 00:05:16,560 disparities for marginalized groups. So, 122 00:05:16,560 --> 00:05:19,530 you may see a person seeking health care. 123 00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:22,260 And under that you may not see these 124 00:05:22,260 --> 00:05:24,900 identities but this person could be a 125 00:05:24,900 --> 00:05:28,470 trans woman, asexual, black disabled, high 126 00:05:28,470 --> 00:05:31,020 income. You don't know how they're 127 00:05:31,020 --> 00:05:32,670 different aspects of their identities 128 00:05:32,670 --> 00:05:34,590 intersect to form the person in front of 129 00:05:34,590 --> 00:05:37,530 you. For challenge to integrating 130 00:05:37,530 --> 00:05:39,810 intersectionality into healthcare is that 131 00:05:39,840 --> 00:05:43,140 it's hard to methodologically measure all 132 00:05:43,140 --> 00:05:46,290 intersections influence on health. Because 133 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:48,390 the concept of intersectionality wasn't 134 00:05:48,390 --> 00:05:50,910 created in order to predict health 135 00:05:50,940 --> 00:05:53,550 outcomes. For example, through American 136 00:05:53,550 --> 00:05:55,350 research studies, we know that health care 137 00:05:55,350 --> 00:05:57,150 professionals tend to substantially 138 00:05:57,150 --> 00:05:59,160 underestimate the quality of life of 139 00:05:59,160 --> 00:06:01,350 people with disabilities. We also know 140 00:06:01,350 --> 00:06:03,630 that people of color receive less care and 141 00:06:03,630 --> 00:06:07,230 often worse care than white folks. In 142 00:06:07,230 --> 00:06:09,510 America at least. So, what happens when a 143 00:06:09,510 --> 00:06:11,430 disabled person of color walks into your 144 00:06:11,430 --> 00:06:12,060 clinic? 145 00:06:17,580 --> 00:06:21,090 So, I urge other educators to think about 146 00:06:21,090 --> 00:06:23,670 scenarios specific to their profession and 147 00:06:23,670 --> 00:06:26,040 apply an intersectional framework into 148 00:06:26,040 --> 00:06:28,650 their pedagogy. I'd like to emphasize that 149 00:06:28,650 --> 00:06:31,050 this is not just a one time thing. Anti- 150 00:06:31,050 --> 00:06:33,030 oppression work is not a checkbox. It's an 151 00:06:33,030 --> 00:06:34,890 ongoing journey toward shifting the 152 00:06:34,890 --> 00:06:37,530 narrative. So when I instruct speech 153 00:06:37,530 --> 00:06:39,510 language pathology students, for example. 154 00:06:39,510 --> 00:06:41,640 I plan on being such as unlearning 155 00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:44,460 internalized biases and target this from 156 00:06:44,460 --> 00:06:46,170 many different angles. Whether it be 157 00:06:46,440 --> 00:06:48,810 taking crosslinguistic or dialectal 158 00:06:48,810 --> 00:06:50,610 differences into account when assessing 159 00:06:50,610 --> 00:06:52,980 someone's speech or recognizing that our 160 00:06:52,980 --> 00:06:56,250 profession has inherently ableist notions 161 00:06:56,490 --> 00:06:58,590 when constructing the concept of normal 162 00:06:58,590 --> 00:07:01,290 communication. I try to share anecdotes 163 00:07:01,290 --> 00:07:03,810 and break them down to show how certain 164 00:07:03,810 --> 00:07:07,080 assumptions are problematic. So, a really 165 00:07:07,080 --> 00:07:09,480 good exercise is to have students reflect 166 00:07:09,480 --> 00:07:11,760 on their own identities and how power 167 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:14,580 imbalances can impact service delivery. 168 00:07:15,180 --> 00:07:17,010 There was always something to be learned 169 00:07:17,010 --> 00:07:19,200 when working with a new client. And 170 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:20,670 students in healthcare should be 171 00:07:20,670 --> 00:07:23,190 encouraged to consider continually seek 172 00:07:23,220 --> 00:07:25,680 out their own knowledge. All these things 173 00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:28,200 should be integrated and reiterated in 174 00:07:28,200 --> 00:07:30,210 course contents throughout the term, 175 00:07:30,210 --> 00:07:34,530 throughout the program. Beyond pedagogy, 176 00:07:34,530 --> 00:07:37,350 university administrators are 177 00:07:37,350 --> 00:07:39,660 also to be held accountable for strategic 178 00:07:39,660 --> 00:07:42,210 planning around increasing the recruitment 179 00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:44,070 of diverse students in the first place, 180 00:07:44,370 --> 00:07:46,170 and for providing financial and emotional 181 00:07:46,170 --> 00:07:48,420 support for students coming from 182 00:07:48,660 --> 00:07:54,240 marginalized backgrounds. Again, I would 183 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:56,430 like to just emphasize that this is an 184 00:07:56,430 --> 00:07:59,010 ongoing journey of learning internalized 185 00:07:59,010 --> 00:08:01,800 systems of oppression. So, I've included 186 00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:04,020 resources spoken about in this 187 00:08:04,020 --> 00:08:05,670 presentation, but there are other 188 00:08:05,670 --> 00:08:07,530 incredible scholars studying related 189 00:08:07,530 --> 00:08:09,960 topics were not on this list. This is 190 00:08:09,960 --> 00:08:12,390 really just the tip of the iceberg. I 191 00:08:12,390 --> 00:08:14,640 really enjoy Pickens: "Black madness, Mad 192 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:16,380 Blackness" for its forward thinking push 193 00:08:16,380 --> 00:08:18,630 for collaboration between the domains of 194 00:08:18,630 --> 00:08:20,520 Black Studies and Disability Studies. 195 00:08:21,150 --> 00:08:23,820 Bell's "Blackness and Disability" is cited 196 00:08:23,820 --> 00:08:27,540 as one of the earlier works to shift the 197 00:08:27,540 --> 00:08:29,640 conversation as well and Black Studies 198 00:08:29,640 --> 00:08:32,100 from being ableist and the conversation in 199 00:08:32,100 --> 00:08:33,900 disability studies from being concerned 200 00:08:33,900 --> 00:08:36,330 with white bodies. And then at the bottom, 201 00:08:36,330 --> 00:08:37,800 we have Crenshaw article on 202 00:08:37,800 --> 00:08:40,500 intersectionality. Which pertains more to 203 00:08:40,500 --> 00:08:42,750 the field of healthcare, and provides 204 00:08:42,750 --> 00:08:44,670 valuable reflections on how to take this 205 00:08:44,670 --> 00:08:50,910 discourse beyond academia. And of course, 206 00:08:50,910 --> 00:08:53,400 I will cite Crenshaw's work because I 207 00:08:53,400 --> 00:08:56,010 believe that language helps to shape how 208 00:08:56,010 --> 00:08:57,660 we think about these issues. So, having 209 00:08:57,660 --> 00:09:00,600 access to the term "intersectionality" opens 210 00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:02,520 the door to working through complex 211 00:09:02,520 --> 00:09:04,650 concepts and transferring important 212 00:09:04,650 --> 00:09:07,350 knowledge. Thank you so much for 213 00:09:07,350 --> 00:09:07,920 listening.