After a year of racial unrest due to the killing of unarmed Black men and women and the upending of our regular lives due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many have forged a new outlook on life.
Two Black Rutgers female faculty share their reflections on the past year and their hopes for the future.
Valerie Johnson, assistant professor and program director for the new speech-language pathology program at the Rutgers School of Health Professions
She has dedicated more than 20 years of her research career to underserved populations disproportionately represented as having a language or speech impairment
Earlier in my career as a speech-language clinician, my initial interaction with a young African-American girl who had a language impairment changed my career trajectory. During my sessions with her I realized she did not have a language impairment but exhibited a language difference. So, the burning question was: why was she identified as language impaired? With more than 20 years of conducting research and working in African-American communities, I’ve observed how disproportionately Black and brown children are misdiagnosed with having speech impairments just because they do not speak what we term mainstream American English.
I have made it my life’s mission to develop language assessment methods that accurately identify speech-language impairment in children who use African-American English dialect. I’ve educated students and trained professionals over the years on alternative language methods. I’ve also advocated for children from minority populations who may not have a voice to speak for themselves. I was involved in the initial research that helped develop the Diagnostic Evaluation of Language Variation, the first standardized language assessment tool designed to limit assessment bias in children who use dialects other than general American English.
Of course, COVID-19 impacted the delivery of speech and language services as schools closed. The pandemic created a significant challenge in providing appropriate language and speech services for children in households because not all homes had the adequate internet or tech devices needed to support telehealth. I’m continuing to conduct research focusing on reducing assessment bias in children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
Valerie Fitzhugh, associate professor and interim chair of the Departments of Pathology at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
She joined the coronavirus vaccine clinical trial with the hopes of encouraging more people of color to get vaccinated
As a Black woman, a wife and a mom of two young children, deciding to participate in a coronavirus vaccine trial during the pandemic did not come lightly. Still, despite everything that was going on in our world last year, it was necessary. Although I knew my ancestors were experimented on and were hurt by doctors and others in the name of science, I decided to do it anyway, hoping that more people of color would consider taking the coronavirus vaccine when it became publicly available. I also wanted to do my part to have Black people represented in the trial to ensure that the vaccine will be effective. I also did it because I believe in science and I know that the virus disproportionately impacts Black, Indigenous and people-of-color communities. COVID-19 has ravaged these communities far more than others, and this vaccine, in addition to other public health measures, can add another layer of protection. I’ve used my voice and my platform to advocate and to be a voice for the voiceless in any way I can. If I can make even a little difference by being an example to so many people who the pandemic has severely impacted to make sure they are vaccinated, I would do it all over again to help save lives.
