EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY FEATURE
windrush-lessons-learned-review): part consequence of Theresa
May’s hostile environment culture and target meeting actions,
you dehumanise a group by seeing them as numerical targets to
meet at any cost.
Go back and forth in time, there are many of these expensive
reviews on BAME communities after high profile incidents. But ask
yourselves, despite these reviews purporting that they would create
real change for these communities, what change has occurred, been
felt and sustained?
This inactivity is a demonstration of political unwillingness to deal
with these difficult issues; it is a conscious action to delay, in the
hope this issue will be forgotten about and another pressing topic
will distract the public, until the next death is publicised.
To paraphrase the words of Carol Cooper, the Royal College of
Nursing Equality and Diversity lead, who highlights that when there is
no correlation between what is said and what is being done, then
yes, it tells us that Black lives matter less.
The BAME population is not homogenous, it is diverse in
communities and cultures, so one size does not fit all. For
many years, BAME health professionals have made the case
that to be ethnic neutral is to deny the issues of one’s own
lived experience, risk, access and opportunities (Skwaski
1987; Began and Ahacala 2012; Began 2015; Giarratano
2016).
It sounds hopeless, but it doesn’t have to be, and it
isn’t. Occupational therapists can form alliances to be local activists,
to push for change, for fairness and justice, to engender change
and representation through one interaction and one intervention at a
time.
That is, apply liberation psychology and engage in relational
activism. Liberation psychology says that people are traumatised by
impoverishment and oppression, remove these to ‘free’ the person,
to enable them to be empowered to change themselves (Burton
2013).
Relational activism is about change through individual
accumulative actions, not big protests and campaigns (Dove and
Fischer 2019).
We need to enable BAME support networks in organisations, to
educate ourselves about different cultures within the communities
we work in, not piecemeal about food and religion or ablution pots,
because communities are not monoliths.
We need to ally with RCOT to raise its agenda and attention
regarding BAME members and the BAME communities. To
encourage RCOT to look at what is stopping BAME representation
in its officer posts; leaders, senior management and RCOT could
perhaps benefit in engaging in reverse mentoring. This is to immerse
themselves in the experiences of BAME staff, to gain meaningful
understanding to inform change through learning new skills and to
break out of their comfort zones. Perhaps we all should try this.
Toni Morrison said: ‘The very serious function of racism…
is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you
explaining, over and over again, your reason for being.’ We must not
let the murder of George Floyd be just another distraction from the
real issues of examining and addressing the social determinants that
drive health inequalities.
We must push for action on the macro level – political or
organisational. On the micro local level, we must ensure our
BAME colleagues and patients/service users are truly seen, heard,
understood and feel the effects of sustainable change.
It needs political will to act and put in place policies, procedures
and infrastructure. As citizens and professionals, we can make a
start to tackle the structural inequalities and injustices of society for
BAME populations by liberating ourselves from our own constraining
shackles, one conversation and one action at a time, and influencing
RCOT for action.
If the conversations about race were comfortable, then the right
conversations are not being had, as we have always lived in an
unequal society. Having conversations about race is uncomfortable
for both parties involved. It is okay to feel uncomfortable, because it
is.
An awareness of this uncomfortable state and its roots is what
needs to be explored and discussed at all different levels. Progress
will only occur when our internal biases and beliefs around race are
explored. We are not responsible for what we have been taught
growing up, however, we are responsible for what we now decide to
learn.
Most of all, human to human, ask your BAME colleague/s how
they are and start a conversation. They may be fine, or they may just
want to chat. Change is difficult, but change is achievable. Actions
speak louder than words.
References
Beagan B (2015) Approaches to culture and diversity: A critical synthesis of
occupational therapy literature, Canadian Journal of Occupational
Therapy, 82(5):272-282 DOI: 10.1177/0008417414567530
Reagan B and Chacala A (2012) Culture and diversity among occupational
therapists in Ireland: When the therapist is the ‘diverse’ one, British
Journal of Occupational Therapy, 75: 144-151. 10.4276/030802212X133
11219571828
Burton M (2013) Liberation psychology: a constructive critical praxis. Estudos
de Psicologia (Campinas), 30(2): 249-259, DOI: 10.1590/S0103-
166X2013000200011 Available at: www.researchgate.net/
publication/262509929_Liberation_psychology_a_constructive_critical_
praxis
Dove B and Fischer T (2019) Becoming unstuck with relational activism,
Stanford Social Innovation review, Available at: https://ssir.org/articles/
entry/becoming_unstuck_with_relational_activism
Giarratano S (2016) Occupational therapists’ racial and ethnic attitudes: A
replication study, Ithaca College Theses. 321 https://digitalcommons.
ithaca.edu/ic_theses/321
Skawski KA (1987) Ethnic/racial considerations in occupational therapy,
Occupational Therapy In Health Care, 4(1): 37-48, DOI: 10.1080/
J003v04n01_04
Musharrat J Ahmed-Landeryou, occupational therapy lecturer,
London South Bank University, email: [email protected]
OTnews July 2020 19