EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY FEATURE
In this article, I have used the Gibbs’ reflective cycle (1998)
to structure my reflections on experiences of discrimination
within the context of my occupational therapy undergraduate
experience and practice as a clinician.
In utilising Gibbs’ model, I have structured my reflections under
the following themes:
• Description of experiences.
• Feelings – what was I thinking and feeling?
• Evaluation – what was good and bad about the experience?
• Analysis – what sense can I make of the situation?
• Conclusion – what else could I have done?
During my undergraduate studies I was one of three students
who hailed from an African origin, while in the cohort of 40 there
was only one male student. This was not the first time I had been a
minority in a learning environment, but it was the first time I had been
away from home and the diversity of London where I came from.
Description
As a student, some of my experiences included a friend who
described me as her ‘first black friend’, and someone stating in
class that ‘Black people were less intelligent
than whites’. One student made racial slurs,
while another asked: ‘Can I touch your hair?’
Yet another stated: ‘I find black skin so
interesting that I just want to stare and stare
at it’.
Often on placement, as an opening
comment from people, I would be asked:
‘Where are you from?’ This would be the
case from both patients and staff alike. On one
placement a patient called me a n****r. There
was no follow-up by any members of staff after this
incident, which happened in front of the whole team.
As a practising occupational therapist, a client stated: ‘I
would like a nice, white occupational therapist’, in group work with
other occupational therapy staff and clients present. The patient
countered with ‘no offence’ and a conciliatory wave in my direction.
I brought this up afterwards with an occupational therapist colleague
and they avoided acknowledging the comment.
I had one patient persistently refuse to engage in an activities of
daily living assessment with me, which involved going shopping in
the local community; this was peculiar as they engaged with other
occupational therapy activities. On another occasion, a patient
enquired if I had ‘done my training in this country’.
One manager described me as ‘exotic’, and yet another stated,
in response to a tense working environment, ‘I hate racism’, while
looking deliberately in my direction. This was a manager that I
experienced as repeatedly disrespectful and dismissive in their
attitude.
In one conversation the manager asked me: ‘How long have you
been qualified? Is it less than five years?’ I responded that it was
12 years, and the manager looked shocked. Their attitude towards
me changed from then on; they would consult me in cases, rather
than dictate the clinical decisions I should make with my clients. The
change in their behaviour was remarkable.
In group work with clients, a member of staff made a derogatory
comment about black people. I discussed this with my supervisor –
who said that I should discuss it with the staff member. And that was
the last spoken on the matter.
This manager also made derogatory comments about black
people, notably when there were only three young black staff
members present.
My experiences have been racial, age and gender based,
although the former have been more prevalent.
Feelings
experiences
have been racial, age
and gender based,
although the former
have been more
‘‘My
prevalent.
Being regularly asked ‘Where do you come from?’ while on
placement wore me down. I had never before lived somewhere
where my origins were such a point of interest.
In the preceding 20 years I had grown up in culturally diverse
London. I had not realised that a geographical shift by a few
hundred miles could make such a dramatic difference; I felt like such
an outsider that I struggled to withstand the three years of
the course.
When I was called ’n****r’ by a patient, I was
shocked and felt ignored by staff, as there
was no acknowledgement of the situation,
nor any attempt to reassure me. I found this
bizarre, but to be expected.
When I finished my course and returned
to London and started my first role in the
London-Essex border area, it was a relief to
no longer feel like such an oddity; I felt like a
normal person.
Evaluation
There was nothing good or redeeming about these
experiences; they were all ‘bad’, but they happened and reflecting
on them affords me the opportunity to acknowledge that those
experiences were carried out by people who were ignorant and
backwards in certain respects, often under the guise of being
superior in some way.
Writing this article has also afforded me the opportunity to
remember times when I have discriminated against others; there
was an occasion when I assumed a fellow occupational therapist
was less qualified because of her cultural background.
Another time, I spoke with a patient in a less than respectful way
when I would not have spoken to a member of staff like that.
In the first experience I apologised, but in the second I did not
and I should have. I also have assumed that a person who shared
a protected characteristic with another person would automatically
understand one another or ‘get along’, when of course, this is not
so. This was ignorant on my part.
I can discriminate and I can learn and do better. However, the
problem arises when someone feels entitled to discriminate and will
defend their discriminatory position.
OTnews July 2020 21