Get rid of ‘ harmful assumptions underpinning racism ’
In a thought-provoking and impactful presentation , Sheherazad Kapadia discussed the findings of her MSc study , which examined how occupational therapy practitioners and students from Black , Asian and Minoritized Ethnic Backgrounds in the UK have experienced race-based Type II Workplace Violence .
She referred to shocking data from NHS England ’ s Race Equality Standards that shows 30 % of AHPs from Black , Asian and Minoritized Ethnic Backgrounds faced harassment and abuse from clients .
She described how her study ’ s literature review indicated that little is known about the phenomenon of Type II Workplace Violence specific to occupational therapists . Thus , her study set out to try to better understand the numerous ways in which racism persists , despite legislation .
Ten participants were asked to share incidences describing covert or overt racism and the
30 % study identified three main themes : the persistent racialisation of practitioners and students of Black , Asian and Minoritized Ethnic Backgrounds ; the prioritisation of professionalism ; and institutional failings .
The study found that participants characterised overt racism as having obvious actions , while covert racism was described as more of a feeling or sensing of racism . But for both , there were very harmful assumptions underpinning racism , ‘ usually about one ’ s accent or belonging ,’ and these had an impact on the wellbeing of those occupational therapy practitioners and students .
‘ For both covert and overt racism , what we saw was the normalisation of racism and that these instances were sometimes everyday common occurrences ,’ she said .
When it came to the theme of upholding professionalism , Sheherazad said that participants often adopted a ‘ client first ’ approach , often having to continue working with a client ‘ despite the racism and violence they had been confronted with .’
Participants spoke about ‘ resilience ,’ she said , ‘ and it appeared that there ’ s an implicit expectation
of AHPs from Black , Asian and Minoritized Ethnic Backgrounds faced harassment and abuse from clients
Sheherazad Kapadia
for Black and Asian professionals to brush over these incidences and get on with their jobs .’
The findings around the third theme indicated that participants felt that there was ‘ no attempt by senior staff to tackle endemic racism ’ and that little was done to address racism . ‘ Individuals often felt like they had nowhere to go , and no-one would believe them ,’ she asserted . She concluded by saying the three emergent themes of the study have a ‘ cyclical flow ,’ which begins with the ‘ privileged view of racism ’, whereby racism is perceived to be not normal and is ‘ only done by a few bad eggs .’
As a result , she said , ‘ we lack a social responsibility ’ and we ‘ adopt short term fixes ’ to quickly solve the problem .
‘ We then have genuine feelings of mistrust and disbelief between those experiencing the racism , sometimes daily , and those who it is being reported to ,’ she added , ‘[ while ] at the same time individuals do not want to be seen as “ playing the race card ”.’ This in turn leads to lack of reporting and institutions feeling that they do not have to act , as they remain ignorant to everyday racism , maintaining the privileged view that racism is uncommon .
She called for the introduction of critical race theory into occupational therapy education , a deeper introspection into reporting systems and for occupational therapy federations and higher education institutions to promote institutional action .
For both covert and overt racism , what we saw was the normalisation of racism and that these instances were sometimes everyday common occurrences .”
18 OTnews July 2022