5 Ways to Contribute to Health Equity

In this episode of Brain Friends, we discuss 5 ways everyone can contribute to health equity for Black people with aphasia. We give resources for caregivers to get compensated and encourage speech-language pathologists (SLPs) to support health literacy in clients.

1. Implicit Bias Training- to help practitioners recognize stereotypical beliefs that contribute to health inequities.

2. Workforce Diversity- may help clients with communication and participation in research by having practitioners who look like them.

3. Representation in Research- helps ensure generalization of findings and that all voices are included. http://www.aphasiaresource.org/ Also, how are researchers sharing clinical findings? How many researchers have collected data from participants, published the findings, and gone back to the participants to share their study results?

4. Health Literacy- helps individuals understand medical information to make an informed decision. It is important to encourage care partners and provide disability resources that compensate the caregiver  https://www.usa.gov/disability-caregiver

5. Patient Reported Outcomes- helps give people with aphasia a voice in therapy by sharing goals that are important to the individual. Patient-reported outcomes can be challenging to read and should be diversified with large print, pictures, audio versions, or available on assistive devices. 

https://www.cognitiverecoverylab.com/seles

https://aphasia.org/stories/announcing-the-davetrina-seles-gadson-health-equity-grant-program/

Our beloved colleague, Dr. Davetrina Seles Gadson, passed away January 11, 2025. Dr. Gadson was an extraordinary speech-language pathologist and neuroscience researcher who devoted her energy to studying health disparities in aphasia recovery. She was a fierce advocate for improving services for individuals with aphasia, particularly Black Americans. Her research transformed our understanding of these health disparities and shed light on how we can address them. We were privileged to have Dr. Gadson as a cherished member of our lab community for four years, first as a postdoctoral fellow and then as an Instructor of Rehabilitation Medicine. She was still a close collaborator and friend to many of us at the time of her passing. Dr. Gadson was an incredible person—compassionate, inspiring, and full of life. Her dedication to advancing equity in aphasia recovery and her profound impact on our community will never be forgotten. We are committed to honoring her memory by continuing to push our field forward and fight for equitable services for all people with aphasia.