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Flashback #27: Minority Within Minority – #AintIaSurvivor

minority young adult cancer survivor

To celebrate our 2-year anniversary of being a nonprofit, Lacuna Loft is bringing back our top 31 articles from our archives!  This is Flashback #27: Minority Within Minority – #AintIaSurvivor was written by Christabel. These 31 articles are the best of the best and we’re very happy to share them with you again!  The countdown continues tomorrow!

….Well, at least they adjusted for age, which doesn’t usually happen for young adults treated in oncology settings that typically have a geriatric bent on everything. But even when focusing on the margins, my needs were left out. Young, Asian, and cancerous, I was a racial minority within a minority population of young adult cancer patients – a disregarded minority within a minority.

Often, in efforts to be culturally responsive, clinical practice addresses the needs of the burgeoning Asian American patient population by making things available in various Asian languages – language access is considered tantamount to health equity. Although language is indeed hugely important for those with limited English proficiency, it is not the panacea for the complete set of challenges facing Asian Americans who seek health care.

“They don’t know,” translated into whatever language still means, “They don’t know.”…

……

Read the rest of the article here!