Linguistic diversity is in crescendo<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nAccording to the\u202fAmerican<\/strong><\/a>\u202fCommunity Survey<\/strong>\u202f(2012-2016), among the 311.1 million people aged 5 and over, 63.172.059 (20.3%) spoke a language other than English at home. This is close to a 25% increase from the 2000 Census. As reported by the U.S. Census Bureau in the American Community Survey, LEP people represented 9% of the overall U.S. Population. As the LEP population grows year after year, so do language barriers.<\/p>\n\n\n\nInequality in language access<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nThe pandemic<\/a> brought some disadvantages for LEP people into the spotlight. There are numerous cases where the absence of translation or interpretation for non-English speaking people has truly become a life-or-death concern. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cIn western Washington, unbeknownst to the family of a man hospitalized for COVID-19 who spoke only Spanish, doctors made plans to take him off a ventilator. When the man\u2019s bilingual son finally learned what was happening, he got help from a disability rights group and requested a new treatment plan for his father, who survived\u201d<\/em>, says\u202fJoana Ramos<\/a>, a health policy consultant and a founding member of the Washington State Coalition for Language Access. <\/p>\n\n\n\nAs stated by the specialist, the University of Washington Medical Center, who developed a program that provides language assistance to patients, found higher infection rates among LEP patients. Spanish, Amharic and Khmer speakers had infection rates roughly five times higher than English-only speakers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In these past 18 months, translated information about COVID-19 and protective measures have become available in many more languages, but other issues come with virtual care, especially with telehealth services and ensuring language access. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe need the state government to take language access seriously. This starts with enforcing civil rights laws and state language access laws. We need the government to increase support for the\u202f<\/em>Hawaii Office of Language Access<\/em><\/a>\u202f(OLA), which was designed to implement and enforce those laws. OLA should be able to offer in-person interpreters who can travel to people\u2019s homes\u201d<\/em>, tells the Chuukese interpreter Philios Uruman, who\u202fcomplains<\/a>\u202fabout the difficulties that people from Micronesia find when they arrive in Hawaii.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cConfusion and lack of access to health care meant that Micronesians accounted for one-third of all COVID-19 cases in Hawaii, making us five times more likely to catch the virus. Of course we weren\u2019t informed; everything on the news is in English\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nImpact of linguistic exclusion in elections<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Inequality in language access<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nThe pandemic<\/a> brought some disadvantages for LEP people into the spotlight. There are numerous cases where the absence of translation or interpretation for non-English speaking people has truly become a life-or-death concern. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cIn western Washington, unbeknownst to the family of a man hospitalized for COVID-19 who spoke only Spanish, doctors made plans to take him off a ventilator. When the man\u2019s bilingual son finally learned what was happening, he got help from a disability rights group and requested a new treatment plan for his father, who survived\u201d<\/em>, says\u202fJoana Ramos<\/a>, a health policy consultant and a founding member of the Washington State Coalition for Language Access. <\/p>\n\n\n\nAs stated by the specialist, the University of Washington Medical Center, who developed a program that provides language assistance to patients, found higher infection rates among LEP patients. Spanish, Amharic and Khmer speakers had infection rates roughly five times higher than English-only speakers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In these past 18 months, translated information about COVID-19 and protective measures have become available in many more languages, but other issues come with virtual care, especially with telehealth services and ensuring language access. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe need the state government to take language access seriously. This starts with enforcing civil rights laws and state language access laws. We need the government to increase support for the\u202f<\/em>Hawaii Office of Language Access<\/em><\/a>\u202f(OLA), which was designed to implement and enforce those laws. OLA should be able to offer in-person interpreters who can travel to people\u2019s homes\u201d<\/em>, tells the Chuukese interpreter Philios Uruman, who\u202fcomplains<\/a>\u202fabout the difficulties that people from Micronesia find when they arrive in Hawaii.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cConfusion and lack of access to health care meant that Micronesians accounted for one-third of all COVID-19 cases in Hawaii, making us five times more likely to catch the virus. Of course we weren\u2019t informed; everything on the news is in English\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nImpact of linguistic exclusion in elections<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn western Washington, unbeknownst to the family of a man hospitalized for COVID-19 who spoke only Spanish, doctors made plans to take him off a ventilator. When the man\u2019s bilingual son finally learned what was happening, he got help from a disability rights group and requested a new treatment plan for his father, who survived\u201d<\/em>, says\u202fJoana Ramos<\/a>, a health policy consultant and a founding member of the Washington State Coalition for Language Access. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As stated by the specialist, the University of Washington Medical Center, who developed a program that provides language assistance to patients, found higher infection rates among LEP patients. Spanish, Amharic and Khmer speakers had infection rates roughly five times higher than English-only speakers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In these past 18 months, translated information about COVID-19 and protective measures have become available in many more languages, but other issues come with virtual care, especially with telehealth services and ensuring language access. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe need the state government to take language access seriously. This starts with enforcing civil rights laws and state language access laws. We need the government to increase support for the\u202f<\/em>Hawaii Office of Language Access<\/em><\/a>\u202f(OLA), which was designed to implement and enforce those laws. OLA should be able to offer in-person interpreters who can travel to people\u2019s homes\u201d<\/em>, tells the Chuukese interpreter Philios Uruman, who\u202fcomplains<\/a>\u202fabout the difficulties that people from Micronesia find when they arrive in Hawaii.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cConfusion and lack of access to health care meant that Micronesians accounted for one-third of all COVID-19 cases in Hawaii, making us five times more likely to catch the virus. Of course we weren\u2019t informed; everything on the news is in English\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nImpact of linguistic exclusion in elections<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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