Can the subaltern speak? Visibility of international migrants with communication and swallowing disabilities in the World Report on Disability

Abstract

Wylie, McAllister, Davidson, and Marshal (2013) argued that the speech-language pathology profession must be encouraged to consider novel ways to deliver equitable services to people with communication disorders. People with communication disorders include the world's 215 million international migrants who deserve unique commentary when considering disability in the world. Hence, this paper focuses on invisibility of international migrants with communication or swallowing disorders in the World Report on Disability. The analysis of people with disabilities is biased towards citizenship. What of those who are non-citizens? Three issues are highlighted: (a) the demographic construction of migrants; (b) management of communication disability within the migrant patient-speech language pathologist dyad; and (c) strategic re-prioritization of dysphagia as a disability. While relevant to all people, re-prioritization of dysphagia as an impairment (of eating or drinking) resulting in restricted mealtime participation is especially relevant to the healthcare of international migrants. This issue is discussed in terms of how safe or adequate eating and drinking ought to constitute essential discharge criteria in medical settings where discharge (often resulting in deportation) may be decided on one's ability to walk or talk.

Keywords::

• World Report on Disability
• World Health Organization
• World Bank
• communication disability
• dysphagia as disability
• migrant workers
• human rights
• globalization
• speech-language pathology and audiology

Declaration of interest: The author reports no conflicts of interest. The author alone is responsible for the content and writing of the paper.