White System, Black Therapist Racism, Resistance and Reimagining Speech and Language Therapy

Foreword by Aris Moreno Clemons

Foreword by Tasha Austin

INTRODUCTION

Before He Was Understood, He Was Measured

Mr. Grammarticologylisationalism Is the Boss

Lord Lexicon and the Ministry of Misdiagnosis

Credentialed, But Conditional

Complain, Complain, Complain…

Too Brilliant, Too Black, Too Much

We Were Already Guilty, Just Waiting for the Complaint

Speaking Up While Black

The Frameworks We Inherit, The Futures We Imagine

PART 1

The Politics of Storytelling: Unveiling What Has Always Been

The Disorder Was in the Assessment, Not the Child

Awakenings

The Biopolitics of Voice

Costumes and Corrections: The Early Policing of Voice

Activism or Survival?

One Thoughtful Step at a Time

PART 2

There Is No Racial Justice Without Linguistic Justice

The Issue With Membership Organisations – My Opinion

George Floyd

Aversive Racism

Academia and Research

A Personal Snapshot

Naming the Divide

Environments Matter

Labour in Speech and Language Therapy

The Matrix of Constant Replacement

Communal Lament and Quantum Entanglements

Toward Linguistic and Racial Liberation

So, Where Do We Go From Here?

PART 3

A Critical Reflection on the Foundations of Speech-Language Therapy

A Lens That Narrows Rather Than Illuminates

Whose Language Is ‘Standard’?

Epistemic Violence and the Politics of Knowledge

The Bell Curve Baby

From Critical Reflection to Ethical Transformation

Radical Listening, Ethical Commitment

Decolonising Speech Language Therapy

What Is Decolonisation?

Critical Race Theory

Paving the Way for Transformative Change

Five Foundational Concepts for Decolonising Speech-Language Therapy

Embracing the Power of Conversations

RCSLT Summer 2024

It’s Not Just the RCSLT

The Urgency of Structural Overhaul

Moving Beyond Rhetoric to Real Change

The Legacy of Orlando Taylor

The Essential Shift Required

The Power of Sisterhood, Spirituality and Divine Order

Self-Check for Genuine Solidarity

Blackness as a Commodity

Speaking Up Is Professional

PART 4

Language as Our Most Powerful Tool for Creation

The Weight of Language and the Question of Practice

30 Million Word Gap

Confronting the Limitations of Standardised Assessment

The Sociohistorical Roots of Standardised Testing & Eugenics

Colonial Legacies in Language Norms

Linguistic Justice Across Space, Time, and Lineage

Time for Testimonies

Testimony: Omari

What Are Testimonies

Therapist's Role in Facilitating Testimonies

Learning from Testimonies

One Last Testimony

When Language Becomes a Site of Surveillance

The Myth of the Neutral Professional

Leo’s Story

My Reflections

Noah’s Story

Critical Reflections for Practitioners

Muhammad’s Story

Critical Reflections for Practitioners

Training Practitioners in Critical Reflexivity

CONCLUSION

Unbecoming, and Imagining Something New

Embracing Uncertainty

The Inclination to Categorise and Compartmentalise

Reinterpreting Our Values in New Ontologies

An Overreliance on Standardised Testing

“I Don’t See Colour”

Independent Scholars Matter

Racial Ignorance

Protecting Professional Whiteness

Language as Core Value

Political Identity and Blackness as a Site of Transformation

Creating a More Expansive, Liberatory Praxis

Three Vital Questions

An Alternative Vision Rooted in Agency

Cultivating Collective Strength and Joy

Why Don’t You Cite Us?

A Philosophical Approach to Praxis

Decolonise, Destroy and Dream: Thought Experiments

Not “Hard to Reach,” but Deliberately Erased

Power at the Core

Being and Becoming

How do we use our present awareness to inform and shape a better future?

Coloniality of Power

Genuine Liberation Matters

Envisioning a New World

The Emergence of Spaces of Reprieve

Index

Biography

Warda Farah is a multi‑award‑winning social entrepreneur, speech and language therapist, writer, and lecturer whose work bridges neurodiversity research and racial justice. She founded Language Waves to work in a culturally, linguistically, and neurodiversity affirming manner, and collaborates with teachers and schools to rethink received wisdom and developmental theories shaping education in the UK.

"Based on my first reading of this book, I found it excellent. It forced me to think more deeply about several issues--and to be introduced to several that I have never focused on, and had limited understanding of! Farah offers vitally important insights, all of critical importance to our communities in Britain. Her  work is an open challenge to those who hold positions of influence, even authority, but whose views have long past their expiry date. Frankly, it brings me personal joy to read Farah’s work, and to deepen my understanding of many matters of critical importance. I wish her great success! She deserves it, for the service she is providing to our children and parents. Keep it up!" - Bernard Coard, Guest Lecturer and Author

"This is a book where the personal and the political entangle to bring a fresh perspective on the experiences of children and professionals in educational and language intervention settings. With generosity, candour and wit, Warda shares her experiences training and working in the SLT sector, whilst gesturing towards a better, decolonised way of doing this work. This book is a must read for anyone who went into an educational / caring / health profession hoping to make the world a better place; it prompts us to self-reflect and ask critical questions about the assumptions underpinning our work, and what they may be reproducing, marginalising or Affirming." - Professor Abigail Hackett, Sheffield Hallam University

"Warda’s timely and important book pushes us all to reflect on how interlocking systems of whiteness, ableism, coloniality, and racial capitalism are pervasive in speech and language therapy. Her core argument is that this is no accident or mistake – it is by design. She shows how contemporary speech and language therapy assessment instruments, policies, and practices are built on colonial logics which systematically exclude linguistically-marginalised communities. Theoretically rich, methodologically rigorous, and beautifully written, it draws on Warda’s own lived experience on linguistic pathologisation from inside the very system of speech and language therapy itself. But this is not just about re-documenting existing harms – it’s about pushing for futures of linguistic justice within speech and language therapy, and imagining entirely different and more equitable worlds. It is a must read for all speech and language therapy practitioners, but especially those who continue to be complicit in maintaining its white supremacist foundations." - Dr Ian Cushing, Senior Lecturer in Critical Applied Linguistics, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK