Assumptions About a Racialized Person with Mobility Challenges
A racialized resident with mobility challenges is spoken to loudly and slowly, as if she does not understand English. She is fluent.
The scenario
Mrs. Nguyen is 58. She moved to Canada from Vietnam as a child and speaks English fluently, along with Vietnamese and French. She uses a wheelchair after a spinal injury two years ago and has been in your long-term care home for three months. She is articulate, sharp, and increasingly frustrated.
A new PSW, meeting her for the first time, crouches down, speaks very loudly and very slowly, and uses simple words: “Hello. How. Are. You. Today? Do. You. Need. Help?” When Mrs. Nguyen answers in a normal tone, “I am fine, thank you — I would like help with my jacket, please,” the PSW smiles blankly and repeats, “Okay! Good! You. Are. Doing. Great!” as though she had not understood the answer.
Later, at the nursing station, the PSW tells a colleague, “She is so sweet. I do not think she understands much — I kept it simple for her.” Mrs. Nguyen, passing by in her chair, hears it. That afternoon she tells a nurse, “I am not a child and I am not hard of hearing. I am in a wheelchair. Those are different things.”
The challenge
What makes this hard—and what is at stake.
The PSW almost certainly believes she is being kind and patient. That is what makes this hard — the harm is wrapped in good intentions. She has collapsed two things into one: a woman in a wheelchair, and a woman who does not understand English. Neither assumption was checked. Both are about a racialized resident, and both strip her of competence.
The stakes are about dignity and agency. When staff assume a resident cannot understand, they stop explaining care, stop asking real questions, and start narrating her life to her in baby talk. She loses input into her own care. And if the team writes off her complaint as “she is just sensitive,” the pattern hardens into how the home treats anyone who is racialized and disabled.
Your response
What would you do in this moment?
Take a moment to think about how you would respond. There is no “right” answer—just your thoughtful response. Type it below before you look at the possible approaches.
The fact that you are thinking about this shows you care.
Possible responses
Not “right” vs “wrong”—more helpful and less helpful. Reveal them one at a time, or all at once.
People are trying their best—including the staff in the less helpful approaches. Learning takes practice. You are doing the right thing by thinking this through.
What matters most
Key takeaways
- A mobility aid tells you nothing about language, hearing, or cognition. Speak to every resident as a competent adult until they tell you otherwise.
- Assumptions about competence often hide inside “kindness.” Name the specific assumption to correct it.
- Close the loop with the resident. “I heard you, I am sorry, I acted” is often more healing than the correction itself.
- Good intentions do not cancel impact. You can honour someone’s good intentions and still name that they caused harm.
Reflection & discussion
Conversation starters for your team huddle
These are not interrogations—they are ways to talk together about what would help.
- Have you ever adjusted how you speak to someone based on a wheelchair, age, or appearance — without checking first?
- How would you feel if a colleague narrated your life to you in simple words?
- What is one question your team could ask every resident to check assumptions about what they understand?
- How can we make it safe for residents to tell us when we have got it wrong?
Related resources
Keep practicing
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