Episode 133: Diversity Beyond Race with Jose Centeno

In this episode you will discover:

• Diversity Means Everyone - Race is just one piece. Consider how age, language, immigration status, religion, sexual orientation, and geography intersect to shape each person's experience with aphasia.
• Go Into the Community to Build Trust - Sustainable partnerships require leaving your institution and showing up consistently. Visit centers, share meals, and invest time where people gather. Trust develops gradually through authentic presence.
• Listen to Real-Life Struggles First - Before starting therapy protocols, hear what families actually face: shifted gender roles, children as language brokers, lack of community aphasia awareness, and disrupted family dynamics.
• Train Future Clinicians Differently - If you're building or revising academic programs, front-load diversity with a foundational intersectionality course in semester one, then integrate these principles across every subsequent course and clinical practicum.

 

If you've ever wondered how to better support multilingual families navigating aphasia, or felt uncertain about cultural considerations in your practice, this conversation will give you both the framework and the practical insights you need. Welcome to the Aphasia Access Aphasia Conversations Podcast. I'm Katie Strong, a faculty member at Central Michigan University where I lead the Strong Story Lab, and I'm a member of the Aphasia Access Podcast Working Group. Aphasia Access strives to provide members with information, inspiration, and ideas that support their aphasia care through a variety of educational materials and resources.

 

I'm today's host for an episode that tackles one of the most important conversations happening in our field right now - how do we truly serve the increasingly diverse communities that need aphasia care? We're featuring Dr. Jose Centeno, whose work is reshaping how we think about equity, social justice, and what it really means to expand our diversity umbrella. Dr. Centeno isn't just talking about these issues from an ivory tower - he's in the trenches, working directly with communities and training the next generation of clinicians to do better. Before we get into the conversation, let me tell you a bit more about our guest.

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