In reading the text by Crenshaw closely I was severely affected when finding out that battered women were indeed turned away by shelters if they cannot speak or understand English. The particular women named Marie in the story was a battered woman who fleed with her teenage son because her husband threated to kill them both. She was forced to live on the streets for 2 days and while doing so she had been mugged twice. One of the councelor's at the shelter had advised that they did not want to accept the woman in crisis because the woman might feel isolated due to her language barrier? Ok first of all do you think the woman even cares about feeling isolated due to her language barrier???? I think she probably would just rather food, shelter and security and then the language issue can be dealth with once those issues had been resolved. All I can imagine is here is this poor woman and the shelter would actually boot scoot her out the door into NOTHING...I feel for this poor woman..here she has NO options..not one..knows nobody..has been mugged..has a teenage son and the councelors actually looked at her and pushed her out the door? Is this actually HUMANE? Then the shelter had to odassity of having the woman call some hotline and if she was successful in communticating then she would be helped...IM SEVERELY BOTHERED BY THIS!!!! I have worked in SEVERAL places of employment where we had a language line where a NO-ENGLISH speaking individual could be helped and we would merely call a translator and pick which language and the translator could help the individual. Yes it was a pain in the ass to facilitate this but we did it and it was nice to know that person was able to get the help he/she needed. Why can't this be done in a shelter..UI understand bringing in translators might be expensive but what about just having a language line for women in crisis to help facilitate their needs. If they can afford a HOTLINE then why not implement a LANGUAGE LINE. KI mean has ANYONE thought of this resolution? It seems easy to me...I mean pushing the woman away back into a potential DEADLY situation versus simply obtaining a LANGUAGE LINE...I have attached info about a link that has varios languages...check it out
http://www.languageline.com/
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Hi Cindy,
ReplyDeleteI just found your blog through google alerts, and I am curious about the article you are referring to. I coordinate the statewide domestic violence network in Minnesota. We do have the type of statewide interpreting service you are suggesting, and work hard to ensure that no one is turned away from shelter because they do not fit the norm of the traditional "battered woman." I might be able to answer questions about this type of service, if you are interested. I would also love it if you could post a link to the article you refer to. Thanks! --Anna
This is a crucial topic that needs to be addressed. It's important to raise awareness about the intersection of race and domestic violence and to ensure that support services are accessible and culturally competent. Thank you for sharing this important information. Please Contact Us for Forex Translation
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