White System, Black Therapist

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.

• Foreword by Aris Moreno ClemonsForeword by Tasha AustinINTRODUCTIONBefore He Was Understood, He Was MeasuredMr. Grammarticologylisationalism Is the BossLord Lexicon and the Ministry of MisdiagnosisCredentialed, But ConditionalComplain, Complain, Complain…Too Brilliant, Too Black, Too MuchWe Were Already Guilty, Just Waiting for the ComplaintSpeaking Up While BlackThe Frameworks We Inherit, The Futures We ImaginePART 1The Politics of Storytelling: Unveiling What Has Always BeenThe Disorder Was in the Assessment, Not the ChildAwakeningsThe Biopolitics of VoiceCostumes and Corrections: The Early Policing of VoiceActivism or Survival?One Thoughtful Step at a TimePART 2There Is No Racial Justice Without Linguistic JusticeThe Issue With Membership Organisations – My OpinionGeorge FloydAversive RacismAcademia and ResearchA Personal SnapshotNaming the DivideEnvironments MatterLabour in Speech and Language TherapyThe Matrix of Constant ReplacementCommunal Lament and Quantum EntanglementsToward Linguistic and Racial LiberationSo, Where Do We Go From Here?PART 3A Critical Reflection on the Foundations of Speech-Language TherapyA Lens That Narrows Rather Than IlluminatesWhose Language Is ‘Standard’?Epistemic Violence and the Politics of KnowledgeThe Bell Curve BabyFrom Critical Reflection to Ethical TransformationRadical Listening, Ethical CommitmentDecolonising Speech Language TherapyWhat Is Decolonisation?Critical Race TheoryPaving the Way for Transformative ChangeFive Foundational Concepts for Decolonising Speech-Language TherapyEmbracing the Power of ConversationsRCSLT Summer 2024It’s Not Just the RCSLTThe Urgency of Structural OverhaulMoving Beyond Rhetoric to Real ChangeThe Legacy of Orlando TaylorThe Essential Shift RequiredThe Power of Sisterhood, Spirituality and Divine OrderSelf-Check for Genuine SolidarityBlackness as a CommoditySpeaking Up Is ProfessionalPART 4Language as Our Most Powerful Tool for CreationThe Weight of Language and the Question of Practice30 Million Word GapConfronting the Limitations of Standardised AssessmentThe Sociohistorical Roots of Standardised Testing & EugenicsColonial Legacies in Language NormsLinguistic Justice Across Space, Time, and LineageTime for TestimoniesTestimony: OmariWhat Are TestimoniesTherapist's Role in Facilitating TestimoniesLearning from TestimoniesOne Last TestimonyWhen Language Becomes a Site of SurveillanceThe Myth of the Neutral ProfessionalLeo’s StoryMy ReflectionsNoah’s StoryCritical Reflections for PractitionersMuhammad’s StoryCritical Reflections for PractitionersTraining Practitioners in Critical ReflexivityCONCLUSIONUnbecoming, and Imagining Something NewEmbracing UncertaintyThe Inclination to Categorise and CompartmentaliseReinterpreting Our Values in New OntologiesAn Overreliance on Standardised Testing“I Don’t See Colour”Independent Scholars MatterRacial IgnoranceProtecting Professional WhitenessLanguage as Core ValuePolitical Identity and Blackness as a Site of TransformationCreating a More Expansive, Liberatory PraxisThree Vital QuestionsAn Alternative Vision Rooted in AgencyCultivating Collective Strength and JoyWhy Don’t You Cite Us?A Philosophical Approach to PraxisDecolonise, Destroy and Dream: Thought ExperimentsNot “Hard to Reach,” but Deliberately ErasedPower at the CoreBeing and BecomingHow do we use our present awareness to inform and shape a better future?Coloniality of PowerGenuine Liberation MattersEnvisioning a New WorldThe Emergence of Spaces of ReprieveIndex

"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