Building equality in physical therapy for marginalized communities is a challenging and complicated problem in our country, which will require cooperation across the political spectrum to solve. Whether the people in these communities are identified by their race, their sexual orientation, or their religion, each one deserves a safe space for receiving healthcare.
To start, there are systemic issues that need to be acknowledged and addressed. Did you know that as of April 2023, there were already 452 anti-LGBTQ laws in state legislatures around the country? This is more than all of the previous 5 years combined, which equates to about a 15 fold increase.
It is clearly obvious at this point, that there are many people who feel unsafe in a variety of places around our country. A physical therapy clinic or hospital should not be one of those spaces.
With that in mind, it’s difficult not to see how critical it is that we begin building equality in physical therapy. We need to make a safe space for each individual in our clinic no matter what their age, gender, sexual orientation, race, or religion.
