What does it mean to 'grow the 8%'?
The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) has a membership of about 212,534 audiologists & speech-language pathologists (SLPs).
From the 2021 Demographic profile:
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17,373 (8.2%) indicated they were multilingual service providers. 911 were ASHA-certified audiologists and 15,728 were ASHA‐certified SLPs.
From the 2021 member & affiliate report:
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8.7% of ASHA members and affiliates identify as individuals from underrepresented racial groups.
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6.2% of ASHA members and affiliates identify as Hispanic or Latino. For context: 38.4% of the U.S. population identify as individuals from underrepresented racial groups; 18.7% identify as Hispanic or Latino (U.S. Census Bureau, 2020).
Here at BEAM our hope is to do our part and help the diversity of our field match the diversity of the populations we serve. That is what growing the 8% means to us!
MORE ABOUT US
"Be the person you needed when you were younger."
- Ayesha A. Siddiqi
When our founders established The B.E.A.M. SLP Program in the summer of 2021, this was the goal they had in mind. The mission of the B.E.A.M. SLP Program is to empower future SLPs from minoritized and diverse backgrounds. As the program has expanded we have connected Bilingual Mentors with undergraduate students, graduate students, and Clinical Fellows. All of our bilingual SLP mentors hope to provide the safe outlet that they themselves needed along their educational career by relating, connecting, and motivating mentees to continue their journey as future bilingual SLPs. We fulfill our mission through meaningful mentorship.