Refugee Language Barriers

Judicial systems are not the only ones who have problems with language barriers; the medical field are affected too.

Immigrant groups take refuge in America in hope of starting a better life for themselves and their ongoing generations. They take on the belief that upon coming to America, they will be presented by the riches and freedom granted by the “American Dream”. However, these opportunities are not easily achieved. Many immigrant families are challenged with the initial obstacles of having to adapt to the new languages and the customs of their environment. For example, without the basic knowledge of the standard English language, immigrants will not be able to apply for a majority of the jobs available. This puts immigrant parents at disadvantages because then they will not be able to provide the sufficient funds needed for allowing their children

Immigration is both a domestic issue and global concern. It involves economics, politics, and culture. Unlike other current issues, it has been at the center of the American experience for hundreds of years (Tirman, John). Every year, hundreds of thousands of immigrants from around the world, come to the United States. These immigrants have many different motivations as to why they leave their home country; but as currents events indicate, it is injustice, poverty, and violence in their own country that generally make people move to save themselves and to ensure a better future for their families. Many of these people believe the United States is the best place to go, because there is more freedom, protection, and benefits,

The language barrier is a glaring problem for Hispanics in terms of accessing health care coverage for several reasons. Hispanics have far fewer Spanish speaking support systems to navigate them through the complex system that will provide them access to health care. In addition, demographically speaking, it is going to be harder for the Hispanic population to access a provider that is fluent in their language. While interpreters are sometimes available for the Spanish speaking population, they may be reluctant to use them. Primarily they may be worried that the translation will not be accurately reported to the health care provider as they don’t know what is being said in the English portion of the translation. Another possible barrier to translation is that perhaps the individual has a medical issue they do not want shared with a stranger who is not the medical provider specifically (Maxwell et al., 2011). Therefore, these issues could possibly create more barriers to quality care. Although the Affordable Care Act has increased health care coverage for low-income, uninsured Hispanics with the expansions of Medicaid, as a result of the Supreme Court ruling, this remains to be a state option. Studies show an estimated 95% of uninsured Latinos would qualify for Medicaid

The piece written by Michael Gordon in The Age on October 19 2011, argues that ten years after the Australian federal election that sparked the asylum seeker controversy, asylum seekers are still being demonised and alienated by both of Australia’s major political parties. Gordon writes in an assertive, controlled and a somewhat concerned tone throughout the article with his target audience aimed at ‘The Age’ readers who have considerable knowledge and understanding of the ongoing debate. Current parliament members from both federal parties could also be his target audience as Gordon provides a solution to the crisis, in that the failure of the Malaysia

foreign education. Often, when immigrants come to Canada, their degrees and qualifications are not recognized here in Canada because they were earned in other countries and also the language barriers does pose an obstacle to employment for immigrant and visible minority women. Around 16 per cent of immigrants, particularly refugees, come to Canada without knowledge of either official languages French and English (Saraswati, 2000).

Immigrants not only have to adapt to a new culture, language, and social and economic systems that may be very diverse from their countries of origin, they also have to overcome many prior complications. Some immigrants and refugees arrive with infectious diseases; others with untreated chronic diseases such as vitamin deficiencies, diabetes and or hypertension. The health status of many immigrants in the United States varies upon lifestyle choices and the availability of resources that can be used to receive the appropriate care for these conditions. African and Latin immigrants represent the largest and fastest group of immigrants in the United States. The largest geographic areas of concentration are Washington D.C., New York City, Texas, California and Atlanta. Most public health reports involving theses immigrants have focused on infectious

Whether legal or illegal, when migrating from their homeland, regardless of their individual circumstances, immigrants face a number of challenges en route to, and upon arrival into the United States. It is common knowledge that immigrants face language barriers, basic cultural differences, emotional isolation, prejudice and discrimination upon their arrival into the United States. Dr. Jean Rhodes points out that due to their exclusion from public services, [undocumented] immigrants typically settle in areas of deep poverty plagued with inadequate services in addition to substandard living conditions and schools (2005). However, the most difficult and detrimental issue they face is their access to receiving public health care. In his 2003 article in the American Journal of Public Health, Jeffrey Kullgren points out that many of the undocumented immigrants in

Access to health care can be influenced directly or indirectly by the level of education, the type of work immigrant do and income. (Dorose, scarce & Lurie, 2007) have discussed the decreased likelihood of immigrants to graduate from high school than the U.S. born population and immigrant populations are more likely to work in service related occupations and live in poverty.

Unfortunately, the world we live is a far cry from perfect. We have all types of barriers and roadblocks that we must face and attempt to overcome on a daily basis. When dealing with healthcare, these barriers and roadblocks can be much scarier – and in some cases even deadly. These barriers are not limited to only language, but also to differences in cultures as well.

Legal barriers. Access to medical care by low-income immigrant minorities can be hindered by legal barriers to public insurance programs. For example, in the United States federal law bars states from providing Medicaid coverage to immigrants who have been in the country fewer than five years.

Also, their low levels of education are another barrier they face, and they feel as if they won’t understand the procedures they have to take to get services. (Bauer et al. 2000; Bell and Naugle 2005; Fugate et al. 2005; Lewis et al. 2005; Strube 1988 as cited in Mookerjee, Fernandez, & Chin, 2015). Some cultural issues that also have to do with the barriers they face is family dignity. (Mookerjee, Fernandez, & Chin, 2015). Latinos have dignity and do not like asking for help. They believe they can fix their own situations with no professional help needed. But it also relates to fears they face as well. One of them is the fear of being deported, the language barrier, and worsening the situation. (Klevens 2007 as cited in Mookerjee, Fernandez, & Chin, 2015). Fear of deportation is always a concern when Latinos have to deal with professional people or help. Although, some Latinos are willing to seek help the language difference prevents them from actually doing it, because they may think it’s a waste of time if they will not be able to understand, and also if there isn’t much availability for bilingual providers as well. (Callejas et

Social exclusion is characterised by unequal access to resources, capabilities and rights, which leads to health disparities. Immigrants are experiencing a new circumstance and a new culture, they might lose sense of belonging due to limited support from others like relatives and have less connection with local community members. It causes a lot of mental stress on immigrants and do not ask for help in time. Moreover, different religions, beliefs and cultures bring about conflicts between healthcare delivers and patients, even unstable parent-children relationship. These conflicts affect individuals’ health as well. The last but not least important one is the language barrier, one of the factors that causes social exclusion, which blocks immigrants from making connection with local people and having the equal treatment of illness as local people do.

This topic and literature review will not encompass a hypothesis due to the purpose of this review which is to determine areas of improvement for the health issues facing this population. The use of this study is to explore and improve the negative stigmas associated with the individuals who are in desperate need of care to other healthcare professionals. Increased tolerance of the nation to cultural differences will improve health statuses for all by eliminating social stigmas and reducing the burden of illness for all.

On the other hand, there are illegal immigrants who also come to America to make money and take advantage of the freedom that America offers. Both legal and illegal immigrants are aware they would have an easier time living in America if they would learn and speak English (Poisl, 2007). A large number of illegal immigrants live daily with the possibility of prosecution and deportation and, therefore, do not make the effort to learn to speak English (Poisl, 2007). These illegal immigrants make little or no attempt to study and work towards becoming American citizens (Poisl, 2007).