Carmen Pena-Díaz
As stated in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, communication is not just a right for people who can communicate effectively within their dominant culture, but public information is a democratic right for all citizens and it thus has to be available and accessible to all.
Immigration is a phenomenon which has been on the increase in Spain for over two decades and yet the access to public services by users with linguistic and cultural difficulties has not been tackled by authorities. In fact, linguistic and cultural issues are often not recognised as an integral part of migratory movements or social integration. While professionals of interlinguistic and intercultural communication know that language and culture are key components to achieve immigrant integration and consolidate a truly multilingual society, policy makers at local, national, or supranational levels do not always seem aware of the risks and costs of not providing interpreting and translation services, particularly those affecting the health of users. In healthcare, there are currently no effective provisions for communication problems at present in Spanish hospitals. An example that suggests the poor management of the situation in relation with the migrants’ access to public healthcare is the fact that relying on a family member in medical consultations is one of the main practices that affects communication.
This paper will present a Narrative Inquiry analysis obtained from interviews collected from a sample of eight clinicians about their experiences communicating with foreign users who cannot communicate in Spanish and thus their problems accessing health services and receiving the adequate services.
Keywords: language rights, access to public services, interpreting and translation, health