Hi people
This is on a medical anthro list serve I find how the problem is
framed difficult but the impact on the people involved is massive if
any disability studies people want help see the email
tony
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Emily Wentzell <[log in to unmask]>
Date: 16 September 2010 23:59
Subject: Urgent: seeking expert witness to support indigenous woman
To: [log in to unmask]
From: ty watkins <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wed, Sep 15, 2010 at 8:05 PM
Subject: Fwd: Urgent: seeking expert witness to support indigenous woman
Perhaps someone could address this?
TYWatkins
Organization for Tropical Studies
San Jose, Costa Rica
Hello:
I am forwarding a request from a neuropsychologist treating an indigenous
woman here in the US who is at risk of losing her child because the court
considers her incapacitated. Please see the request and background
information below and reply to me if you have any leads; I will forward them
to the doctor, who wishes to remain anonymous on these lists. Thank you!
Rebecca
Rebecca Overmyer-Velázquez, Associate Professor
Departamento de Sociología/Department of Sociology
Whittier College
13406 Philadelphia St.
Whittier CA 90608
562-907-4700 x4353
[log in to unmask]
I am looking for someone who is an expert on indigenous cultures of Mexico
to help me confirm what I believe to be true about a patient that I am
evaluating. She is a 34 year old woman from Guerrero Mexico, indigenous.
She's been brutally beaten, raped, and the state, in its infinite wisdom,
has declared her "incapacitated", "retarded", and "schizophrenic". In my
opinion, she is neither. She seems quite appropriate for an indigenous
young woman given where she seems to have come from. I need to have some
literature to support my description/explanation of this young woman as they
have taken her child and the State is preparing to terminate her parental
rights because of her "mental retardation". She is not the first of this
type of case I have seen. I've seen mam, popoluca, Tzotzil, Tzetzal,
Otomil, all who were evaluated by English speaking psychologists, using a
translator, and diagnosed with various disorders, never even noticing that
Spanish was not their first language. The concern is that they have not had
any psychologist/examiner that understands her CULTURE they are calling her
"retarded" because she doesn't know how to get around in American society on
her own. I can't get any actual "documentation" of any IQ tests they've
given her, but even if a Spanish speaking psychologist administered testing
in Spanish, IT ISN"T VALID - she doesn't speak Spanish as her first
langauge, and she has limited understanding of our world/culture, etc.
They've already taken two of her children, and are now trying to take the
third; the product of a brutal robbery, assault and rape, but that she
desperately wants to keep and raise.
Can you help me with this and/or direct me to an "expert" that can? I want
some literature to support that because of her culture she does not meet the
criteria for Adaptive Deficits nor Mental Retardation. Perhaps you could
put me in touch with any anthropologist who has written/studied the various
indigenous of Guerrero that could help me support my position. Any help you
can provide would be greatly appreciated.
I'm actually going to make it part of the official assessment that I'm
conducting that I've consulted with anthropologists/experts that it doesn't
come off as my personal bias. When we do these court ordered evaluations,
the pay is quite low - so I have no "dog in therace" except to ensure that I
do the best assessment I can for her that is ethically sound. She cannot
tell me the NAME of her indigenous culture, but she is from Coyuca de
Catalan and when I pulled up a list of traditional foods for holidays, she
recognized several of them by name and told me in detail how she prepares
them. She was quite accurate based on descriptions on the internet. This
is an adaptive ability - so she clearly isn't retarded. I'm trying to find
resources to suggest that the Judge might allow her to keep her son and
raise him with assistance, but I have to make them understand that because
she cannot demonstrate the skills that we typically measure on IQ tests in
our culture, it doesn't mean she is retarded.
--
David Hernández-Palmar.
Wayuu. Clan IIPUANA
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