Keynote: Moving Beyond Disciplinary Centrism

Disciplinary centrism occurs when one believes that their specific discipline has the final word. This leads to believing professionals from one’s own discipline are better trained and smarter than professionals from a different discipline. While this is largely an unconscious bias, it frequently causes barriers to effective interprofessional collaboration. In this keynote address, Dr. Spencer will cover alternatives to disciplinary centrism that allow for the retention of one’s professional identity (Pecukonis, 2020). For example, cultural humility is the ability to maintain an interpersonal stance that is other-oriented or open to the other in relation to aspects of cultural identity (Hook et al., 2013; Wright, 2019). Identities are born of cultural histories and training, which means that we can regard professionals from other disciplines as individuals from another culture. When we do this, we engage in activities that promote interprofessional cultural reciprocity (Kalyanpur & Harry, 2012; Pecukonis et al., 2008). A posture of cultural reciprocity that involves self-reflection, listening, validating, and compromising, can also help professionals align their practices with the current socio-cultural, neurodiversity movement. Ableism is discrimination in favor of abled-bodied people. It is also culturally determined and learned through our professional training, which is largely based on a deficit model. In contrast to the deficit-focused, biomedical model of disability, sociopolitical models consider prejudice and discrimination to be causal factors (Smart, 2016). Importantly, proponents of this model form a group identity and engage in identity politics. It is critical for professionals, regardless of their discipline, to recognize that the neurodiversity movement is a sociopolitical model of disability. As such, it demands thoughtful revisions to professional training methods and the organization of service delivery. Culturally humble professionals move beyond disciplinary centrism and ableism to embrace the identities of their colleagues and the individuals they serve.