The API Caucus is one of the Multicultural Constituency Groups (MCCGs) related to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). MCCGs are professional organizations that are allied with but independent of ASHA. The purpose of the API Caucus is to support (a) individuals in the API communities who are in need of audiology and speech-language pathology services as well as (b) audiologists; speech-language pathologists; speech, language and hearing scientists; and students in the speech, language, and hearing sciences who provide services in API communities or who are of API descent. Asian Pacific Islanders are defined as persons with origins in the Far East, Southeast Asia, South Asia, or the Pacific Islands.

Important Statements

Underrepresented Asian and Asian Pacific Islander Language at ASHA: 6332 people self-identified as Asians and/or Pacific Islanders in the ASHA 2020 report. They were speakers of South Asian/Indian, East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islanders represented at ASHA. As you can see on the graph, the speaker number count per API language is very small. The 2018 U.S. demographic data showed that there are 5 million Chinese, 4.5 million Asian Indian, 4 million Filipino, 2 million Vietnamese, 1.9 million Korean, 1.5 million Japanese, 626K Native Hawaiian, 526K Pakistani, 329K Thai, 320K Hmong, 300K, Cambodian, 262K Laotian, 213K Taiwanese, 213k Bangladeshi, 213K Samoan, 189K Burmese, 182K Guamanian or Chamorro, 175K Nepalese, 116k Indonesian, 61K Tongan, and 61K Sri Lankan.   We desperately need to recruit more people speaking Asian and Pacific Islander languages in the Communication Sciences and Disorders field and ASHA.

A Joint Statement of Anti-Asian Violence: A horrific and heartbreaking surge in violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders is happening across the U.S. Our heart is saddened by the continuous explicit and misguided rise in anti-Asian hatred. At least 3800+ hate incidents report from March 2020 to Feb 2021 were reported across the country. The Asian Indian Caucus and the Asian Pacific Islander Speech-Language-Hearing Caucus stand united against racism. It is our responsibility to condemn hate and create lasting social change. Silence is not an option at this time. Let’s pledge our efforts to put a stop to hate, report instances of hate crimes, and lift up love. Do stand with us and together we can #stopasianhate https://stopaapihate.org/.

ASHA’s statement on Racism and Violence Against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders:
https://www.asha.org/news/2021/asha-statement-on-racism-and-violence-against-asian-americans-and-pacific-islanders/