CHICAGO — When Bridgeport resident Xi Jian Deng’s mother had a stroke in November 2022, the Uptown nursing home she ended up in did not offer Chinese translation services.

Deng’s mother struggled to indicate even her most basic needs, and those disparities extended to aspects of her recovery, including speech therapy, Deng said. 

“Because [the speech] therapists only speak English, even though they were very nice and very impatient, because she wasn’t able to practice in Chinese, even today, I didn’t think my mother was able to recover fully,” Deng said in an interview translated by Grace Chan McKibben, executive director at the Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community. “If there was a Chinese-speaking therapist, she would be able to recover her language more fully.” 

As Den’s mother’s condition has deteriorated over the past year and a half, Deng said caretaking has become an increasingly round-the-clock job for her, her husband and their two children. They intervened for full-time care after Deng’s mother was sent to the intensive care unit multiple times because she’d developed urinary infections after not being able to indicate her diaper needed changing. 

Still, Deng, who immigrated to Chicago in 1993, said her mother is one of the lucky ones. At least here, she has a family with the means to provide support, Deng said.

For many other Asian American families who don’t have English-proficient members, language justice and access is becoming increasingly vital — and change is likely on the horizon.

On May 23, Illinois lawmakers passed the Language Equity and Access Act, following a rally in Springfield of more than 300 Asian American community members who protested for language justice.

The act aims to transform language access across Illinois for limited English-proficient individuals by requiring state agencies to provide adequate and timely oral and written language services in more than a dozen languages. It now awaits Gov. JB Pritzker’s signature. 

Local Asian American community leaders believe the act will change — and save — lives. Because many agencies fall short of delivering adequate services to limited English-proficient individuals in languages they feel comfortable using, nearly 1 million people across Illinois have trouble accessing state services, according to Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Chicago. 

“This is a really great first start to be able to access services,” said Vân Huynh, executive director of the Vietnamese Association of Illinois. “Most people would actually be surprised to learn that if someone who feels comfortable speaking Vietnamese were to call 911, they actually wouldn’t have access to someone who speaks Vietnamese to be able to help them.” 

Passing legislation to ensure language justice has been a conversation for the past few years, said Grace Pai, executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Chicago. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Pai’s organization collaborated with other groups focused on equitable language access, including ones representing African immigrants, Arab Americans and Latinos, she said.

But the pandemic forced many of these organizations to put the issue on the backburner as they shifted gears to supporting their communities, Pai said. During the early days of the pandemic, many limited English-proficient individuals struggled to navigate state services, including health care and unemployment, she said.

“COVID-19 showed us that lots of Asian American community members are just left out and are not able to access vital information or services that they need,” Pai said. “Unfortunately, it deters people from seeking services when they need help, if they feel like they’re going to have a really hard time navigating those services, or that they won’t be able to go through that process with dignity.” 

Huynh noticed this as well, she said. Her 30-person organization experienced a surge of requests during the pandemic from neighbors who needed help with everything from understanding virus fact sheets to searching for jobs.

Some had to take off entire days from work to drive to the association’s office, Huynh said. 

“While we’re comfortable and, of course, happy to work with our community in that way, I don’t think that people should have to go so far and really overextend themselves to get access to information and services,” Huynh said. “Vietnamese Americans have been here for the last 50 years, and I think these are the things that our people just deserve.”

As the city emerged from the pandemic, the Pan-Asian Voter Empowerment Coalition, the statewide network of 18 organizations focused on increasing language access, began a more concentrated effort to pass the bill, Pai said.

While the measure failed in the last legislative session, the Asian American Caucus grew “tremendously” to nine members in 2023, which finally helped push the bill through, Pai said.

For Huynh, true enforcement of the act means the state government needs to hold its various agencies accountable and also invest in adequate funding for translation services.

Deng, outreach coordinator for Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community, echoed that sentiment. 

“I hope that we’ll really be able to help other people that have language barriers, particularly seniors,” Deng said. “[I hope] there will be resources to implement the bill and services that will help people in a concrete way … because there are so many people who are not able to have their needs met because of language barriers.”

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