White privilege in neuropsychology: An ‘invisible knapsack’ in need of unpacking?

Abstract

Objective A persistent and growing challenge to the field of neuropsychology is the disconnect between: (a) the increasingly culturally/linguistically diverse populations in need of clinical and research evaluations and (b) a neuropsychology workforce and ‘toolkit’ of validated instruments and norms that remain generally ill-prepared to address these needs. This disconnect threatens the future clinical utility and professional viability of the field, and may at least in part be related to white privilege. This commentary describes a qualitative examination of white privilege in neuropsychology, its implications for the field, and recommendations to move forward. Method Utilizing McIntosh’s paradigm of “unpacking the invisible knapsack of white privilege,” this author (a non-Hispanic White, Spanish-English bilingual man) conducted an idiographic, qualitative examination of ways in which non-Hispanic White neuropsychologists may experience unearned and largely invisible (unexamined) privilege. Conclusions The present examination suggests that white privilege within the field of neuropsychology may perpetuate health care disparities relevant to practice and research and the field’s insufficient systemic response to its longstanding challenges related to workforce demographics and psychometric instrumentation. To ensure future clinical utility and professional viability, it is imperative that neuropsychology as a field, and particularly the non-Hispanic White majority of its membership and organizational leaders, unpack its invisible knapsack of privilege and acknowledge the ways in which such privilege can insidiously compromise individual and systemic responses to the ongoing crisis of insufficient workforce characteristics, psychometric tools, and empirical research basis to address increasing patient diversity and neuropsychological health care disparities.