Title:

Maternal Health Patient Toolkit: Supporting Language Access as a Strategy for Addressing Maternal Racial Health Disparities

For pregnant people who are neurodiverse or non-English speaking, language barriers can hinder access to care, delay treatment, and reduce trust in healthcare systems. These challenges are particularly urgent in EMS encounters, during prenatal care with public health nurses, and throughout labor and delivery in hospitals. Addressing communication and health literacy gaps can prevent misdiagnosis, ensure informed consent, and improve both maternal and infant outcomes. Although there are several laws governing language access (Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act) for people with limited English proficiency, we recognize that this does not always happen as intended in practice. The Translated and Visually Depicted Maternal Health Patient Toolkit was designed as a patient-facing strategy for supporting birthing people with limited-English proficiency in understanding and communicating their maternal and postpartum healthcare needs.

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