Mental health: ethnic minority carers’ experiences

Yes, I went to the doctor and dragged him over. I couldn't speak English and the children were very young at that time. It was very heart-rending. It was 1986 the youngest child was only 3 years old. I had to look after the kids and I also had to take care of him. What can you do? Years have just gone by.

Was there any interpretation service?

At that time, yes but it was difficult to access the service, not as easy as now. At that time, it was available in our community centre but they were always unavailable. It wasn't very good. Now here are many Chinese and even the doctor would help you to find one. Nowadays, if you need one, they found one available for you. It's easier now. It was really hard in the old days. The children didn't speak English and they were little, all were very young. Now, if no translator is found, the children can help. Ok, la.

So it -definitely, I think it would have definitely been different if I was white and my sister was white in some instances and maybe somebody might be saying, well no, that's not true and I can say well it would've been different specially, even just the basic stuff like her care, her health care, eh, her care for her hair and her skin and those things. When those things are not even taken into consideration and I have to be saying, well this needs to be done and these things I bought for her and she needs to, you know, her hair needs to be looked after. You go back months later, how could you go back months later, can you imagine it and somebody's hair has not been combed. Now you wouldn't get up every day and not comb your hair, and stuff like that and yet she's got money there to take her to do this and if, if… Their excuse was, well she, sometimes she has a tantrum and blah, blah, blah. Fair enough' Bring somebody in to do that. There was always some excuse why this wasn't done and that wasn't followed up and why this product wasn't bought for her and that stuff so that alone tells you that race has, it is different, it is different, so I guess that kind of answers that question.

I never actually expected to, -this society to fully understand about my culture, because the Japanese are such uncommon people. But I would expect people to be more open minded instead of, like -how can I say- the professionals have some training's, and then their book taught to them one to Z, A to Z. And I don't know there's A to Z, but if they can be a more, just a bit open mind, and try to listen to what I'm saying, and the real meanings behind, I think we can have a better communication. But often I found out they have a shutter in front of their face, and the things becomes complicated, or if they cannot understand, or pick up those word from their own dictionary for example, they tended to just, -and stop listening to you. That point I found it could be because of the, there's a cultural, -lack of awareness to each other, I don't mean because I am Japanese, they don't understand. It's not just the nationality I think it would be the same way to everybody, yeah.

It is very difficult to explain racism. You know, you know, -which is very silly thing to say because people who never experienced, or who don't know about concepts of racism they say, how do you know? But you just know by, you know, sometimes they're spitting in the street and then OK people say, OK if I'm passing by people, even these kind of yobs they will spit. But you know that it's because of your colour, your skin, your outlook, they've, that's because of that, you know the looks, the glances they give, the way you're spoken to sometimes. So it may be, I mean, I don't know, now that you ask the question. That maybe the GP was answering equally in such tones to all his other patients. But, you know, to me it was more sensitive. I didn't like those tones. I didn't like the lack of time that was, you know, given but I, -and lack of explanation, and the kind of feeling that you, that I was being dealt with just because it was his duty to deal with me but, no more and no less. I would have preferred kindness more, but, -and so I don't know but it was just a feeling that they were being racist completely. They were very, awful, you know and it wasn't just me. My whole family felt that. And yet we didn't know that we had the choice to change the GPs really.

We can't eradicate somebody's race and their identity because when I'm sat in front of anybody, the first thing I see is race and nobody can say, well that might sound racist, it's not, it's what you see and you have to identify with that and it's a known fact that we all see that. I can't comprehend with anybody sits in front of another person and say they don't see race, they see a person, that's not true. You see race and then you see a person behind that. So therefore, my experience would have been -if I was a white women- that they would probably have seen white person. Obviously they had misconceptions or their perceptions I should say, of what they think about me as a white woman would have been different than probably what they'd think of me as a black woman. It happens, and don't get me wrong, I'm not saying everybody thinks that way and it's always about the race issue first and that you're going to be treated badly all the time but it plays a significant role, it plays a significant role because I think unfortunately there's lots of people who are not aware of culture, differences, you know. You shouldn't be embarrassed about that because we live in a society where sometimes we are alienated wherever and needless to say I think lots of these people who are in that job come from a white middle class background and they've probably never come into contact with people from BME communities unless they've worked in BME communities. So they haven't got a clue about how we live, how we express ourselves, how we do different things so for them, they come in with their misconceptions about how they view people of a different colour or whatever so obviously the way they come to their conclusions and diagnose people will be based on their misconceptions and their stereotypes about people of colour.

In Northern Ireland, even in Northern, everywhere, everywhere you go, the same. “You don't like it, go home”. But then again, my answer is, it's not only for me, because there's a lot of Irish people are not well too, and they need to be, you know, concerned about this problem too. But then again for, it's very hard for minority to express their views, because any time a minority express their views, and even my ex wife said to me a couple of times, “if you don't like it, what are you doing here?” I say, “it's not only for me, it's, I turn a blind eye, it's not, it's for the good of everybody here too”. But they take it in a different way. Like I criticise the system and the National Health system is the best in the world, you say, where else you can get a National Health like that? And “you're running down the National Health”, like I'm running down the people that treat me. The idea was completely different from my ideas. I don't know, but six months after my second son, -I took him back here, because both my son always say to me, “they call me Chinky, they call me this, they”, I say, “don't worry”, I say, “I've been called names all over the world. Not only here. In America”, I said “prejudice in every race, not only the Irish, not only-“. The Chinese are prejudiced too. Every country. In America you see the Italian, the Italian will not like the British always. Or the German and all. It's common. Every country. Prejudice not only between the colour, between people, different, from different country. But that's why I keep seeing my son annoyed. I say, “if somebody call you name, just pretend you don't speak English, just laugh”. He has been called names. I just, “yeah, yeah, yeah”. I walk to shopping centre one day, one day somebody say, “which Chinese restaurant you work”? I didn't say nothing and he say to me, “chop chop, chop chop”. And I thought, -I just laughed. I say, “yeah, yeah, chop chop”. I mean, by making fun that way you avoid confrontation.