Epistemic Justice and the Structural Silencing of Linguistically Diverse Parents

Pediatric healthcare encounters are inherently communicative acts that depend on the exchange of knowledge, trust, and understanding between careproviders and parents. Yet, for families with non-English language preference (NELP), these interactions occur within systems that may privilege biomedical expertise as they systematically devalue parental knowledge. In this article I explore the concept of epistemic injustice and how it manifests structurally and interpersonally in pediatric care. Institutional workflows, time pressures, and underinvestment in interpreter services can amplify these injustices and transform language barriers into epistemic silencing. These dynamics not only can impede the process of informed consent and shared decision making, but can generate moral distress among clinicians and lasting mistrust among families.