When we talk about Euskera and the work of psychologists, what is the situation?

Newly graduated in Psychology, I started working as a school psychologist in the Basque area of Bizkaia. In the late 1990s, there was no test, no manual, no means of diagnosis or anything to practice psychology in Euskera. Thus, the parents of a very Euskaldun municipality came to seek help from me. The Basque parents were born a deaf daughter. They explained to me very nervously that a psychologist had told their daughter that they had to speak to her in Spanish and that if she was studying a language, she would have to learn Spanish. The psychologist told them that “Euskera did not serve to teach deaf children the language” and that, by chance, the child’s language should be Spanish. Terrible. We have not made much progress since then. Still today, Basques with visual or auditory deficiencies have difficulty in receiving care in their language. Note that in diagnostic tools, tests, etc. used in the field of psychology and pedagogy, only 2% is adapted to the Basque language.

In addition to the aforementioned diagnostic instruments in Euskera, what are the deficiencies that currently exist?

We need to work in depth on the training of psychologists. I've seen Castilian parishioners interviewing Basque children with the help of the translator. I met a case of a six-year-old boy with congenital myopathy that prevented him from speaking. The psychologist (Spanish) examined him and diagnosed that he was autistic, as he had found problems communicating. Their parents, the peasants, were worried because they had their young son in a closed room for the autistic. When I went back to study the case, I visited the child in a special room for autistic people. There he was, sitting on the floor, drooling, with the apron soaked; in a room without furniture or windows, with another child much bigger than him. At the center, all the guards and educators were Castellanoparlantes. The boy, when I approached him and spoke to him in Basque, smiling, his face lit up. Autistic? The Basque who had physical problems speaking was precisely that. Surrounded by Castilian speakers, condemned to incommunication by an ignorant psychologist. I am sure that this kind of cruelty still occurs because of the lack of Basque psychologists. Empty? A lot.

What would you like to highlight?

I discussed with a colleague at the university about psychology deontology. We were discussing whether the psychological skills tests should be adapted to the Basque country. I do and he, even if he is the original Basque, do not; that all the Basques or almost all of us also know in Spanish. He told me that he was politicizing the account, that he should not confuse the recovery of Euskera with psychology. It had to be the snout! I told him that no psychologist can tolerate any person's psychological well-being deteriorating by language, ideology or other beliefs; and that Basques are owed the same care as anyone else for their well-being, even in psychology. What should be highlighted? That our question is of a psychological nature, that we have to look for ways of providing the best service to people. That, in the case of the Basques, of course, must be done in Basque. I would emphasize the need for psychology.

Why is the encounter of Basque psychologists important?

I think that has already been said. Psychologists and psychologists must be aware that, in order to provide adequate service, we must overcome the deficiencies we have in Euskera. They're very important. The welfare of the people is at issue; in this case, that of the Basques.