Challenging racism and stereotypes

From a young age, Dr Ken Greaves, a consultant psychologist who has been practising since 1989, has faced racism, bullying and prejudice.

But as this oral history highlights, throughout his life he has fought back to protect himself and others, as well as to establish his identity. 

And as someone with lived experience of being misunderstood and unsupported, Ken champions the need for psychological practice that is culturally sensitive and takes account of discrimination caused by overlapping factors determining an individual's unique identity. These factors include race, sex, religion and sexuality.

The oral history begins by exploring Ken's childhood experiences. His parents came to the UK as part of the Windrush generation, and after a time, moved to a predominantly White area where they were the only Black family in the neighbourhood and local school.

It was here, as a primary schoolboy, that Ken, along with his younger siblings, first faced racist taunts, prejudice and physical assaults.

In the recording, he says of that time:

"Looking back on those days, I didn't particularly feel that my school experience was one of learning. It was very much more of a trauma. 

"I felt that every day that I was going into school, it was like a war zone, and I wasn't feeling I was protected by my teachers."

Because Ken fought back, he says he was perceived by his teachers 'to be a behaviour problem'. He was assessed by an educational psychologist and it was recommended that he attend a school for the 'educationally subnormal'.*

But Ken's father steadfastly refused to send him there, taking it upon himself to 'discipline' his son. Ken's middle and secondary school experiences were more positive; he did well and secured a place at university to study psychology.

However, he still felt insecure. The film highlights Ken's experiences, at the time, as one of the very few Black and working-class university students, then teachers and educational psychologists. 

He continued to face prejudice and micro aggressions, with some parents withdrawing their children from his class because of the colour of his skin, the recording reveals.

Ken went on to specialise in working with people with neurodivergence and learning difficulties and is an autism expert. In the recording, he discusses the difficulties minority groups face and believes they are less likely to receive a diagnosis of a neurodivergent condition.

Ken says of the recording:

"I wanted to provide an oral history to enable colleagues within the profession to understand and appreciate the diverse intersectionality that exists in psychology.

"Archives often don't recognise how, historically, psychologists from racially and culturally diverse backgrounds have been treated within the profession as well as in their practices by patients."

Sophie O'Reilly, BPS archive manager, said:

"We are so grateful to Ken for his bravery in telling his story. We are very excited to have this oral history within our wider archive collections. This shows the importance of oral histories in capturing stories which would not otherwise be included in traditional archive records."

You can view the recording on YouTube.

*DECP response to BBC documentary 'Subnormal: A British Scandal' and the role of Educational Psychologists | BPS

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Exposing and challenging racism in the British education system, an oral history | BPS