As we celebrate September’s Hispanic Heritage Month and October’s Neurodiversity Awareness Month, this is an opportunity for medical imaging leaders to promote cultural awareness and patient advocacy across radiology departments through acknowledgement, understanding, and engagement.

Medical imaging is about far more than producing an image on a workstation. Behind every image is a person — our patient — and providing excellent care begins with recognizing the individual behind the image. We must respect and embrace each patient’s unique background and lived experience, understand what brought them to our department, listen to their concerns, and identify their needs. By building trust and communicating with compassion, we involve patients in their care and we can provide the highest quality, most patient-centered experience possible. 

September: Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15–Oct. 15 )

National Hispanic Heritage Month was created in 1968 and expanded into a full month in 1988 by President Ronald Reagan. It is a time to acknowledge the rich history, culture, and contributions of Hispanic and Latin Americans. There are notable Hispanic radiology trailblazers like Dr. Juan Taveras, known as the father of neuroradiology, who established the first American fellowship program in neuroradiology in the Dominican Republic. Also, there is Dr. Jose Morey, who began his career as a radiologist and expanded into biotechnology and aerospace and served as an adviser to NASA and the White House Office of Science and Technology.

As medical imaging leaders, we must acknowledge that quality care begins with tearing down systemic barriers and unconscious biases. Language barriers can lead to improper exam preparation, missed follow-up appointments, or deferred screenings. Imaging teams should be encouraged to seek assistance from interpreting services when needed to confirm the patient understands and knows what to expect. In return, every member of the team must seek to understand the patient and any concerns they may have that could impact their care and imaging encounter.

Leaders must ensure that appropriate translation resources are readily available and tap into community outreach programs and partnerships to identify and address accessibility barriers. By prioritizing language access, we can build trust within Hispanic communities and help ensure that language or other barriers do not discourage patients from seeking and receiving high-quality care. When patients trust and feel understood by their healthcare providers, they are more likely to communicate openly, participate actively, and remain engaged in their care.

October: Neurodiversity Awareness Month

Neurodiversity Awareness Month is an important opportunity for all healthcare professionals, and the public at large, to recognize that not everyone thinks and communicates in the same way, processes concepts in the same manner, and that some people may need different tools for learning. For their part, medical imaging leaders need to do more than just recognize neurodiversity, they need to be actively working to create conditions where every patient can receive compassionate and effective care.

Neurodivergent patients often experience healthcare encounters differently than neurotypical patients, particularly in highly stimulating environments such as imaging departments. For imaging leaders, this means equipping teams with the knowledge, tools, and flexibility needed to recognize and respond to a variety of patient needs. Education is the first step. Technologists and support staff should understand how to identify when a patient may benefit from additional accommodations, how to document those needs for future visits, and how to adapt their approach to support a successful imaging experience.

Bright lights, loud sounds, physical touch, and extreme temperatures can all be sensory triggers, especially for neurodivergent patients. Routine instructions may take longer and require more detail, patients might need visual supports or extra time to process information and instructions. Asking for this information in pre-appointment paperwork allows teams to prepare in ways that can make all the difference.

Before a scheduled appointment, imaging teams should review available patient information and, when appropriate, ask for more details to better understand communication preferences, sensory sensitivities, potential triggers, and strategies that could help the patient feel more comfortable. These conversations can help departments anticipate needs and reduce stress for both patients and staff. Likely accommodations include extending appointment times, minimizing wait times, reducing environmental stimuli when possible, providing clear step-by-step instructions, or identifying staff members to serve as consistent points of contact throughout the visit.

These types of successful accommodations require a coordinated team effort. Imaging leaders should ensure that everyone involved in the patient's care understands the plan and their role in supporting it. Clear communication among schedulers, front-desk staff, technologists, nurses, and radiologists will help create a more comfortable experience and reduce the likelihood of misunderstandings or unnecessary distress.

Most importantly, Neurodiversity Awareness Month reminds us that accommodations are not exceptions to care. They are part of delivering patient-centered care. Through ongoing education, imaging leaders can help dispel misconceptions and reduce stigma, while equipping their teams to better understand sensory challenges, communication differences, and individual learning needs.

What Should We Do

As medical imaging leaders, we must acknowledge and embrace the unique realities of our patients. It is our responsibility to ensure our teams are educated and trained to acknowledge and understand these differences and are committed to providing quality care and safety to all patients. Medical imaging leaders must gather the resources, tools, and education needed to help their teams provide the best for all patients.