Betty Yu

Dr. Betty Yu is a Professor in the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at San Francisco State University. Her work critically examines the intersections of race, language, disability, and institutional practices affecting multilingual children with autism and other neurodivergent identities. She holds certifications including the Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech-Language Pathology and is a Hanen-certified speech-language pathologist. Yu serves on the advisory board of the Asian Pacific Islander Speech-Language-Hearing Caucus and co-edits the Journal of Critical Study of Communication and Disability.

Education:

• Ph.D. Special Education, UC Berkeley/SFSU Joint Program (2009)
• M.A. Speech-Language Pathology, NYU (1999)
• B.A. Linguistics, UC Berkeley (1996)

Her research focuses on linguistic disability justice, critiquing raciolinguistic discrimination and ableist systems in clinical practices. Key themes include bilingual child development, neurodiversity frameworks, and anti-racist pedagogy. Recent work challenges pathologization of language variation and promotes inclusive policies for multilingual autistic populations.

Awards:

• 2013 Distinguished Achievement Award (CA Speech-Language-Hearing Association)
• 2008 Spencer Foundation Fellowship
• Recognized as SFSU's Distinguished Doctoral Student (2009)

Yu's grants and collaborations emphasize community-based participatory research, particularly with Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. She has advised on media projects addressing heritage language preservation and autism advocacy, including NPR's Code Switch podcast episode Lost in Translation.

Her lab integrates critical theory with clinical practice, developing culturally responsive assessment tools and decolonizing speech-language pathology education. Current projects explore neurodivergent communication through multimodal AAC systems and anti-ableist language policies in schools.