Consider the continuum of cultural competence in agencies developed by Cross et al. What level of cultural competence would be assigned to an agency that tries to be unbiased in its approach by asserting that race and culture make no difference in how they provide services, but then applies a dominant cultural approach to all clients?

• A. cultural destructiveness
• B. cultural blindness
• C. cultural incapacity
• D. cultural pre-competence

Answer: (B)

The situation reflects cultural blindness. In Cross and colleagues’ continuum, cultural blindness is the stance that race and culture don’t matter and that services can be the same for everyone. Here, the agency says they are unbiased by claiming race and culture make no difference, yet they still apply a dominant cultural framework to all clients. That shows a disregard for how cultural backgrounds actually shape needs and experiences, and it leads to a one-size-fits-all approach that ignores important differences.

It isn’t cultural destructiveness, which would actively harm or devalue cultures, nor cultural incapacity, which would show a lack of ability or willingness to serve diverse groups without attempting improvement. It isn’t cultural pre-competence, which would acknowledge gaps and start to address them. So the best fit is cultural blindness because the key issue is the denial of cultural relevance paired with a dominant-cultural application.