Speak Out August 2017

Association news

ONE OF THE key initiatives within Speech Pathology Australia’s Strategic Plan 2017–2019 focuses on supporting our members to develop greater awareness and knowledge of practising in a culturally responsive and culturally safe manner. It is recognised as essential that health professionals, including speech pathologists, are both clinically competent and culturally responsive in order to positively affect the health and well-being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. To this end, it was a fitting start to our conference on Sunday afternoon to host a workshop which introduced the Cultural Responsiveness in Action: An IAHA Framework. Presenters from the Indigenous Allied Health Australia (IAHA), Donna Murray (CEO), Kylie Stothers and Deb Evans, provided participants with opportunities to build upon strengths and identify areas for growth along their lifelong journeys toward cultural responsiveness. Key learning objectives guided participants to: • engage in self-reflection about cultures, personal beliefs, assumptions, values, perceptions, attitudes and expectations and impact on relationships; • increase understanding of how effective leadership can facilitate change and transform approaches to health-care that create cultural safety; • explore ways of knowing, being and doing that will enhance ability to be cultural responsive. Participants found the workshop challenging at times, but extremely thought provoking and valuable, as well as immediately applicable to their professional practice with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients and their families. Cultural responsiveness in action: An IAHA framework

• The committee then considers these in their list of issues that goes to the country. • The country then responds back to the committee, which considers the responses and makes a report. • NGOs then consider the report and can comment and make recommendations. Following our representation to contribute, SPA was invited to provide input to the Disabled Persons Organisation Australia (DPOA) submission to the Committee. As indicated above, our list of issues needed to be in the form of a question that we would want the committee to ask of Australia, so comments were worded accordingly against the specific articles of the convention that are relevant to SPA with respect to communication disability. Specifically, we provided comment and posed questions on the following articles: • accessibility (Article 9) • access to justice (Article 13) • living independently and be included within the community (Article19) • education (Article 24) • health (Article 25) While not all of our specific comments/questions were incorporated within the final DPOA submission, a number were, either in a specific or more general sense, including the adoption of communication access principles and standards (Article 9); provision of supports in the justice system (for those with communication difficulties) (Article 13); and measures to ensure that the Disability Standards in Education (2005) are assisting people with disability (Article 24). IJSLP special issue Communication is a human right: Celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Timed for distribution in early 2018, this special issue of IJSLP, will join the world in celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and will have a specific focus on acknowledging communication as a basic human right and exploring issues around this claim. Speech Pathology Australia is co-authoring a commentary paper which the International Communication Project (ICP) has been invited to submit. This paper discusses the ICP’s current work directed towards influencing international health and disability policy, through interaction with world health policy bodies such as the United Nations (UN) and the World Health Organization (WHO), and the relevant communication-related initiatives of these bodies, as well as those of the ICP itself.

Gail Mulcair Chief Executive Officer

Disability report

The Report of the Select Committee on Access to the South Australian Education System for Students with a Disability was released on 30 May 2017. We are pleased to report that SPA’s submission and our representatives’ appearance at the committee hearing is acknowledged extensively throughout. The document can be found at: www.parliament. sa.gov.au/Committees/Pages/Committees. aspx?CTId=3&CId=320

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August 2017 www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au

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