Speak Out August 2020 DIGITAL EDITION

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Committee

Meet Tania Harris

Tania is a Bundjalung woman who has been living, raising children and working on Noongar country for many years. She is currently employed as the Aboriginal Engagement Coordinator at the Health Consumers Council WA where a large part of her role involves gathering feedback from community and presenting that back to the health services, and supporting Aboriginal consumers to have their voices heard within the health system. Tania is a dedicated advocate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and sits on a number of boards and committees as an Aboriginal consumer representative. Tania has experienced speech pathology services from the parent perspective for many years. She joined the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Committee in January, and brings important perspectives to the discussions. We asked Tania to respond to three questions—here is what she said. Why did you decide to join the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Committee? My eldest child was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy 20 years ago, which threw us into the world of allied health, speech being one of the main therapies. She has had, and continues to have some amazing speechies, but it has remained one of the therapies that I struggle with the most. My middle child, thanks to my daughters speech therapist at the time, was referred for assessment at 2 and found to have a Speech and Language Delay, spent 5 years at a Language Development Centre, went back to mainstream and struggled all through primary and high school until further assessments were needed to support his ATAR goals. He has since been diagnosed with Dyslexia and Dysgraphia and is lucky enough to receive a lot of tutoring through Follow the Dream, and OT sessions through a GP Management plan. Both of their experiences with Speech have been so different, one very medical and one more education based—but very much all around communication. Communication is so individual and personal. It is I think, why I have struggled to engage as willingly as I have with other allied health services. A speechie isn’t only working on communication with the child, but also with the parents and family. I don’t think I would be unusual in struggling with speech therapy, in trying to “do communication” in the way I was asked to. I wanted to join the Committee because I wanted to be able to use our

experiences to make it better and easier for families, and for the therapists who I know work so hard, and need those consumer perspectives too. What is your vision for speech pathology services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples? I would love to see our ways of communication more widely understood and incorporated into mainstream delivery. Non-verbal communication is a beautiful thing. When my son was quite young he was telling his teacher that you don’t use your ears when you’re listening to his sister, you have to use your eyes and your brain and your heart because, “she can't just talk!” I thought that was pretty lovely and extremely accurate. I would love to see families feeling confident in their natural ability to communicate with their kids and family members. I would also love to see every person that needed speech to be able to access it. What is your vision for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members of Speech Pathology Australia? I smile when I think of the ones I have met on the Committee, because what a lovely group of people. Strong in their Culture and in their clinical skills. I am sure that’s the same throughout the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander membership, and my vision would be to see them inspire even more people to make speech their career, and that families and people who want to be able to have an Indigenous speech pathologist as part of their team, will have that opportunity.

Cori Williams Senior Advisor Evidence Based Practice and Research

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August 2020 | Speak Out