Speak Out June 2020

Branch News

Local contexts, global practice Supporting local interdisciplinary connections and global collegiality for NT speech pathologists

Northern Territory

high school completion rates of Aboriginal students, employment opportunities, and language proficiency. Guenther’s work is interesting both for his findings and his use of publicly available data. His talk opened discussion about language, policy and local employment realities for Aboriginal people in their communities. In April, Professor Steven Bird shared his work on 'Learning to speak an Aboriginal language' and our next speaker is linguist Dr Cris Edmonds-Wathen on how children make connections between concepts in Mawng and English. For the remainder of the year we will have a variety of speakers presenting their work (on the last Thursday of each month). This seminar series is designed to provide SLPs and educators an opportunity to engage with local expertise we can draw on as we reflect on the work we do. For those interested in international connection, the Global Issues Book Club meets on the first Wednesday of February, May, August, November. SLPs can join to discuss a selected book in relation to issues that arise when transporting professional practice into global contexts. To date, books have included: It’s Not About Me by Sally Hetherington, No More Heroes by Jordan Flaherty, White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo, and The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen. The August book pick is Sand Talk: How Indigenous thinking can save the world by Tyson Yunkaporta. Current participants include SLPs from the USA, Canada and Australia. Author and activist Arundhati Roy (2020) noted the shocking exposure of global inequality COVID-19 has brought to our screens. Of this experience, Roy notes, “nothing could be worse than a return to normality” and she has a point: When “normality” is a health system that condemns some people to significantly poorer health outcomes than others; when “normality” is systemic racism; when “normality” is widely accepted exclusionary practices. Australians pride themselves on their “fair go” attitude yet there is some notable complacency when it comes to creating actual change in the way we live and work.

SPA has made positive moves towards equity in the development of their Reconciliation Action Plan, the appointment of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Committee and their position on representation in research that includes Aboriginal people and their communities. But perhaps a global pandemic gives us impetus for greater change? Perhaps 2020 will be the year for embracing technology to know both its possibilities and limitations in regional, remote and rural contexts. And maybe 2020 will be the year for engaging our local and global professional communities online in ways that support the development of better- quality speech pathology services. Here, there and everywhere. For online invitations to either the bookclub or the seminar series, or access to recordings of these talks please email bea. staley@cdu.edu.au Bea Staley References Roy, A. (2020). The pandemic is a portal. Financial Times . https://www.ft.com/content/10d8f5e8- 74eb-11ea-95fe-fcd274e920ca About Bea Bea Staley is a paediatric speech pathologist and a lecturer in Special Needs and Inclusive Education at Charles Darwin University. She is also the 2021 SPA National Conference convenor. Bea is passionate about professional issues related to global practice and is daydreaming about travel in this time of easing COVID-19 restrictions. Due to ongoing considerations regarding the Coronavirus pandemic and the restrictions placed on universities, the Charles Darwin University Master of Speech and Language Therapy will now commence in 2022, as opposed to 2021. This has no impact on the dual degree Bachelor of Health Science and Master of Speech and Language Therapy, which commenced in Semester 1 of this year. Changes to Masters degree

NT 71 members as at March 2020

In 2019 SPA NT members came together and invited to guide branch activities for 2020 and beyond. Though many of those plans have been temporarily hampered, and some suggestions were not prioritised for inclusion in the 2020 action plan, these 2019 meetings provided essential space for conversations about what members envision for the profession locally. In a context like the NT where we are regularly confronted with the realities of inequitable service provision, members could discuss their current roles and the opportunities for improving practice. It was acknowledged that there is expertise within the NT, beyond our disciplinary boundaries that could support the work speech pathologists (SLPs) do. In order to facilitate a cross disciplinary conversation, the Charles Darwin University College of Education Seminar Series, titled ‘Considering Ideas’ was revised, bringing monthly speakers online to discuss research broadly related to our profession. In January, Dr Gavin Morris presented his work with the Nauiyu Nambiyu community in Daly River using the Indigenous research methodology Dadirri developed by Aboriginal artist and educator Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann. His talk opened a discussion about working collaboratively, the impacts of colonisation and notions of truth-telling. In February, Dr John Guenther, renowned for his work in remote education, shared his research on the relationship between

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June 2020 www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au

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