Speak Out low res October 2016

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October 2016 Speak Out 41
ACT/
New south wales
ACT 76
NSW 2042
members
as at August 2016
Branch News
The Sydney SPArty
Celebrating Speech Pathology Week in style!
On Thursday 11 August, a “ragtag” bunch of misfits from
across the profession came together at Lotus Restaurant in
central Sydney to celebrate their work and that of their peers. In
the process they also created new friends and possibly a few sore
heads.
It was an “Olympic” effort. Participants were drawn to attend from
the ranks of academia, government, and private practice, with the
odd student and non-speechie thrown in. In the refined surrounds
of a private room overlooking the QVB, the champagne flowed
and guests sampled a seemingly unending spread of delicacies
provided by celebrated head chef Chris Yan. The dumplings
were delectable, the noodles divine, and the chopsticks skills
impressive.
More wondrous still was the array of ingenious and innovative
games enjoyed by the participants. These were too complex to
go into detail here, but let us just say that one of them resulted
in this attendee developing a mild aversion to saying the word
cupcake. Another game saw nimble fingered members of the
Twitterati uploading and tweeting photos. As many readers will be
aware, these skilfully shot images looked fabulous on Facebook,
were all over Instagram, and travelled to the farthest corners of
the social media universe.
Those who were unable to attend this year should certainly
consider taking up the opportunity in 2017. I am sure those who
were there will be eager to go again.
Thanks in particular should go to Laura Blasdale and Celine
Pascual, who were largely responsible for making this little
extravaganza so successful. Those wanting to give feedback on
possible changes for next year can contact these two exceptional
people: or .
SPA Week at Sydney Uni
The SPA representatives and volunteers of the University of Sydney put on a free baked goods giveaway
to promote awareness of the profession. All students on campus were encouraged to ask for their
baked good of choice using an AAC device of their choice, from low-tech letter boards to high-tech
Proloquo2go. Communication breakdowns prompted students and teachers to ask about what we do
as speech pathologists, and recognise the importance of communication and communication disorders.
Students and staff were encouraged to ask questions about speech pathology and the people with whom
we work, helping them to understand the life-changing work speech pathologists and their clients do
every day.
Emma Arazzi
NSW Branch Student Representative for Sydney University