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10 Speak Out October 2017
organisations and stakeholders participate in the forum, which
provided not only a very broad perspective of communication
access, but also very rich feedback on how real change can be
achieved.
The following points summarise the discussion and future
directions:
• There was an identified need for a strong overarching vision
and collaborative effort to ensure change.
• A key to informing future work will be the participation and
experiences of those with a communication disability.
• Efforts must be driven from a human rights perspective and
to build awareness and respect around communication
differences.
• The ability to extend on existing work, to progress towards
a national strategy and standards was acknowledged, along
with the potential to work towards international recognition of
a communication access symbol.
• The need for identified goals to be outcomes focused and
drive real change in communication access for all within
services, policy and programs, was strongly reinforced.
There was strong support from many of the organisations
involved to meet again and progress this work. Updates will be
provided as plans and strategies are developed.
DURING SPEECH PATHOLOGY WEEK, the Association hosted
a highly successful Communication Accessible Communities
Forum on Thursday 24 August 2017, in line with the SPW theme:
“Communication Access – Everyone gets the message!”
The context of the forum included one of the key aspirations of
the Speech Pathology 2030 vision, that being, for there to be
Communication Accessible Communities. This aspiration is also
reflected in Speech Pathology Australia’s new strategic plan (2017-
2019) which includes the goal that communication inclusivity and
accessibility is recognised by government and the community. To
this end, Speech Pathology Australia’s hope is that, fostering an
Australian level collaboration of organisations with an interest and
commitment to communication inclusivity and accessibility, will
support this goal and future advocacy efforts.
The broad purpose of the forum was to discuss forming an
ongoing collaborative, with an initial aim of developing a national
consensus on what we mean by communication access and to
form a clear advocacy position. A further aim is to create national
standards in the area of communication accessibility which can
be promoted to government and local community and service
organisations.
We were delighted to have 25 representatives across 17 separate
Communication Accessible Communities Forum
Gail Mulcair
Chief Executive Officer
Speech Pathology Week August 2017
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