Speak Out Dec 2016 low res final

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In the first year of the Master of Speech
Pathology, students at the University of
Melbourne attend a supported communication
workshop at St Vincent’s Hospital. During this
workshop we learned about the prevalence of
aphasia and met people living with the condition.
Many of us have been shocked to learn that
up to 38 percent of stroke survivors experience
some form of impairment and yet aphasia does
not feature in the vocabulary of the average
Australian. This left us with a burning question.
How can we make our society accessible to
people with aphasia if nobody knows what it is?
In 2016 we set out to change that.
Our goal was to raise awareness and funds
for the Australian Aphasia Association by
challenging ourselves to participate in the
Medibank Melbourne Marathon Festival. On
16 October fifteen students completed various
events at the festival to show our dedication to
improving the lives of people with aphasia.
In total we raised $5077.60, over five times our
original goal of $1000. More importantly, we
have introduced the concept of aphasia in to
our wider social networks and have hopefully
sparked a change in perception of those with
communication difficulties.
We’d like to thank everyone that donated to our
efforts and we hope to continue this initiative in
the years to come.
Full Marathon 42.2km: Madeleine Gwynne,
Michael Prewer and Kathleen Mellahn
Half Marathon 21.2km: Madeleine Hodgson,
Stephanie Mills, Sarah Draper, Helen Worley,
Amanda Truong, Georgina Johnson, Melissa Aar
and Stephanie Vassallo
10 km run: Ayesha Al Barwani and Clare
Chapman
3km walk: Shabana Alavi and Charlotte
Ponchard
Kathleen Mellahn
Victorian Branch Student Member
Students Run for Aphasia
Victoria
VIC 1911
members
as at October 2016
December 2016 Speak Out 39