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Speak Out April 2013 3
T his year is a particularly important
one for Speech Pathology Australia.
The first months of the year have
been an absolute hive of activity as many of
our larger projects enter their final stages.
Concurrently, our sustained lobbying
efforts of the past three years have also
begun to bear fruit on several fronts. This
has provided tremendous opportunities for
dialogue with politicians and policy makers
and exciting new project opportunities
such as the SPyce youth justice pilot.
We are also beginning to get very
meaningful traction with the simple
message that ‘communication is a basic
human right’. The sobering statistics about
the scale of disadvantage confronted by
those who cannot access appropriate
speech pathology services speak for
themselves. We have had significant
success in getting this message across to
the broader community and to the media.
It has been extremely gratifying to see
their response as they truly understand the
powerful difference speech pathologists
make to the lives of everyday Australians
with communication and swallowing
difficulties, and to see them take up the
challenge on our behalf to advocate for
greater access to services for our clients.
The common strand uniting all our
externally focused activities is advocacy for
Australians experiencing communication
and swallowing difficulties. We have
deliberately distilled our campaigning and
lobbying material to emphasise simple,
powerful messages which we repeat
frequently and support with robust data.
This strategy underpins our planning
for Speech Pathology Week and for our
international year of action and advocacy
on behalf of our clients and consumers.
You’ll find much more information in
this edition as we prepare to ‘start the
conversation’ around communication
disability in Australia and internationally.
Many more of the projects and activities
the Association is involved in are detailed
within. But, as always, there is simply so
much going on it is impossible to cover
everything. I do hope that many of you
are planning to join us at our National
Conference on the Gold Coast in June.
Along with speakers presenting the
latest research, the AGM is a fantastic
opportunity to hear more about the
Association’s many achievements and to
celebrate the tremendous successes of
our award winners. At this year's AGM
we will also be asking you to vote on our
proposed new Constitution which has
been the focus of so much work over the
past two years. I hope to see as many
of you as possible in person but please
remember that if you are unable to attend
you may forward a proxy vote. Please note,
the AGM is a stand alone event open to all
members, conference registration is NOT
a requirement for attendance. Make sure
you have your say about the future of our
Association.
Until next time...
Chris Stone
National President
From our President