Speak Out OCTOBER 2019 V3 DIGITAL EDITION

Branch News

Confident communicating and accessibility

South Australia

People with communication impairments in South Australia can now be ‘Communicating with confidence’ at the Adelaide City Library, Hutt St Library, North Adelaide Library and the Adelaide City Council Customer Service Centre. On Monday the 26th of August at a function in the Adelaide City Library the Lord Mayor, Sandy Verschoor, was presented with a Communication Access symbol for the sites listed above by Barbara Solarsh from SCOPE. The MC for this function was Margie Charlesworth who, in her words, has a “Cerebral Palsy accent” and she used some verbal communication and her communication device to move the proceedings along smoothly. The Adelaide City Council as organisers of the function had set the stage for communication accessibility with the provision of three large electronic screens, the first displaying live captioning of the entire presentation, the main presentation screen, and a further screen with simplified text and visual symbols. Communication accessibility was further enhanced by the use of an Auslan interpreter. Auntie Georgina Williams performed the ‘Welcome to Country’ emphasising the importance of knowing about each other and communicating. She said that, “language belongs to the land and comes from the land to the people” and that, “we need a better understanding of the land or we will not have a land to live in.” Margie then talked about the power of communication, how it is through communication that you show your personality. She talked about the ability to say something just because you can, which is a luxury to some people with severe communication impairments and challenged the audience to think about this. Margie spoke about the difficulty people with communication impairments have in some situations such as communicating at big events and accessing businesses. She introduced the communication accessibility requirements for businesses which, if followed, provide a ‘welcome mat’ for people with disabilities. Communication is good for business and lets people with disabilities know you are interested in what they have to say. The Lord Mayor of Adelaide then spoke about the process that the Adelaide City Council had followed in partnership with Two Way Street (a business run by and employing Speech Pathologists and people with complex communication needs) and Scope to set itself up as an organisation with key Accessible Communication Sites (see above) as part of its Disability Access and Inclusion Plan after gaining a grant through NDIS. Strategies have included: staff in key sites being trained to assist clients with communication impairments; materials developed

that can be used to assist communication in these sites; and documentation developed which is accessible to those with a variety of communication needs. The Adelaide City Council is the first government organisation in South Australia to be awarded the Accessible Communication Symbol. Two Way Street Practice Manager Michaela Banks and speech pathologist Erin Morley poke about the processes used and commended the City of Adelaide for being open, motivated and enthusiastic about communication access for their clients. They launched their new video highlighting the importance of Communication Access. Barbara Solarsh then awarded the Communication Access symbol to the Lord Mayor and drew the audience’s attention to the fact that these have been the first symbols awarded outside of Victoria and through these and other initiatives that Adelaide, and South Australia in general, are well placed in being more accessible to people with communication impairments. The proceedings were followed by light refreshments, networking and confident communicating. The project was made possible by an NDIS Information Linkages and Capacity Building grant awarded to Scope Victoria to roll out communication to South Australia and New South Wales. Two Way Street tendered for the opportunity to be the South Australian partner. If you are interested in further information The City of Adelaide has an excellent article on their website in the Adelaide Living section about this initiative entitled ‘A Clearer Conversation’ with links to Two Way Street and Scope https://living.cityofadelaide. com.au/a-clearer-conversation/ . The Disability Access and Inclusion Plan 2019-2022 is also available in hard copy and online and is an excellent example of an accessible document with an Easy Read version which accompanies the standard version. Sue Horton Speech Pathologist FSPA

SA 693 members as at August 2019

Image courtesy of Catherine Leo.

45

October 2019 www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au

Speak Out