May 2008 Edition - agosci

articles articles2020 Summit Submission (cont)• Appropriate housing and accommodation options• Appropriate communication support services• Appropriate communication aids and technology• Appropriate attendant care support• Meaningful daytime activities – including paid and unpaidemploymentSolutions include:• Valuing unpaid carers: keeping people with high supportneeds with their families. Increasing the carers allowancein line with increases in the CPI.• Increasing the time available for respite• Offering respite in a variety of models eg. In-houserespite• Building more respite facilities – that are physicallyaccessible and communication accessible• Increasing the disability pension• Increasing the number of speech pathologists trained• Including training in AAC (Alternative and AugmentativeCommunication) to disability support staff• Funding to adapt worksites to become more “communicationfriendly”• National funding for non-technological communicationaids (based on the Victorian NECAS – Non-electronicCommunication Aid Scheme)A Speech Pathologist at the 2020 Summitby Juliet VanyaiSpeech Language Pathologist, Education Department Tasmaniajuliet.vanyai@education.tas.gov.auWhen the idea for the summit was fi rst publicized I remembersaying to my husband “There should be a speech pathologistat that!” I think he’s known me long enough to nod and agreewith statements like that but I really felt passionately that ourprofession has such a valuable contribution to make to earlychildhood care and education. I briefly considered making asubmission which involved writing about yourself and your ideaand paying your own way to Canberra but shelved the idea asthe busyness of day to day life took over. So when I saw theopportunity to make a submission to the Mercury newspaperin Hobart and attend the summit all expenses paid I wrote50 words about the importance of early oral language skillsparticularly in the transition to written literacy and the nextthing I knew I was on my way to Parliament House.• National funding for technological communication aids(based on the Victorian Aids and Equipment Program)• Adapting worksites to ensure workers with disabilities haveaccess to employmentEmploymentMost people with CCN have mobility disability, so employers,like the rest of the community, see not one disability butmultiple disabilities. There is or will be a severe workershortage in Australia. Both employers and potential employeeswith CCN have to be able/allowed to see the possibilities.ReferencesAmerican Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (2005)Roles and responsibilities of speech-langauge pathologistswith respect to alternative communication: Position statement.Retrieved from http://www.asha.org/NR/rdonlyres/BA19B90C-1C17-4230-86A8-83B4E12E365/0/v3PSaac.pdfPerry, A., Reilly, S., Cotton, S., Bloomberg, K, Johnson, H.(2004) A demographic survey of people who have a disabilityand complex communication needs in Victoria, Australia. AsiaPacifi c Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing, 9, 3, 259-271.The whole experience was so interesting on many levels. Sureit was exciting to rub shoulders with so many people in thepublic eye (I walked past Hugh Jackman at a social functionbut decided against interrupting his conversation with another“summiteer” to retain any professional credibility I may havehad!) But even more satisfying was to participate in discussions35