I have a confession – I spend a large amount of my (bus) travel time consumed with a single thought – what message can I paint on my top to make people stop and take climate change seriously?
“The Climate Crisis is a Health Crisis”?
“"The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it" (Robert Swan)?
“ The Climate Crisis = more inequality and more conflict” ?
I am still undecided but all three seem very relevant to our last SLT Susnet meeting in which Rachel shared her fascinating research project on SLT practice and UN development goals.
One of the things that struck met the most was the notion of globality which I think we often overlook when we talk about ‘greening’ SLT practice.
Climate change will have an impact on health globally, increasing demand for SLT services, as well as increasing migration, increasing demand locally. How should we respond? How should our practice change?
From a very quick search, it is reassuring to see that there are an increasing number of people (most visibly academics) asking such deep & challenging questions about SLT practice and global justice.
Of note, an article was published last year in the South African Journal of Communication Disorders entitled “Stitching a new garment: Considering the future of the speech–language therapy profession globally”
It opens with a quote from Sonya Renne Taylor:
“We will not go back to normal. We are being given the opportunity to stitch a new garment. One that fits all of humanity and nature.”
The article was a result of collaborative meetings of SLTs from the majority and minority world. I won’t be able to do it justice here (no pun intended) or to summarise it succinctly so would highly recommended reading it in full (it is not long).
What struck me in particular was that “most people experiencing communication disability live in the Majority World” but that also that “at current rates of training SLTs, it would take several 100 years to address the population need in the Majority World.”
The need for re-evaluating SLT practice (including its name), recognising the cultural bias in current practice which prioritises biomedical models of disability and questions of “decolonisalisation” are addressed. There were 4 main themes (1) the need to centre people experiencing Communication Disability (CD) as the focal point of services, (2) participation, (3) equity and (4) community.
I don’t feel ready yet to formulate a response for what this means for my own daily practice – where notions of participation are mostly considered at the hyper- individualised level. It is, however, at the very least a gentle nudge for me to consider communication accessibility at the hospital level. Dysphagia was not mentioned but are there ways we could be targeting this more broadly e.g. working more collaboratively with community colleagues to support empowering care homes?
My take home is that our field needs to grow and develop to meet the changing needs of a global society. My feeling is that we are currently in the stage of asking these questions. The wider (and more diverse) a community we have asking these conversations, the more exciting the answers.
The article end with this moving call to action:
“This is a call for speech–language therapy practitioners, organisations and people who experience CD to become involved in re-imagining the profession. We encourage consideration of the following questions. What is your vision for the future of the speech–language therapy profession? What changes in the speech–language therapy profession are needed to support culturally sustaining and equitable service provision in your locale, and globally? ….. Imagine the garment that we can stitch to fit all of humanity."
Thanks for sharing this article and your thoughts Sivan. It makes for a worrying read, but something we need to face sooner rather than later!
Please log in or sign up to comment.