Children with disabilities upholding the right to health and healthcare: A co-designed global arts-based study

Good news - the following manuscript has been accepted for publication today. It is a result of a collaborative project between CVC and the World Health Organization.

McLeod, S., Gregoric, C., Blake, H. L., Downey, B., Freire, K., Cologon, K. & Cumming, T., Crowe, K., & Gréaux, M. (2026). Children with disabilities upholding the right to health and healthcare: A co-designed global arts-based study. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools. 

Here is the abstract: 

Purpose. The aim of this study was to co-design research with children to understand their perspectives about health and access to healthcare, particularly relating to children with disabilities (including children with speech, language, and communication needs, SLCN). Articles 23, 24 and 25 of the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child promote children’s health and Articles 12 and 13 promote children’s communication rights to receive and impart information and ideas regardless of frontiers.
Method. Child-focused participatory action research was employed in four stages. Stage 1: children co-designed the research questions and method (n = 24). Stage 2: children were research participants (n = 126 artworks from 18 countries). Stage 3: children co-analyzed the research to identify themes (n = 8). Stage 4: children co-created a summary presentation (n = 8) to share at the United Nations to advocate for children’s health and access to healthcare. Children with SLCN, other disabilities, or chronic health conditions (e.g., speech sound disorder, vision impairment) were involved in each stage.
Results. In stage 1, children co-designed the following questions: “What makes you healthy?” “Who helps you be healthy?” “Where do you go to get healthier?” “What would your ideal hospital or health service look like?” In stage 2, most creators of the 126 artworks indicated they felt happy about their health (82.54%) and healthcare (72.22%), including creators with disabilities (health 76.67%; healthcare 75.00%). In stage 3, the children summarized themes from the artwork. Having a healthy body and a healthy mind involved: “food, friends, doctors, rainbows, hospitals, abilities, workout and sports, energy, and stuff”. They noticed artwork by children with disabilities focused on hospitals and doctors to keep them healthy and was less likely to include “friends, grandparents, animals, nature, supermarkets, and vegetable gardens”. Children with disabilities wanted staff to listen and be kind, and to give support. Some feared hospitals and needles and wanted to hear music rather than “scary” machines. Children in stage 3 said they had been given space, voice, audience, and influence during the research and agreed “a lot of different voices were included”.
Conclusions. This study: (a) demonstrates the feasibility and value of large-scale, child-led multimodal, cross-border research that includes children with a wide range of disabilities and communication needs, (b) translates children’s perspectives into tangible three service-design specifications (i.e., relational communication and kindness, child-sized sensory-aware environments, and logistical supports), and (c) signals potential dependence on hospital- and doctor-centered interventions by children with disabilities in lieu of accessible community supports. Together, these contributions advance rights-based, participatory, and disability-informed scholarship that seeks to realize children’s communication and health rights in practice.

Here is the presentation from CVC2026:  https://childrensvoicesconference.csu.domains/2026/cvc2026-604/

Abelist language

 I was very surprised to be shown this article in IEEE recently - an example of ableism:

"God's greatest wonderful gift to humanity is the ability to perceive and interact with the world around them. However, some people have lost this skill owing to accidents or congenital illnesses... This low-cost medical assistive gadget allows visually impaired people in the community to live a free and independent life rather than relying on others. Thus, this effort is a stride forward taken for the betterment of visually impaired individuals and to change their lifestyle." 

Abitha, S. B., Kousik, R., Sudha, S., & Jaiadityan, S. (2022). A m-health based mobility aid for visually challenged persons. IEEE Technology Explore: 2022 Fourth International Conference on Emerging Research in Electronics, Computer Science and Technology (ICERECT), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICERECT56837.2022.10060552 
 

 

 

CeTasSSD ISS analysis

The coding and analysis phase of our Catholic Education Tasmania research using the International Speech Screener continues... Our international meeting regarding Phon was unable to proceed as our partner was unavailable - but we still had plenty to discuss.

Emma Scanlon, Sharynne  McLeod, Felicity Laurence

 

Migration patterns in Canada compared with Australia

While in Canada I have been very intrested to learn about the waves of migration to Canada - and to reflect on how it has often imitated waves of migration to Australia. I have even met the author of the following book that compares Greek migration to both countries

Tamis, A. M., & Gavaki, E. (2002). From Migrants to Citizens: Greek Migration in Australia and Canada. National Centre for Hellenic Studies and Research. 

Congratulations - new ICF book

 I was invited to write the Foreword for this book - that is being published tomorrow:

Threats, T. T., & Cooley-Hidecker, M. J. (Eds.). (2026). Participation Across the Lifespan of People with Developmental Communication Disorders: An ICF Perspective. Mac Keith Press. https://www.mackeith.co.uk/book/participation-across-the-lifespan-of-people-with-developmental-communication-disorders/

 

Table of Contents

Dedication

Foreword

Preface

1 Introduction
Travis Threats & Mary Jo Cooley-Hidecker

2 Participation and ICF Body Functions and Structures of Speech and Language
Carol Westby & Karla Washington

3 Participation and Environmental Factors
Gregor  Renner

4 Personal Factors
Travis Threats

5 Participation and Quality of Life
Judy Clegg

6 Participation for Children with Communication Disability in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
Karen Wylie, Nana Akua Owusu & Serwah Quaynor

7 Counseling and Meaningful Participation for Children with Hearing Loss
Sheila Moodie

8 Assessment and Intervention for Participation Across the Lifespan
Shakila Dada, Patrik Arvidsson, Parimala Raghavendra, Lin-Ju Kang & Mats Granlund

9 Infants and Toddlers with Communication Disorders
Exequiel Plaza

10 Preschool Children with Communication Disorders
BJ Cunningham

11 School-age Children with Communication Disorders
Karla Washington

12 Teens and Young Adults with Communication Disorders
Angela Ciccia

13 Older Adults with Developmental Disabilities
Travis Threats

14 Concluding Thoughts
Travis Threats and Mary Jo Cooley-Hidecker

Pumpkin mouths at Halloween in Canada

 It has been fun seeing the representation of mouths on pumpkins in Canada during Halloween. One even had a tongue!

 

ScholarGPS® Highly Ranked Scholar

I received this email

Dear Dr. McLeod,
Congratulations on being named a 2026 ScholarGPS® Highly Ranked Scholar™.
Your prolific publication record, the impact of your research, and the outstanding quality of your scholarly contributions place you among the top 0.05% of scholars worldwide within your ranking categories.
View your 2026 scholar profile and rankings
Your scholar profile lists the research areas and corresponding rankings in which you have earned 2026 Highly Ranked Scholar™ recognition, based on your Lifetime contributions and/or contributions during the Prior Five Years.

I am honoured to be amongst my esteemed colleagues: 

 

CeTasSSD research and pathways meeting

Our CeTasSSD team met throughout the day to work on the data, data analysis, writing of papers, and how this translates into a speech pathway for kindergarten children.

Felicity Laurence, Lisa Johnson, Sharynne  McLeod, Sarah Verdon

LinkedIN post from CSU about our CLTT special issue

Communication is a human right, including for children with speech, language and communication needs, and children who communicate in non-dominant languages.
 
How can we make sure researchers truly listen to children with diverse communication abilities?
 
A new special issue of Child Language Teaching and Therapy brings together 17 papers from researchers in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand and the UK.
 
Charles Sturt University Distinguished Professor Sharynne McLeod and Charles Sturt PhD candidate Holly McAlister guest edited the special issue through the Children’s Voices Centre (CVC). CVC staff, affiliates, adjuncts and HDR students contributed six papers, with 19 CVC authors, two editors and eight peer reviewers involved.
 
In her open-access lead paper, Large listening ears are not enough: How can we mature in our practices to listen to children?, Sharynne asks how we can move beyond simply hearing children’s views to giving them an audience and the opportunity to influence decisions.

• Read the special issue: https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/clta/42/2-3
• Read the lead paper: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/02656590261477289
• Watch Sharynne’s two-minute overview: https://lnkd.in/gwR937fF
• Read Sharynne’s blog post about the Charles Sturt and CVC contributions: https://speakingmylanguages.blogspot.com/2026/08/cvc-affilates-and-adjuncts-contribute.html

 
#ChildLanguage #InclusiveResearch #ChildrensVoices #CharlesSturtResearch

RHRI Affiliates | Living Well RHRCoP

Today I attended the Rural Health Research Institute (RHRI) Affiliates | Living Well RHRCoP (Rural Health Research Communities of Practice) lead by Prof Julian Grant.

Staff Service Centre - new system for CSU

 Today I went to an update on the new Staff Service Centre - a new system for CSU to replace Cherwell.

Congratulations Sarah B

Dr Carolyn Gregoric and I were very pleased to receive the first full draft of Sarah Bartlett's PhD thesis today. What an important milestone. I printed it ready to read on the plane next week. I look forward to reading it from cover to cover. This is the beginning of the end of her thesis. Congratulations!

Congratulations Gift

Dr Kate Margetson and I were delighted to meet with Gift Kamonya who has just been accepted as a PhD student at Charles Sturt University. Congratulations Gift. We are excited to begin collaborating with you next year.

 

Launch of the NDRP project "Children as changemakers in public libraries"

Today was the launch of our National Disability Research Partnership (NDRP) project "Children as changemakers in public libraries". This meeting was an opportunity to introduce ourselves, understand the project and discuss plans going forward.

Here is our team: 

• A/Prof Kathy Cologon - Associate Director, Children's Voices Centre, Charles Sturt University
• Tim Cologon - Adjunct, Children's Voices Centre, Charles Sturt University 
• Dr Jo Grimmond - School of Education; Affiilate, Children's Voices Centre, Charles Sturt University 
• Dr Kasey Garrison - School of Communication and Library Studies; Affiilate, Children's Voices Centre, Charles Sturt University
• Prof Philip Hider - School of Communication and Library Studies, Charles Sturt University
• Prof Sharynne McLeod - Director, Children's Voices Centre, Charles Sturt University
• Dr Carolyn Gregoric - Research Manager, Children's Voices Centre, Charles Sturt University
• Dr Shukla Sikder - School of Education; Affiilate, Children's Voices Centre, Charles Sturt University 
• Dr Zinnia Mevawalla - University of Strathclyde, UK
• Amanda Niland - The University of Sydney; Adjunct, Children's Voices Centre, Charles Sturt University 
• Aliza Salvador - Research assistant 

Background to the 2026 NDRP projects

• $4.92 million for 19 disability-led research projects, chosen from 176 applications. 
• The projects start between August and October 2026 and run for 12 months.
• They sit across three streams:

1. Safety of people with disability
2. Pathways to the elimination of restrictive practices
3. Accessible and inclusive communities

• Learn more about the 19 teams: https://content.ndrp.org.au/2026-funded-research-teams-announcement
• This research is funded by the NDRP through a grant from the Australian Government as an initiative under Australia's Disability Strategy 2021–2031. 

Information about our project

Children as Changemakers in Public Libraries

https://content.ndrp.org.au/2026-funded-research-teams-announcement#Accessible-Inclusive

"Children with disability are often excluded from research and decisions about the places and services they use. This project will work alongside children with disability in regional communities to understand what makes public places welcoming, accessible and inclusive for all children.

Kathy Cologon from the Children’s Voices Centre at Charles Sturt University leads the project, partnering with children, families, Bathurst Library and other regional NSW libraries, community organisations and First Nations stakeholders. Through creative and accessible workshops, children share experiences and ideas through drawing, storytelling, photography, Braille, Auslan and other forms of communication that work for each child. Children help guide the research, findings and resources through project workshops and an ongoing Children's Advisory Group."

Here is some additional information written by lead researcher:

Our successful research application to the National Disability Research Partnership (NDRP) has now been officially announced. The embargo lifted yesterday, so we finally share the news of this fantastic research! This was a highly competitive grant round, with just 19 projects funded from 176 applications, and we are delighted to be one of the successful recipients (with a grant of $281,278 plus GST).  
 
Our project, Children as Changemakers in Public Libraries, will work with around 100 children with disability in regional NSW to explore children’s experiences and ideas about accessibility, belonging and inclusion in their communities. Through accessible, creative research activities, children will share their perspectives on what makes communities welcoming and inclusive, the barriers children experience, and what could be done differently. Importantly, children with disability will help shape the research and its findings, with the aim of informing meaningful changes to community spaces, services, and policies. We will also work with the children, alongside a highly acclaimed author and illustrator with disability, to create accessible children’s books that share children’s ideas about inclusion with the wider community.
 
This project includes three members of our CVC team (Kathy Cologon, Sharynne  McLeod, Carolyn Gregoric), as well as four affiliates, two adjuncts and one external researcher. We are working in partnership with Bathurst Library and outreach libraries to ensure children with disability in regional communities have opportunities to influence how more accessible and inclusive communities are created.  
 
To make the news even more exciting, we have also just been notified that the Hon Jenny McAllister has selected just three of the funded projects to highlight in her media coverage, and ours is one of them! It’s fantastic to see this important research receiving national attention and recognition, and a wonderful opportunity to showcase the work of the Children’s Voices Centre and Charles Sturt University. As Bathurst Library is a key partner in the project, the Mayor of Bathurst will also contribute to the media coverage, making this a wonderful coming together of local and national recognition around research that places children with disability at the centre of creating more inclusive communities.  

 

Guest editors working on the LSHSS clinical forum

This morning Dr Helen L. Blake, A/Prof Kathy Cologon and I met to continue the editorial process for our Clinical Forum to be published in Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools (LSHSS) titled "Children’s communication and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)"

https://academy.pubs.asha.org/call-for-papers/childrens-communication-and-the-united-nations-convention-on-the-rights-of-the-child-crc/ 

We had 25 papers submitted, two have been rejected, 15 accepted (11 published), 8 in progress.

Dr Helen L. Blake, Prof Sharynne  McLeod, A/Prof Kathy Cologon

Two papers from this special issue were presented at the UNICEF UK seminar on 23rd October 2026: UNICEF UK CRARN: Voice Beyond Spoken Words: Implementing Article 12 for All Children - Part 2:

• Downey, B., Gibbs, L., & Grimmond, J. (2026). Upholding young children's right to child protection through quality relationships and policy. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/doi:10.1044/2026_LSHSS-25-00213
• McCormack, J. (2026). The dignity of children as the foundation of children's rights and speech-language pathology practice. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/doi:10.1044/2026_LSHSS-25-00198 

 
 

Visit to The Treehouse by Prof Azizur Rahman

This afternoon Prof Azizur Rahman visited The Treehouse. Azizur is an affiliate at the Children's Voices Centre - but Wagga Wagga is his home campus - so he typically joins meetings online. It was good to welcome him in person.

Here is some information about this work: 

https://bjbs.csu.edu.au/schools/computing-mathematics-engineering/staff/profiles/professorial-staff/azizur-rahman  

 

Children Draw Playing

In 2024 we invited children across the world to submit drawings of themselves playing. We received 101 drawings from Mongolia and 83 drawings from Australia and nine other countries. We have uploaded the children's drawings to the Children Draw Talking Global Online Gallery. We have been working in small groups to write papers about this amazing dataset.

Today we met to consider the constructive feedback from the editor and reviewers from an international journal that is considering our first paper in the series. It was a productive meeting

Sharynne  McLeod, Helen L. Blake, Katrina Gersbach, Arifa Rahman, Carolyn Gregoric, Kasey Hillyar (Belinda Downey, Janine Greko)

 

CVC financial oversight

The Children's Voices Centre's small budget has excellent oversight. I am very appreciative of Gil Burmeister (CSU Finance) and Emma Hayes (CVC) for ensuring that we manage our finances responsibly to achieve the greatest impact.

 

GlobalTALES

What an inspirational meeting with Prof Marleen Westerveld this morning. We discussed our collaborations with A/Prof Ben Pham in Viet Nam and the GlobalTales research that she founded.

Here is the key paper describing the Global TALES work: 

Westerveld, M. F., Lyons, R., Nelson, N. W., Chen, K. M., Claessen, M., Ferman, S., Fernandes, F. D. M., Gillon, G. T., Kawar, K., Kuvač Kraljević, J., Petinou, K., Theodorou, E., Tumanova, T., Vogandroukas, I., Westby, C., & on behalf the Global, T. C. (2022). Global TALES feasibility study: Personal narratives in 10-year-old children around the world. PLOS ONE, 17(8), e0273114. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0273114 

The supplementary file about themes is very interesting

Here is the website: www.globaltalesnetwork.com

 

 

Writing papers for our CeTasSSD grant

We have allocated our Mondays to writing papers for our CeTasSSD grant. Our data have been carefully entered, cleaned and analysed - and we are now making sense of what the data have told us.

Today Felicity Laurence, Sarah Verdon and I spent the day continuing to working on the 2025 Intelligibility in Context Scale data to be submitted to a special issue. It was an extremely productive day - and we were able to show how robust our data are. We built on the literature review that was written by Kate Crowe and the analysis that was completed by Nicola Ivory earlier this year. It's nearly ready to submit.

 

PUBLISHED CLTT Special issue: Listening to children with diverse communication abilities

I'm delighted that our special issue of Child Language Teaching and Therapy (CLTT) has been published

https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/clta/42/2-3

The CLTT special issue is titled: "Listening to children with diverse communication abilities" and contains 17 papers from across the world.

Here is my lead paper that summarises the issue.

McLeod, S. (2026). Large listening ears are not enough: How can we mature in our practices to listen to children? Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 42(2-3), 94-109. https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590261477289

This morning Holly McAlister and I celebrated being guest co-editors of the special issue  with A/Prof Suzanne Hopf, Holly's primary PhD supervisor. We reflected on all Holly had learned being a co-editor. 

Sharynne, Holly and Suzanne celebrating publication of the special issue

 

WHO DHEN Workstream 4 Subcommittee 3 Meeting

Tonight at 11pm the WHO DHEN Workstream 4 Subcommittee 3 Meeting occurred. The main topic discussed was the importance of plain language summaries. I also mentioned our new special issue for IJSLP based on the DHEN 40 actions.

NIHR Research Support Service (RSS) Research Inclusion Toolkit

This is a useful resource:

Welcome to the NIHR Research Support Service (RSS) Research Inclusion Toolkit
Research inclusion is vital to enable everyone to contribute to, and benefit from, health and social care research. This toolkit is primarily aimed at health and social care researchers at all career stages. It is also for people who support and advise researchers, such as advisors in the NIHR Research Support Service and other colleagues across NIHR infrastructure, and colleagues supporting research design and delivery in universities, the NHS, local authorities, industry and charities.

https://rss-toolbox.nihr.ac.uk/resources/research-inclusion-toolkit/

Statistical analysis of our CeTasSSD data

Our population study of the speech of children in Tasmania has amazing data. We are enjoying the rigour of our statistical analysis with Dr Audrey Wang. We had some very interesting discussions about statistical assumptions and appropriate statistics today

Dr Audrey Wang, Sharynne McLeod, Felicity Laurence

 

Announcing our NDRP grant: Children as Changemakers in Public Libraries

Today we are able to announce our exciting new grant from the National Disability Research Partnership (NDRP) titled Children as Changemakers in Public Libraries. 

Here is the announcement 

3. Children as Changemakers in Public Libraries
Children with disability are often excluded from research and decisions about the places and services they use. This project will work alongside children with disability in regional communities to understand what makes public places welcoming, accessible and inclusive for all children.

Kathy Cologon leads the project, partnering with children, families, Bathurst Library and other regional NSW libraries, community organisations and First Nations stakeholders. Through creative and accessible workshops, children share experiences and ideas through drawing, storytelling, photography, Braille, Auslan and other forms of communication that work for each child. Children help guide the research, findings and resources through project workshops and an ongoing Children's Advisory Group.

 

https://content.ndrp.org.au/2026-funded-research-teams-announcement  

The National Disability Research Partnership funds research led by and with people with disability. This will help to facilitate a collaborative and inclusive disability research program that builds evidence for successful policy and practice.

Their website states:

Nineteen projects, led by and with people with disability, get underway from August to October 2026 and run for 12 months.

NDRP has awarded $4.92 million to 19 disability-led and inclusive research projects, selected from a highly competitive field of 176 applications requesting a combined $46.27 million. Each of the awarded projects sit across three funding streams:

• Safety of people with disability: Ten projects addressing safety risks people with disability face across housing, agriculture, health care, the justice system and community life.
• Pathways to the elimination of restrictive practices: 3 projects building the evidence base to reduce and end the use of restrictive practices
• Accessible & Inclusive Communities: 6 projects working to make services, public spaces and community life more inclusive.

"Research is stronger and more relevant when people with disability help set its direction, make decisions and lead the work." NDRP CEO, Mary Sayers

Seven of the recipient teams will continue to build on the co-design work NDRP funded in its first round of 2025. This research will move the ideas that were developed with people with disability into the next phase of research. 

Planning a grant

 How lovely to plan a grant with Dr Nicole McGill

 

Visitors to CVC in late September and early October

CVC has welcomed a number of visitors to The Treehouse during late September and early October including:

1. Rory Cumming - work experience student
2. Wes Gleeson - new CSU staff member 
3. Ally Barrett - research assistant on the CeTasSSD grant 
4. Emma Scanlon - research assistant on the CeTasSSD grant
5. Dr Audrey Wang - statistician on the CeTasSSD grant

Bi-monthly meeting with Dr Melanie Greaux from WHO

Tonight was our bi-monthly meeting with Dr Melanie Greaux from WHO. It was an exciting meeting as we discussed our WHO Collaborating Centre workplan that was submitted by the WHO Disability Programme team and is currently under review with WHO. 

Sharynne McLeod, Dr Melanie Greaux (WHO), Dr Lysa Dealtry, Dr Belinda Downey, A/Prof Kate Crowe, Prof Sarah Verdon

Visiting Vietnam to celebrate 25th anniversary of the Faculty of Special Education at Ha Noi National University of Education

I was invited to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Faculty of Special Education at Ha Noi National University of Education in Viet Nam. A/Prof Ben Pham was my CSU PhD student, received a special awared because she has worked in then been the head of the Speech, Language and Hearing Division (now Communication Disorders) for 25 years. Dr Helen Blake and I were treated as very honoured guests. During the visit I presented the following:

• Keynote address at the International Scientific Conference co-hosted by Hanoi National University of Education and  UNICEF Vietnam with the theme "Special Education in the Context of Globalization: Innovation - Integration - Sustainable Development." My keynote address was titled "Building Vietnamese children’s speech, language and communication for a strong society"(October 3, 2026)
• Honoured guest at 25th anniversary of Faculty of Special Education at Ha Noi National University of Education where A/Prof Ben Pham received a recognition reward from the Ministry of Education for contribution in the field of special education in the country for 25 years (October 4, 2026)
• HNUE’s ethics council invited 2.5 hour lecture: "Ethical considerations in conducting research with children" presented to approx 200 PhD candidates, masters students, and faculty across the entire university (October 2, 2026)
• 1-day workshop titled "Children’s speech assessment and intervention  What works? What’s new?   What’s the evidence?" presented by Dist Prof Sharynne  McLeod, Dr Helen L. Blake, A/Prof Ben Pham to 90 speech and language therapists and special education teachers (October 5, 2026)  
• Honoured guest at VietSpeech Edu, Ha Noi (October 6, 2026) 

As an invited keynote presenter, my paper will be published in English in the peer-reviewed Journal of Contemporary Educational Policies and Practices (JCEPP) (https://jcepp.org/index.php/journal)

Congratulations to the Trinh Foundation for their work supporting the profession of speech and language therapy in Vietnam over so many years (I first visited Vietnam as a volunteer in 2011). It was great to be with Carla and Jemima who were visiting from Australia representing Trinh Foundation at these events.  

IJSLP Special Issue on "Global disability health equity for people with diverse communication abilities": Call to submit EOI

You are invited to Submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) to International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology for a Special Issue titled: Global disability health equity for people with diverse communication abilities: Evidence on the 40 actions from the World Health Organization’s Global Report on Health Equity for Persons with Disabilities

More information about the IJSLP special issue: https://think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issues/global-disability-health-equity-for-people-with-diverse-communication-abilities-evidence-on-the-40-actions-from-the-world-health-organizations-global-report-on-health-equity-for-persons-with/?

The World Health Organization Global Report on Health Equity for Persons with Disabilities states:

“An estimated 1.3 billion people – or 16% of global population worldwide – experience a significant disability today. Persons with disabilities have the right to the highest attainable standard of health as those without disabilities. However, the WHO Global report on health equity for persons with disabilities demonstrates that while some progress has been made in recent years, the world is still far from realizing this right for many persons with disabilities who continue to die earlier, have poorer health, and experience more limitations in everyday functioning than others. These poor health outcomes are due to unfair conditions faced by persons with disabilities in all facets of life, including in the health system itself. Countries have an obligation under international human rights law to address the health inequities faced by persons with disabilities. Furthermore, the Sustainable Development Goals and global health priorities will not progress without ensuring health for all.” 

The Report offers “40 targeted and comprehensive actions that countries can take to strengthen their health systems and reduce health inequities for persons with disabilities” (World Health Organization, 2022, p. 7)

• WHO’s 40 actions to achieve health equity for persons with disabilities https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240063624 
• World Health Organization (2022). Global report on health equity for persons with disabilities https://www.who.int/teams/noncommunicable-diseases/sensory-functions-disability-and-rehabilitation/global-report-on-health-equity-for-persons-with-disabilities 

This special issue of the International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology will include 2,500-3,000 word commentary articles/essays. Each article will provide evidence of outcomes from (at least one of) the 40 actions for disability inclusion from the World Health Organization’s Global Report on Health Equity for Persons with Disabilities. Commentary articles must be supported by (a) new evidence and/or (b) evidence-based literature and will be peer-reviewed. Where data exists, commentary articles should provide evidence on how the action(s) have impacted the health outcomes of persons with disabilities and/or influenced one or more of the contributing factors of health inequities, including  (a) structural factors, (b) social determinants, (c) risk factors, and/or (d) health system factors impacting health equity for people who experience communication and swallowing disability. More information about the 40 actions and contributing factors to health inequities for persons with disabilities is provided below.

Commentaries can be broad ranging, describing the relevance of the 40 actions for disability inclusion from the World Health Organization’s Global Report on Health Equity for Persons with Disabilities to this field, or provide an overview of work with a specific intervention, country or population.

Expressions of interest are sought from authors across the world in a variety of disciplines. Commentaries are encouraged from (a) people who have lived experience of communication- and / or swallowing-related disability (e.g., co-constructed disability-inclusive research), and (b) people who live and work in Majority World countries (including low and middle-income countries and small island states).

The aim is to cover EVERY ONE OF THE 40 ACTIONS – so be creative.

Examples of previous special issues of IJSLP containing commentary articles on international issues

• Communication is a human right: Celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights | International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 2018, 20(1) https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/iasl20/20/1
• Communication, swallowing and the Sustainable Development Goals | International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 2023, 25(1) https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/iasl20/25/1

Expressions of interest due Monday 30 November, 2026 to ebp@speechpathologyaustralia.org.au and should include:

Proposed title (the title should include the words “disability/disabilities” and “health equity”)
The WHO Action(s) that will be the focus of the commentary (e.g., WHO Action 17 “Engage persons with disabilities in research and include them in the health research workforce”, WHO Action 23 “Strengthen models of care for children with disabilities”). Also include these numbers in Keywords.
Contact author’s name, institution, country, email address and ORCiD number
Additional author(s) names, institutions, countries, email addresses and ORCiD (if appropriate)
Proposed type of manuscript: commentary containing (a) new evidence and/or (b) evidence-based literature (2,500-3,000 words)
Proposed abstract. The structured abstract should be approximately 200 words.

Purpose:State the primary objective of the commentary; include the WHO Action(s) that will be the focus of the commentary (e.g., WHO Action 2 “Establish a human rights-based approach to health”, WHO Action 31 “Incorporate a universal design-based approach to the development or refurbishment of health facilities and services”)

Method: Describe the research design and your reasons for adopting that methodology; state the methods and procedures employed, including where appropriate tools, hardware, software, the selection and number of study areas/subjects, and the central experimental interventions; OR state the reasoning behind your literature selection; and the way you critically analyse the literature;

Result: State the main outcomes and results, including relevant data on how the action(s) impacted health outcomes of persons with disabilities and/or influenced one or more of the contributing factors of health inequities; and

Conclusion: State the conclusions that might be drawn, including their implications for further research or application/practice. Read tips on writing your abstract.

Keywords: Disability, Persons with disabilities, Health equity, Health systems

A statement to indicate that you will be able to submit the manuscript by April 30, 2027 and revisions to the manuscript (after peer review) by June 2027.
People who submit an expression of interest will hear the outcome by the end of January 2027.

Disability and Health Journal

This IJSLP special issue is aligned with another special issue titled "Global Disability Health Equity" to be published in Disability and Health Journal: https://www.sciencedirect.com/special-issue/336891/global-disability-health-equity 

Icelandic Research Fund Grant: Optimisation of the World of Words

I am pleased to be part of this exciting grant conducted across Iceland Title: “Optimisation of the World of Words” PIs: Kate Crowe, Jóhanna Thelma Einarsdóttir and Þóra Másdóttir Co-proposers: Susan Neuman, Mark Guiberson, Sharynne McLeod, Auður Ragnarsdóttir, Björg Einarsdóttir, and Bryndís Bergþórsdóttir Funder: Icelandic Research Fund from the Icelandic Centre for Research Amount: 74.962.100 ISK (AUD 860,540 or USD 613,425)

Foreword for Participation across the lifespan of people with developmental communication disorders: An ICF perspective

What an honour to be invited by my colleague Dr. Travis Threats to write the Foreword for his upcoming book that has been completed after the passing of his colleague Dr. Mary Jo Cooley-Hidecker https://canchild.ca/team_members/282-dr-mary-jo-cooley-hidecker/

McLeod, S. (2026). Foreword. In T. Threats & M. J. Cooley-Hidecker (Ed.), Participation across the lifespan of people with developmental communication disorders: An ICF perspective. London: Mac Keith Press. 

Research | 2027 Strategic Initiative Operational Planning – Prework Session

 Today I was invited to represent the Children's Voices Centre at the CSU Research | 2027 Strategic Initiative Operational Planning – Prework Session organised by the Office of Strategy (Marion Ware)

Invited presentation: ELEVATE grant writing for researchers

Today I gave an invited presentation to the Charles Sturt University course "ELEVATE grant writing for researchers". Over 20 early and mid career researchers have attended six sessions over the year to prepare grant applications. I was invited to talk about "Creating and maintaining your research identity: Research CVs to support grant writing"

 

WHO discussions about CVC becoming a WHO Collaborating Centre

 What an exciting meeting. After two years of formally working with the WHO Disability Programme, the Children's Voices Centre has been invited to become a WHO Collaborating Centre. Tonight we discussed the Workplan and next steps towards formalisation.