ACU interview for SPHY406 Module 1: Human Dignity and Human Rights

This morning I was interviewed by A/Prof Jane McCormack for her subject SPHY406 Module 1: Human Dignity and Human Rights. It was a privilege to discuss this important topic.

Here are some of the questions she asked:

• Tell us a little about yourself - what motivated you to become a speech pathologist? What keeps you in the profession?
• What work are you most proud of doing? Why?
• What are "human rights"?  
• What does it mean to say that "Communication is a basic human right"?
• Why are human rights important to our work as speech pathologists?
• Tell us about your experience researching and working in the area of human rights.
• Can you provide an example of when your work has advocated for a client's human rights and a time when you have advocated for the community (eg through legislation or policy)?
• What do speech pathologists need to know/do to be advocates of human rights and human dignity?
• How can graduates be change-makers in this space?

Visible versus invisible disabilities: Communication rights moderated through hierarchies of disability and childhood

What an exciting moment - to hold a book that includes a chapter that I have co-authored with my daughter. 

McLeod, S., & McLeod, J. (2023). Communication rights moderated through hierarchies of disability and childhood. In S. Meyers, M. McCloskey, G. Petri (Eds.). The Routledge international handbook of disability human rights hierarchies. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003410089

I enjoyed the collaboration, conversations, and the task of writing together. I am proud of our thinking, particularly our work on identifying challenges living with visible versus invisible disabilities.

Communication rights for teenagers with cerebral palsy in Ukraine

The following article has just been published reporting on a human rights program for teenagers in Ukraine with cerebral palsy: 

Maksymchuk, B., Sarancha, I., Husak, A., Avramenko, O., Kuzmenko, I., Kuzmenko, V., Slyusarenko, N., Chepurna, L., Pankevych, V., Babii, I., & Maksymchuk, I. (2022). Implementing the course “Human Rights” for children with special needs under the changed socio-educational conditions. Revista Romaneasca pentru Educatie Multidimensionala, 14(3), 428-443. https://doi.org/10.18662/rrem/14.3/617 

In the article, they reference my paper:

McLeod, S. (2018). Communication rights: Fundamental human rights for all. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 20(1), 3–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/17549507.2018.1428687

It is amazing to see the reach of this work!

Embracing Cultural Diversity in Australia: Australian Human Rights Commission

Today was the Kep Enderby Memorial Lecture: Embracing Cultural Diversity in Australia given by Alice Pung and sponsored by the Australian Human Rights Commission. It was INSPIRING! She started by saying her talk was actually titled The Power of Language to Embrace Cultural Diversity in Australia. Here are some quotes from her oration where she encouraged people to listen to racists on talkback radio, coach a basketball team, or fix a tap to embrace cultural diversity.

• "Language locks people out"
• "Books don't change people, people change people"
• "Guilt, discomfort and shame" and "hardwork" are important feelings leading to change
• "Being woke is being awake to power and powerlessness... to reach a sense of connection as human beings"

Here is the abstract:

The inclusion of more voices in Australian discussions around race relations has increased our understanding while challenging outdated assumptions. Notions of colour blindness and assimilationism are gradually giving way to a more open multiculturalism that embraces diversity and truth-telling about the experiences of First Nations peoples. But there is resistance. For many Australians the complexities of identity and belonging remain and embracing a rich cultural heritage within contemporary Australia is not always easy or even possible. The Kep Enderby Memorial Lecture is an annual public event held by the Australian Human Rights Commission to honour the memory of the Hon. Kep Enderby QC (1926-2015), who as Attorney-General introduced the Racial Discrimination Bill to parliament in 1975. Each year, the Lecture advances public understanding and debate about the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, racism and race relations. 

Here are the details: https://events.humanitix.com/kep-enderby-memorial-lecture?mc_cid=c47d82e74c&mc_eid=b27a7aaa4e 

Discussion with early childhood educators about children's rights

Today I had a conversation with an early childhood researcher about a session from the Early Childhood Australia conference today. 

There was discussion about the Four Guiding Principles from the Convention on the Rights of the Child (General Comment 5): Best interests, survival and development, non discrimination, participation/ inclusion https://www.unicef.org/armenia/en/stories/four-principles-convention-rights-child 

There also was discussion about the usefulness of the Child rights impact assessment https://sites.unicef.org/csr/css/Children_s_Rights_in_Impact_Assessments_Web_161213.pdf 

They also shared information about Growing Up in Queensland https://www.qfcc.qld.gov.au/keeping-kids-more-safe/listening-children-young-people/growing-queensland 

There was discussion about early childhood educators focus on "children's right to play and exercise choice" and that 2022 will be the Year of Play. It is interesting that within speech pathology, we focus on communication rights, not the right to play. Both professions are not taking full account of human rights principles: 

Human rights are universal and inalienable; indivisible; interdependent and interrelated... Indivisible and interdependent because all rights – political, civil, social, cultural and economic – are equal in importance and none can be fully enjoyed without the others. They apply to all equally, and all have the right to participate in decisions that affect their lives. https://www.unfpa.org/resources/human-rights-principles

It is so important to learn from different professions.

Communication and human rights within speech pathology

In 2019, lawyer Bill Mitchell presented a lecture at James Cook University titled "Communication and human rights within speech pathology" (see my blog post: https://speakingmylanguages.blogspot.com/2019/10/communication-and-human-rights-in.html)

During his lecture, he cited our work on communication rights https://tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17549507.2018.1428687 

His new open-access paper has just been published:

Mitchell, B. (2021). Communication and human rights within speech pathology. Griffith Law Review. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10383441.2021.1932646

Australian Human Rights Commission free online courses

The Australian Human Rights Commission has provided two very interesting free online course: 

The Commission has two new online courses available on our website for everyone, free of charge. 

An Introduction to Human Rights covers the key principles of human rights and what governments need to do to uphold them. (https://humanrights.gov.au/an-introduction-to-human-rights)

An Introduction to United Nations Human Rights Frameworks explains the role of the UN and how human rights frameworks work to protect our rights and freedoms.(https://humanrights.gov.au/united-nations-human-rights-frameworks)

 

The rights of children with speech, language and communication needs in early childhood education and care

The following book chapter has been accepted for publication: Cronin, A., McLeod, S., & Wren, Y. (2020, in press). The rights of children with speech, language and communication needs in early childhood education and care. In F. Press & S. Cheeseman (Eds.). (Re)conceptualising children’s rights in infant-toddler early childhood care and education: Transnational conversations. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer. 

Here is the abstract 

This chapter reviews international literature on communication rights and applies it to young children particularly in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings. Communication rights within the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child encompass: freedom of expression and opinion (Articles 12 and 13) and the language(s) in which children communicate (Articles 2, 29, 30 and 40). Accommodating and upholding communicative rights for children may require flexibility and creativity, depending on the modality of the children’s communication, and the language that they use. Thought and consideration to children’s right to communicate is imperative given communication is necessary for protection of many other rights. The second part of the chapter expands the discussion to specific considerations relating to communication rights for young children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN), in particular, those with cleft lip and palate. A commentary is presented by Dr Yvonne Wren focusing on the rights of children with SLCN (including those with cleft lip and palate) in the United Kingdom (UK). Dr Wren draws on information from the Cleft Collective Cohort Studies, a large-scale national cohort study of over 2,000 children born with cleft lip and/or palate in the UK, with a particular focus on the early childhood experiences of education and care for children in the cohort.

Children’s rights in the time of COVID-19

Tonight I attended the webinar, “Children’s rights in the time of COVID-19," hosted by Child Rights Connect, Centre for Children's Rights at Queen’s University Belfast, University of Edinburgh, the Childhood & Youth Studies Research Group and World Vision International. The webinar took place via Zoom on Tuesday July 7 at 9AM in New York, 2PM in London, 3PM in Brussels... and 11PM in Sydney! It began with an inspiring statement by Nomundari from Mongolia - representing children across the world.

Final Australian Government briefing before heading to the United Nations in NY

Today we had our final briefing with the Australian Human Rights Commission and the Australian Government (Mika Kontiainen, DFAT and George Sotiropoulos, DSS) before departing for the United Nations Conference of States Parties 12.

We met the new Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Dr Ben Gauntlett via teleconference. He will be attending COSP12.

The Australian Government will support 12 Civil Society events during the UN meetings, including the one by Speech Pathology Australia/International Communication Project.

We were encouraged to remember that attendance at COSP is about encouraging and influencing governments about the global implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons of Disabilities (download here) and we are there to represent the views and rights of people with disabilities.

Relevant Twitter hashtags and handles: #COSP12 #UNCOSP #CRPD #COSP12Aus
International Communication Project member associations at COSP12: @SpeechPathAus @IcommunicationP @RCSLT @ASHAWeb
#SpeakUp4CommRights
Australian delegation: @SharynneMcLeod @GailMSpa @SPAPresident @TheraBees @JessMcLeod4

Planning for our presentation to the United Nations Conference of States Parties (CoSP) to the Convention on the Rights of Disabled Persons

This morning the International Communication Project met via teleconference (Australia, UK, US) to prepare our presentation to the United Nations 12th session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Disabled Persons (CRPD) on 10-13 June 2019 at the UN Headquarters, New York. Our presentation is titled: "People with Communication Disability Speak Up for Inclusion and Participation: How the Implementation of the CRPD and the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) can Support this Right" and will be held on Wednesday 12th June 8:15 am - 9:30 am.
Details are here: https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/conference-of-states-parties-to-the-convention-on-the-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities-2/cosp12.html

Planning to attend the Conference of States Parties (CoSP) at the United Nations

In June I will be attending the Conference of States Parties (CoSP) to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at the United Nations in New York. Last Wednesday I attended the Pre-CoSP event at the Australian Human Rights Commission in Sydney to gain an understanding of the roles of government, civil society and National Human Rights Institutes at CoSP. We also began planning logistics and activities for CoSP. It was great to meet others from Australia who will be attending this important meeting in New York.

Attendees at the Pre-CoSP event

Robert Strike from CID created an Easy Read guide for attending CoSP

Happy International Mother Language Day

Happy International Mother Language Day (21st February). I have encouraged my team to take time today to read this wonderful paper titled "Mother tongue as a universal human right" that contains Shetlandic poetry by Christine De Luca, Edinburgh Makar (poet laureate) for the City of Edinburgh (2014-2017). Her inspiring paper will soon be officially published as part of our Universal Declaration of Human Rights special issue of International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology.

Honourable Michael Kirby lecture on human rights law at CSU

Today the Honourable Michael Kirby AC CMG presented a public lecture at Charles Sturt University titled: "International Human Rights Law: Challenges at Home and in the Region".
He spoke about how in 1949 he received a copy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (on airmail paper) at school, and how discussion of this document influenced his path into law. Two of his most recent appointments have been as Chair of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights Violations in North Korea for 2013-2014, and the UNAIDS/OHCHR's panel on the overreach of criminal law.
Read more at http://news.csu.edu.au/events/bathurst/public-lecture-by-the-honourable-michael-kirby-ac-cmg

Honourable Michael Kirby

Human Rights Awards

Yesterday I attended the Australian Human Rights Awards celebration in Sydney. There were over 500 people in attendance, with inspiring speeches Rosalind Croucher (President, Australian Human Rights Commission), Alistair McEwan (Disability Discrimination Commissioner), Ed Santow (Human Rights Commissioner), Megan Mitchell (Children's Commissioner), George Brandis (Attorney-General for Australia) and the award winners. The 69th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights will be celebrated tomorrow (10th December).

Communication as a human right discussed at the Australian Human Rights Commission

Today I visited the Australian Human Rights Commission with Prof. Kirrie Ballard (editor of International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology) and Gail Mulcair (CEO of Speech Pathology Australia). We met with Ed Santow, Human Rights Commissioner and Alastair McEwan, Disability Discrimination Officer to discuss the special issue of IJSLP on Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that will be published next year to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the UDHR. I am the guest editor for this special issue and the submissions are currently under review.

Ed Santow, Gail Mulcair, Alastair McEwan, Sharynne McLeod, Kirrie Ballard

We also discussed the International Communication Project and the Universal Declaration of Communication Rights, as well as Speech Pathology Australia's input into the joint submission from Disabled People's Organisations Australia regarding the 18th session on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability.

It was a productive and inspirational meeting focused on communication as a human right for all people.

Prof Sharynne McLeod, Prof Kirrie Ballard, Gail Mulcair (CEO, Speech Pathology Australia)

Tweet from the Australian Human Rights Commissioner

IJSLP special issue titled Communication is a human right: Celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

I am editing a special issue of the International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology to be published in 2018. The issue will be titled: "Communication is a human right: Celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights"
The call for expressions of interest has gone out this week and is here
Here is the summary

In 2018 the world will celebrate the 70th anniversary of Universal Declaration of Human Rights (http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/). Article 19 supports communication as a human right and states "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."

The International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology will join the world in celebrating the 70th anniversary of this important document by publishing a special issue acknowledging that communication is a human right and exploring issues surrounding this claim.

Expressions of interest are sought from authors across the world in a variety of disciplines including (but not restricted to) speech-language pathology, linguistics, disability, multilingualism, law, journalism, literature, and communications.

The email conversations I have had to date with potential authors has been very exciting.

Refugees in rural Australia: Constance on the Edge

Last night at a Charles Sturt University Public Lecture, the film Constance on the Edge was screened. The CSU news release is here and information about the film is here. It portrayed a the story of a family from Sudan who moved to Wagga Wagga. It was a powerful, heartening, and thought-provoking film of the joys and struggles of a family and their fight for survival, human rights and belonging.

Australian Human Rights Commission presentation

Tonight I attended a Charles Sturt University public lecture presented by Professor Gillian Triggs, the President of the Australian Human Rights Commission. She spoke about "Children in immigration detention: What are the human rights issues?". Her powerful presentation was well received by the large audience. The Commission's National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention will be presented to parliament this month.