With communication disabilities largely invisible, Echuca speech pathologist Ruth Glanville said many people wouldn’t realise just how many people were affected.
Ruth, who was born and raised in the twin towns, has worked as a speech pathologist for 16 years, with the past nine at n8 Health, after realising she wanted to work in an area helping other people.
“There was a strong need for speech pathologists when I was going through high school — there was a real shortage across Australia,” she said.
“I did work experience locally and really enjoyed it, so I decided to go and train.
“It’s a really rewarding profession to work in because you can make a real difference in a person’s life.
“Sometimes we use techniques and strategies to help a person more effectively live with the communication difficulty, but in some cases we can actually reduce the severity of it.”
According to the Bureau of Statistics, only 38 per cent of people with communication disabilities participate in the workforce.
It’s one of many ways people’s lives can be affected.
However, speech pathology has proven successful in helping to break down some of those barriers.
“There’s cases where you see people’s confidence improve, social avenues open up for them; sometimes you see them gain employment or children develop friends at school,” Ruth said.
“You can’t always completely fix a problem, but when you can see you’ve made life more effective or enjoyable for a person, that’s really rewarding.”
Developments in assistive technology, such as electronic communication, have helped people to communicate in other ways.
“It’s not just city people that get access to these things, we’ve got people living locally that use these technologies,” Ruth said.
“When you work more rural and regionally, you have to have a broader mix of skills, so it’s a really interesting job that gives a lot of variety every day, which keeps it motivating.”
Speech Pathology Australia president Tim Kittel said successful communication was key to quality of life across all ages, particularly at a time when we’re all feeling more socially isolated.
“The pandemic highlights the importance of connection, and for those living with communication disabilities, social isolation presents a daunting challenge,” he said.
“Everyone in our community can help people lead better lives by being more aware and accepting of communication disabilities.”
Speech Pathology Week runs from August 23 to 29 and aims to bring awareness to the work done by speech pathologists with the 1.2 million Australians who have a communication disability.
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