Status: Closed — this petition is no longer accepting signatures.
Final supporters
May 23, 2017
To the American Speech Language Hearing Association (ASHA):
ASHA serves “as the national professional, scientific, and credentialing association for 191,500 members and affiliates”. The Association represents professionals from the fields of Audiology and Speech Language Pathology who share the same vision:
“Making effective communication, a human right, accessible and achievable for all.” - ASHA 2017
For our vision to become reality we must constantly evaluate our advocacy efforts. May is “Better Speech and Hearing Month”. Although speech and hearing largely encompass our practice this is not inclusive of our entire scope.
Respectively, having our professions represented by a month that focuses on “speech” and “hearing” excludes many clients we serve. Clinicians treat several populations whose main goal is working on communication in their preferred mode. This includes but is not limited to: the Deaf community, nonverbal persons, and Augmentative Alternative Communication users.
The American Speech Language Hearing Association already recognizes various topics and populations. This year themes of the week include “Noisy Society,” “Autism,” “Stroke,” and “Bilingual Speech/Language Development”. However, the slogan “Better Hearing and Speech Month” does not fully encompass our vision of effective communication for all.
We propose changing the current slogan “Better Hearing and Speech Month” to “Better Communication Month”. The slogan change will serve to facilitate discussion and increased awareness of the professions, as well as fully represent the diversity of populations we serve.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Monica Hudnall, M.A. CCC-SLP & Caitlin Stueve M.A. CF-SLP
Members of California Speech Language Hearing Association
Co-Authors
More like this
MAPSE Request to Update MDE Policy Language
Creating Dyslexia Awareness at CUSD1
Updates
September 28, 2019
ASHA is still clinging to an outdated title that ignores the very people they claim to serve. I have been fielding messages from clinicians across the country who are tired of this exclusion and we are not backing down until the leadership addresses this name change.
4 Comments
My students work on a variety of skills which are not encompassed in the domains of "speech and hearing". By labeling it "better communication month" we are acknowledging the broad scope of practice of an SLP.
I strongly agree that the solgan should be Communication Month than Hearing Speech Month.
Amen!
Share Petition
Don't stop at signing, share the petition link with friends to multiply our impact
Copy link or share directly
Status: Closed — this petition is no longer accepting signatures.
Final supporters
May 23, 2017
To the American Speech Language Hearing Association (ASHA):
ASHA serves “as the national professional, scientific, and credentialing association for 191,500 members and affiliates”. The Association represents professionals from the fields of Audiology and Speech Language Pathology who share the same vision:
“Making effective communication, a human right, accessible and achievable for all.” - ASHA 2017
For our vision to become reality we must constantly evaluate our advocacy efforts. May is “Better Speech and Hearing Month”. Although speech and hearing largely encompass our practice this is not inclusive of our entire scope.
Respectively, having our professions represented by a month that focuses on “speech” and “hearing” excludes many clients we serve. Clinicians treat several populations whose main goal is working on communication in their preferred mode. This includes but is not limited to: the Deaf community, nonverbal persons, and Augmentative Alternative Communication users.
The American Speech Language Hearing Association already recognizes various topics and populations. This year themes of the week include “Noisy Society,” “Autism,” “Stroke,” and “Bilingual Speech/Language Development”. However, the slogan “Better Hearing and Speech Month” does not fully encompass our vision of effective communication for all.
We propose changing the current slogan “Better Hearing and Speech Month” to “Better Communication Month”. The slogan change will serve to facilitate discussion and increased awareness of the professions, as well as fully represent the diversity of populations we serve.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Monica Hudnall, M.A. CCC-SLP & Caitlin Stueve M.A. CF-SLP
Members of California Speech Language Hearing Association
Co-Authors
Updates
September 28, 2019
ASHA is still clinging to an outdated title that ignores the very people they claim to serve. I have been fielding messages from clinicians across the country who are tired of this exclusion and we are not backing down until the leadership addresses this name change.
4 Comments
There are various forms of communication and do not solely include speaking through oral means. Some communicate through pictures, others through devices, or with their hands using sign language.
My students work on a variety of skills which are not encompassed in the domains of "speech and hearing". By labeling it "better communication month" we are acknowledging the broad scope of practice of an SLP.
I strongly agree that the solgan should be Communication Month than Hearing Speech Month.
Amen!
Share Petition
Don't stop at signing, share the petition link with friends to multiply our impact
Petitions like this
Other petitions you might want to support
Scan to share
Anyone who scans this can sign the petition.
There are various forms of communication and do not solely include speaking through oral means. Some communicate through pictures, others through devices, or with their hands using sign language.