International policy and engagement

International engagement strategy

International Commitments

Further to the closure of the International Communication Project, RCSLT and its members have continued to focus on our commitments to developing the profession internationally and to promote the rights of people with communication and swallowing needs around the world.

We’ve been working hard over the last year to develop a new international workstream underpinned by the following pledges.

Advocacy: The RCSLT will engage and influence the World Health Organisation (WHO), the United Nations (UN) and other international bodies, to support policy development that meets the needs of people with communication disability and swallowing needs, as well as supporting the profession internationally. Our influencing work will include continued collaboration with international service user led and associated speech and language therapy associations.

Collaboration: We will respectfully collaborate and exchange knowledge with speech and language therapy associations across low- and middle-income countries as well as high-income countries, including locally appropriate methods of meeting the needs of people who experience communication and swallowing disabilities.

Co-Production: RCSLT members will co-produce proposals and plans for international work with people who have lived experience of communication and swallowing needs. This will involve speech and language therapy organisations, service user organisations, non-governmental organisations, and individuals from the countries concerned. Representatives from diverse backgrounds and experiences, including those from low-, middle, and high-income countries, will be included in this co-production. Our approach will ensure that the work is innovative, accessible, and that service users are recognised for their contributions.

Education: We will actively collaborate with international colleagues to develop inclusive speech and language therapy education, practice, continuing professional development and research within and outside the UK.

Equitable partnerships: Equitable partnerships with people from other countries, especially those from low- and middle-income countries, will be actively promoted and supported. We will engage with professional and service user-led networks and initiatives, recognizing the mutual benefits of international collaboration. This includes the co-creation of multilingual and culturally responsive resources.

Inclusivity and anti-racism: Our international work is fundamentally informed by our commitment to inclusivity, active anti-racism, and awareness of colonialism. We will ensure that our international work is inclusive and accessible to all members, partners and collaborators.

Research: We will collaborate in research that is prioritised by colleagues based in countries outside the UK, in ways that are methodologically (including culturally and ethically) appropriate. We will share and support the implementation of findings from international research in contextually relevant settings, taking into account international and UK ethical practices.  We will consider the Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) model from a social justice perspective to ensure economic, political, and social rights and opportunities are considered.

Student engagement: International speech and language therapy students enrolled in UK programs will have the opportunity to collaborate with the RCSLT on international partnerships when appropriate. All UK pre-registration speech and language therapy students will develop a comprehensive understanding of the global professional community, including the educational and service delivery contexts outside the UK. For universities partnering with institutions in low- and middle-income countries, the focus is on fostering equitable and mutually beneficial relationships. These partnerships should aim to enhance the experiences of service users, providers, and educators in both the UK and international settings. To achieve this, best practice materials will be co-produced, ensuring that knowledge exchange and professional development are optimised for all stakeholders involved.

Transparency and engagement: Communication with RCSLT members about all activities, including international work and conflicts of interest, will be timely and transparent. We will move beyond mere representation to active engagement and participation, ensuring our international work is inclusive and accessible to all members. Additionally, we will support and encourage RCSLT members to be actively involved in affiliated organizations by sharing information about events, activities, and research.

International workplan 2024 – 2027

The RCSLT will engage and collaborate with international speech and language therapy networks and organisations including IALP, CTI and ESLA, as well as human rights/disability rights organisation (including service user led DPOs and non-governmental organisations (NGOs)) and intergovernmental organisations, including the United Nations and the World Health Organization to:

• promote speech and language therapy and the benefits of the service that they provide
• create awareness of the role of Speech and Language Therapists
• increase understanding of communication and swallowing disability and their impact and the effectiveness of speech and language therapy interventions
• to advocate for people with Communication Disability and Swallowing Needs, including how their rights are being eroded
• to achieve recognition of Communication Disability as a disability in its own right
• to promote communication as a human right.

How we will deliver

• We will utilise RCSLT’s accreditation by the United Nations (UN) Economic and Social Council, and NGO accreditation from the Conference of State Parties to Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (COSP) to horizon scan and recognise opportunities to influence and engage across different forums including the UN Conference of State Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
• We will actively engage in and contribute to international discussions around disability considering the CRPD and UN Sustainable Development Goals, including through the promotion of existing evidence and literature and the development of new literature and resources including any unmet information needs and as required, actively considering different cultural and linguistic norms and standards.
• We will work to empower people with communication disability and swallowing needs through evidence and research, encouraging them to engage in or lead high quality impactful research, establish advocacy groups and engage with evidence.
• We will ensure that our own international communication materials are communication accessible through a standardised approach to inclusive communication.
• We will promote communication access and inclusive communication internationally, through the development of a process adaptation of Communication Access UK (CAUK) that can be used across different cultures/contexts/linguistic groups / communities.
• We will actively work to identify and respond to opportunities in low- and middle-income countries, to collaborate and promote communication rights and the speech and language therapy profession, and actively highlight those efforts across our communications channels. This will include a network of UK-educated speech and language therapists (SLTs) who have worked in or are working in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), to support each other in the establishment / development of services. As well as support for UK SLTs wishing to engage in work in LMICs, to enable them to do this in the most responsive equitable, and sustainable ways.
• We will work with IALP to build on the references to SLT or communication/swallowing impairment in the World Health Organisation’s Rehabilitation 2030 vision and other relevant bodies guidance.
• We will support the launch and promotion of the ATLAS Manifesto, a statement by international experts on children’s language rights.
• We will consider educating university educators, including practice educators about what they teach SLT students, including but not limited to the impact of colonisation and cultural and linguistic context, building on work undertaken with South African colleagues regarding anti-racism and decolonisation.
• We will ensure that our efforts align with key equality, diversity and inclusion workstreams including anti-racism, decolonisation, cultural inquisitiveness and others, as well as where they intersect.
• We will work with international organisations such as IALP should provide support / develop good practice guidance (or something similar) for its members who are already, or may in the future, engage in humanitarian work.

The International Communication Project

Launched in 2014, the International Communication Project (ICP) advocated for people with communication disabilities, as well as their families, caregivers and communication professionals. The ICP highlighted the importance of human communication and how communication disabilities significantly impact all aspects of life.

The ICP was built on the premise that communication is vital to life, yet is largely ignored as a disability. The World Health Organization’s World Report on Disability estimated that roughly one billion people around the world are living with some form of disability.

However, the authors of this report acknowledged that people with communication disabilities may not be included in this estimate, despite the fact that they encounter difficulties that significantly impact their daily lives.

Over the last 10 years, RCSLT with equivalent professional bodies from the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland has been on a journey to promote the rights of people with Communication Disability through the International Communication Project.

A period of great excitement and enthusiasm, this was the first time that SLT bodies collaborated in such a way to solidify a vision for communication rights globally. It saw many firsts including the launch of the Universal Declaration of Communication Rights among other publications, an event at the United Nations Conference of State Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities where we rubbed shoulders with ambassadors and global NGOs, and this also saw the RCSLT becoming the first ever SLT body to receive Special Consultative Status from the UN Economic and Social Council.

And while this journey has now been brought to an end through the official closure of the ICP, RCSLT will begin a new chapter of global influencing and campaigning through the launch of our international pledges and strategy later this year.

Conference of State Parties to the CRPD

Non-government organisation accreditation and ECOSOC status

In June 2018, the RCSLT was accredited as a Non-government organisation (NGO), by the United Nations at the 11th Conference of State Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), by consensus. RCSLT was then granted special consultative status by the UN Economic and Social Council in November 2021 – the first and only speech and language therapy body to hold this status in the world.

The RCSLT’s accreditation at the UN will enable us to take forward our strategic aims to work with partners at an international level and to continue to influence for people with communication disabilities, in our endeavours to ensure that communication is recognised as a human right as part of the International Communication Project.

15th Conference of State Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

As part of our commitment to the International Communication Project, we were engaged at the 15^th Conference of State Parties to the Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in June 2022.

The RCSLT was represented by the inspirational Abdi Omar, a service user advocate with Cerebral Palsy who relies on an AAC device to communicate.

Read more about the conference and watch Abdi’s statement.

Event at the 12^th Conference of State Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

In June 2019, the RCSLT and Speech Pathology Australia, as part of the wider International Communication Project delivered a side event at the 12^th Conference of State Parties to the CRPD in partnership with the international NGO Humanity and Inclusion (formerly known as Handicap International) and co-sponsored by the Government of Australia.

The event titled “People With Communication Disabilities Speak Up For Inclusion and Participation” was chaired by RCSLT Director of Policy and Public Affairs, Derek Munn.

Speakers included:

• Gail Mulcair, Chief Executive Officer, Speech Pathology Australia.
• Sharynne McLeod, Professor at Charles Sturt University, Australia, and Editor, special issue of the International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology (Communication is a Human Right: Celebrating the 70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights).
• Meredith Allan, President, International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (ISAAC) and Augmentative Communication User.
• Miles Forma, Disability Advocate and Augmentative Communication User, United States of America.
• Julia McGeown, Global Inclusive Education Specialist, Humanity and Inclusion.

The event highlighted the lack of visibility and recognition of communication disability; exchanging knowledge about needs and barriers faced by people with communication disability to access and exercise human rights in the context of Article 19 (Universal Declaration of Human Rights) and Article 21 (Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities). It also formulated concrete proposals to strengthen effective transnational cooperation to promote participation in cultural life, recreation and leisure for people with communication disability.

• Further information about the event
• Read the ICP press release