Communication Therapy International was set up in 1990 by a group of British Speech and Language Therapists who had experience of working in countries or regions which are ‘under-resourced’. By under-resourced we mean mainly middle or low income regions. In many of these areas there is no established specialist service for people with communication disabilities, or there may be a very small number of such professionals, working almost exclusively in the main cities, and thus also mainly with the most affluent people. For most of the population therefore no help with a communication disability may be available.
Communication disabilities are much more common than many people realise. About half of all disabled people (whatever the cause) will have difficulties with communication as part of their disability. In most countries the total number of disabled people is about 8-10% of the population, so those with communication disabilities is probably around 4-5% of people. That’s a lot of people! Often people think only of deafness as a communication disability, but there are many others, including the effects of stroke, cerebral palsy and other neurological conditions, cleft palate, learning disabilities and others. It is clear that when resources are scarce, those with communication disabilities, who by definition cannot easily speak for themselves, often get the very least help and support. Fear, stigma and lack of knowledge about how to help all contribute to the problem.
CTI recognised that the profession of Speech and Language Therapy (or similarly named!) were not the only people who might work to help those with communication disabilities. In many places some of this work is done by interested and motivated teachers, doctors, nurses, community disability workers and others. Often they are doing a great job with very few resources, and little opportunities to gain extra information and ideas about practical ways to help. Of course many techniques and approaches used by SLTs in well resourced countries can be used effectively elsewhere. However often it takes a bit of imagination and adaptability to be helpful in a different cultural context.
CTI aimed to act as an information network for anyone involved with people with communication disabilities. In particular we were keen not to restrict our membership to qualified specialists, but to provide low-tech , practical know-how which could make a difference to people’s lives.
Many of our members fall into one of two categories. Over half of our members are people working in their own countries either for NGOs or for government health or education services, providing services for disabled adults or children. They may have had related specialist training, or maybe ‘learning on the job’. For them it is great to have contact with people in other regions who face similar challenges, and to receive information about new and useful approaches and resources. The other big group of members are people from well-resourced regions such as UK, US, Australia who are interested in helping to develop services outside their own country. For them CTI can help them to think about how their specialist knowledge can best be used in other settings. Transferring skills and knowledge from one place to another is often more difficult and complicated than people first imagine! Sharing ideas and experiences is useful and saves people from repeating mistakes or reinventing the wheel.
At present CTI only meets physically once a year in the UK. Most of the information exchange happens via individuals making links by e-mail or letter. We would love to diversify out to having ‘regional groups’. It might be possible eventually to have these in South Asia, South East Asia, East, West and Southern Africa and elsewhere. If you would like to initiate a regional group do let us know and we’ll help link people up!