People with communication impairment deserve their day in court

Teresa Iacono has long and substantial experience in supporting people with intellectual disability (including Down syndrome) to communicate by various means, and as an advocate for practical accommodation for complex communication needs.  She is currently Professor of Regional and Rural Allied Health at La Trobe University, Bendigo, and a speech pathologist specialising in complex communication impairment.

She argues in today's Fairfax press for courts to be required to provide appropriate adaptations for people with communication impairments:

For those of us working in the intellectual disability field there are many experiences of deja vu. A report that charges may be dropped against a South Australian bus driver accused of sexually abusing two children with intellectual disabilities is a recent one. As a result of their intellectual disability and associated communication impairment, these children are thought to be unable to cope with prolonged legal questioning.

Read more via the Sydney Morning Herald's online edition.