Like many other associations, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) identified membership diversity as one of our eight strategic objectives for many reasons. Among them: A more diverse membership is a more engaged and empowered membership, willing to innovate, speak up, take risks, and make their needs known. In addition, greater diversity can result in an organization that is better able to serve an increasingly diverse constituent base, resulting in loyal members who look to their association first for products, services, and resources to aid them in their careers.

“As ASHA’s Office of Multicultural Affairs celebrates 50 years of addressing cultural and linguistic diversity, we continue to reap the benefits of these efforts with a broader understanding of member, as well as patient and client perspectives,” says ASHA’s Chief Staff Officer for Multicultural Affairs Vicki R. Deal-Williams, MA, CCC-SLP, FASAE, CAE. “They’ve led to an enhanced ability to serve members’ needs to the betterment of patients and clients.”

While ASHA’s efforts over the years to increase racial and ethnic diversity within audiology and speech-language pathology has led to progress in reversing the under-representation of some groups within our discipline, we recently undertook a new communications effort, in partnership with our members, to reach high school students.

Building the Message

We decided to develop five brochures that targeted students from five distinct racial and ethnic underserved populations: African American, Hispanic, Asian Pacific Islander, Asian Indian, and Native American. The goal with each was to speak to that unique community and encourage students to consider audiology or speech-language pathology as a career.

Since ASHA has caucuses that represent each of those audiences, we met with the president of each group to get an understanding of what their members wanted from the professions. We then spoke to the full caucuses to get their ideas on what would resonate with individuals from their group. We discussed the career goals of youth within their community and what careers their parents hoped they would have, as well as colors and shapes that connected with their community.

The brochures are part of a more comprehensive communications plan to promote these careers to new, diverse audiences.

Using pictures of ASHA members from those populations and stock photos, we developed a first draft of the brochures. After feedback from members, we updated the brochures to include three targeted messages that resonated with each audience, and two testimonials from individuals within that community about why they thought a career as an audiologist or speech-language pathologist would be a great choice.

Getting the Message Out

To make sure that the brochures were going to the right places, ASHA purchased a list of high schools with a diversity of more than 75 percent of the unique racial and ethnic group for every brochure. We then sent the brochure to the guidance counselor of each school, with a cover letter saying why the professions of audiology and speech-language pathology would be good career options for their students.

In addition, something similar was sent to speech-language pathologists working in the schools. We asked them to talk to their school’s guidance counselor about the career field and what they liked about it. Overall, ASHA mailed 13,000-plus brochures. This project cost less than $11,000, including printing and postage.

Keeping the Message Going

The campaign has been a success so far. We are already receiving requests for more information and will be sending additional brochures and tabletop displays to professionals, allowing them to promote audiology and speech-language pathology to diverse students at career fairs and other venues. The brochures are part of a more comprehensive communications plan to promote these careers to new, diverse audiences. Future enhancements could include designing brochures in other languages, including Spanish.

“If schools have a 75 percent Hispanic student population, then there is a big chance that many of the students might read and write in Spanish. Also, if they want to discuss it with their parents, they can share the brochure that is written in their parent’s preferred language,” says Linda I. Rosa-Lugo, ASHA’s Hispanic Caucus president.

Of course, we also know that transformational changes like increasing the diversity of our membership will take time. The expectation is that it will take at least two to five years to increase student awareness of the discipline and benefits of our professions, followed by another six to eight years to build a pipeline of diverse professionals in training.