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By Jennifer Wallace Knapp
Western Carolina University
Cullowhee, North Carolina
NSSLHA Chapter Advisor: Kimberly Crawford
Individuals shall honor their responsibilities to the professions and their relationships with colleagues, students, and members of allied professions. Individuals shall uphold the dignity and autonomy of the professions, maintain harmonious inter-professional and intra-professional relationships, and accept the professions' self-imposed standards.
ASHA Code of Ethics, Principle IV
At first glance, Principle IV of the ASHA Code of Ethics may seem like a collection of dry statements put forth as one of the more mundane obligations of an ethics policy committee. Yet when scrutinized more closely, we can see that these statements embody the true depth of responsibility requisite for becoming a member of the professions which are governed by this code. In the words which comprise Principle IV, we are charged with guarding the welfare of those we serve through honoring the important professional relationships we hold, and exhorted to guard the respect commanded by our occupations; a respect which many have worked diligently to cultivate through years of solid, professional practice.
Principle IV speaks to the honoring of responsibilities, not only to our professions, but also to important others in our scope. Honoring responsibilities to these vocations, as well as to connections with colleagues, students, and members of allied professions, does not entail a list of duties; rather, doing so translates into being an important part of an academic and professional community to which we are inextricably connected. These relationships afford us professional and personal growth, and help us expand the knowledge base of our professions.
Principle IV enjoins us to uphold the "dignity and autonomy of the professions...," which speaks to the freedom characterizing the manner in which we work. As speech pathologists and audiologists, we are autonomous in our fields; we are able to use our unique skills to assess and treat clients without receiving referrals from physicians. Such autonomy conveys enormous responsibility. Especially in this age of information and technology, advances occur within our fields rapidly. Thus, protecting our autonomy brings with it the responsibility of keeping abreast of recent discoveries, and increasing our competence through actively involving ourselves in new learning. We must hold the balance of collaborating with others in related fields while not blending with them in ways that would compromise the boundaries between us. We must remember that the freedom of self-direction is a great blessing, and affords us the ability to claim the respect which comes with our expertise.
An important trust these words bestow upon us is sustaining harmonious relationships with others, which concerns keeping peaceful interactions within our professions, as well as establishing rapport within the larger professional world, as in teaming with others to effect decisions in the best interest of our clients. Intra-professional connections help us to find new insights and methods to refine our work; inter-professional relationships in our varied vocational environments are vital for optimizing services our clients require. In schools, we work with teachers, parents, counselors, and advocates. In hospitals we work with doctors, nurses, other therapists, and administrators. In private practice, we work with families, social workers, early intervention experts, hospice workers, and others. The circle of our connectivity and influence is wide, and continues to grow. In keeping the heart and soul of our vocations vibrant, these relationships are of paramount importance.
Finally, the principle speaks to acceptance of the profession's self-imposed standards, which hold us to a higher level of accountability—not simply accountability to our own ideas, but to the collective wisdom of those peers and mentors who work with us in the field. These standards are not imposed on us by some nebulous, external force, but through the voices of our own professional community. Because of this internal guidance, we understand the direction of our work, and take ownership in the goals to which we aspire.
When closely inspecting the strands of the Code of Ethics, work in the fields of speech and language pathology or audiology clearly becomes more than simply having a job. These are honorable vocations—how appropriate that the word, vocation, is derived from the Latin word, vocatio, which means "a call," or, "a summons" (vocation, n.d.). When examining our practice through this lens, we see a profundity which goes even beyond the words of the Code. And why is this so? We see this deeper meaning because of what, or rather, who, is at stake. What we are about involves the personhood and wholeness of others. We have, as a sacred trust, the well-being of people, who come to us in need of help. Here, we find ourselves called into the service of offering others the miraculous gifts of voice and hearing. These are the most basic means of self-expression and understanding present in our lives. Indeed, the trust we hold is of great import.
References
ASHA Code of Ethics, Principle IV. (2003). ASHA. Retrieved on January 28, 2009,
from ASHA Web site: http:// www.asha.org/docs/html/ET2003-00166.html#sec1.5.
vocation. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved January 31, 2009, from
Dictionary.com Web site: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/vocation.
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