WEL Australia are sad to hear of the passing of Sue Salthouse (1949 to 20 July 2020), an early member of the Alice Springs chapter of Women’s Electoral Lobby. Sue was a tireless advocate for the rights of women, especially women with disabilities. After retiring from teaching in the ACT, Sue became involved in Women With Disabilities Australia, and served as their president for four years. She was also Canberra Citizen of the Year in 2015, and ACT Senior Australian of the Year and chair of Women With Disabilities ACT at the time of her passing in 2020.
Sue took a leading role in the article on Women (Article 6) in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, ratified by Australia in 2008. She continued to work on issues of systemic inequality and disadvantage for women with disabilities, calling for a Royal Commission is looking into violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with a disability which was established in late 2019. On accepting her honour as the 2019 ACT Senior Citizen of the Year, Sue talked about the importance of a universal basic income and a wellbeing index that measures more than economic outcomes.
"I think we need to shift our whole focus in this society, whether it’s towards issues like climate change protests advocating for our future, to creating greater respect for this country and to how we treat each other in our daily lives,” Sue said in 2019.
Our condolences to Sue’s family, friends, and colleagues. She will be missed.
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