Page 1716 - Week 06 - Thursday, 30 July 2020
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Sue was a leader who never saw or positioned herself above the many causes she championed. Her life was one of dedicated commitment in the service of others. At a time when we see many destructive examples of leaders who divide and self-promote, Sue lived the opposite. Her brand of leadership brought people together. Sue’s leadership empowered people. Her comrades in Women with Disabilities ACT called her a master collaborator, a mentor, generous, compassionate, fearsome. Singularly, these are precious skills; when held together by one person, they are a rare gift. And that was Sue: a rare gift.
Sue Salthouse was also brave. She faced up to power and raised her voice on behalf of those who could not and where there was personal risk involved in doing so. The legacy of change she leaves behind in her work and friendships is evidence that she did not work alone. People worked side by side with Sue, not behind her. In my current role, the privilege of continuing to work alongside Sue has been an absolute highlight. It is a privilege that has been shared by many others as well. That is Sue’s character.
From the Council on the Ageing, I have this tribute:
Sue Salthouse was a passionate and effective disability and social justice advocate. Sue was a well deserving recipient of the 2020 ACT Senior of the Year award. Her tremendous contributions are an example of the significant contributions made by Senior Canberrans to our community.
From ADACAS, Michael Bleasdale offers this tribute:
Our friendship developed from our shared interest in housing and the built environment and our involvement in the push for the application of universal housing design across all markets in Australia, and was conducted largely at a distance until I had the opportunity to come and work in Canberra in 2018. That gave me the opportunity to meet much more often with Sue, not only at the numerous work functions, forums and presentations that she seemed to be endlessly leading, but also at private meetings at her unit, at cafes and restaurants, where we would plot and plan and imagine things better. And this I think is one of the more unique characteristics of Sue, her enormous capacity for friendship, which I was the beneficiary of for the short time I had the chance to be here in Canberra at the same as she was.
When I think of Sue I think of the words “true” and “champion”, words which are often elided to mean something much less than what Sue was. She was authentic, honest and faithful, to the cause and to her friends and family, and she was a champion, for ideas and for people, and someone who stepped in front to take on leadership and speak truth to power.
Women with Disabilities ACT spoke of her as “careful, strong, funny, smart, encouraging, kind, determined, listener, respectful”—and much more.
Most recently, last month and earlier this month, I had the privilege of working again with Sue to progress community consideration of the Crimes (Offences Against Vulnerable People) Legislation Amendment Bill 2020. Her incredible skills as a visionary realist were again demonstrated to me though this work. My notes quote her as saying: “This is a game changer for women with a disability
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