2021 Annual Report

The year 2021 was a significant year as it marked the 30th anniversary of the CAAC. The roles played by the co-founder and previous Director, Professor Erna Alant, followed by Professor Juan Bornman, as well as the various committed team members over the years have jointly contributed to the positive trajectory of the
CAAC. The CAAC continues to grow in terms of its post graduate student cohort, research outputs, funded research as well as community-based activities, as outlined in this Annual Report.

Another equally important component of 2021 was the CAAC team’s resilience and tenacity as we collectively navigated the second year of the Covid-19 pandemic. The team jointly found innovative ways to lead in their respective fields of Augmentative
and Alternative Communication and Early Childhood Intervention and continue to support our students and each other during a very uncertain year. Reflection, mindfulness in our daily actions and interactions, rest, and kindness to ourselves and others, were important factors to navigating 2021. According to researcher and podcaster, Brené Brown, “a leader is anyone who takes the responsibility of finding the potential in people and processes, and who has the courage to develop that potential.”

The CAAC team clearly has many leaders who constantly inspire and test the limits of their earlier achievements. Various members of the team have embraced new and innovative ideas and explored an inclusive participatory research agenda and human-centered interactions - in our research, teaching, learning, as well as community engagements. Having reflected collectively on the meaning of our work, we remain committed to impacting the lives of individuals and their families through multiprofessional hybrid postgraduate teaching and learning, socially responsive research and customized non-degree training.