Importance of Land, family and culture for a good life: Remote Aboriginal people with disability and carers

Abstract

Worldwide health and social outcomes of Indigenous people are poorer than those of non‐Indigenous. In Australia, the Indigenous population experience disability at more than twice the rate of the non‐Indigenous population, and a quarter live in geographically remote areas. The challenges associated with accessing services and supports in remote communities can impact on a good life for Aboriginal people with disability. Interviews were conducted with Aboriginal people (Anangu) with disability and family carers from remote Central Australian communities and service workers. Thematic data analysis determined factors Anangu viewed as essential to living a good life: connection to their Lands, being with family and engaging in cultural activities. Workers' support for a good life involves “Proper Way” help and an understanding of Anangu culture. Three culturally relevant strengths‐based concepts are important in supporting Anangu with disability to live a good life: being connected to the Lands and family, sharing together and working together.

Equity in Access: A Mixed Methods Exploration of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Access Program for the Kimberley Region, Western Australia

“…A non-Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service led approach to NDIS implementation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in the Northern Territory and Queensland found that attempts from the NDIA to engage with communities had been perceived as cursory, inappropriate, and ineffective by the communities they sought to engage with [41]. In contrast, an Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service led approach in remote Central Australia found that a model where Aboriginal coworkers worked alongside disability workers was effective in delivering culturally safe and acceptable services to Aboriginal people with a disability [18,19]. Our study contributes to an evidence base that demonstrates the importance of Aboriginal Community Controlled responses in achieving equitable access for remote Aboriginal people with a disability.…”

“…The NDIA Rural and Remote Strategy [16] and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Engagement Strategy [17] outline how the NDIA aims to engage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in culturally appropriate ways [16,17]. These documents provide valuable foundations and demonstrate that the NDIA is cognisant that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander access in remote and regional Australia demands innovation, investment, and partnerships [18][19][20]. They do not, however, provide information to guide the implementation of the NDIS at a practical level.…”

Beyond deficit: ‘strengths‐based approaches’ in Indigenous health research

“…Kana’iaupuni (2005) describes an Indigenous Hawaiian ‘world‐view’, which privileges connection to genealogy and land, and values reciprocity and inclusion, and in which Elders guide families and community and are seen as the keepers of traditional knowledges. Such a world‐view shares features with those of other Indigenous peoples where subjectivity is characterised by an equal and mutual relationship with the land (Dew et al, 2019; Fredericks, 2013; Hatala et al, 2019; Kulis et al, 2013; Moreton‐Robinson, 2013), underpinned by kinship structures that affirm place in family and community (Rountree & Smith, 2016; Van Uchelen et al, 1997; Yap & Yu, 2016), and in which collective good is valued over individual wellbeing. In this literature, ‘cultural identity’ is seen to be relational—to land, ancestry, kinship and community—in a way that is not captured by the ‘culture as treatment’ models described earlier.…”

A silent burden—prolapse, incontinence, and infertility in Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women: A systematic search and narrative review

“…Islander culture and so the potential impact of infertility might well be expected to have a significant emotional impact in these groups. 9 The importance of culturally safe health care is widely recognized, and the provision of appropriate care is likely to be even more important when very personal issues such as infertility and incontinence are discussed with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. 10 Indeed, studies of non-Indigenous women 11 note the close relationship between shame and urinary incontinence:…”

“…Families are a very important part of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and so the potential impact of infertility might well be expected to have a significant emotional impact in these groups 9 …”