The Aboriginal Disability Network held community consultations recently. The first consultations took place in Armidale and Tamworth and a further 4 consultations were held in the Sydney metropolitan area. The response has exceeded expectations with over one hundred Aboriginal people with disability participating.
The consultations have highlighted the very high degree of unmet need in Aboriginal communities. For every person who attended the consultations there were a significantly higher number of Aboriginal people with disability who could not attend because they could not get out of their front door or because they could not access transport from their communities.
The issues emerging from the consultations are varied. Among the most significant is a high incidence of Aboriginal people with disability not getting the housing modifications they need. Furthermore, there is a very high incidence of hearing impairment in communities. Indeed, several elders attended consultations with a high degree of hearing loss, yet throughout their lives they have not had their hearing tested. Also, there is a high degree of Aboriginal people with vision impairment particularly due to cataracts and diabetes related loss of vision.
Several young Aboriginal people are experiencing problems at school such as being labelled as 'difficult children'. However, their behaviour may be as a result of hearing loss or another undiagnosed impairment and their behaviour is a manifestation of their frustrations. Several Aboriginal people with disability are being regularly suspended from school fundamentally because they do not appear to be afforded the support they need to participate in their schools.
Many of the matters raised expose the deep disadvantage Aboriginal people with disability face in their communities and the wider community. The Aboriginal Disability Network is working to raise and seek redress to some of the injustices that Aboriginal people with disability experience.