Aboriginal Disability Community Forum
Exchange, Not Extract! A Dialogue about the Interactions between Indigenous Peoples and Equitable Systems of Justice: What Should Reform Look Like?: The Aboriginal Disability Community Forum at Western Sydney University
By
Brent Elder, Michael Schwartz, and Karen Soldatić
The Aboriginal Disability Forum at Western Sydney University, curated by Professor Karen Soldatić, Dr Scott Avery, and Professor Azadeh Dastyari, brought together Aboriginal and non-Indigenous scholars from Australia and the United States to discuss their respective work on issues related to Aboriginal disability and the criminal justice system.
Research shows that while Aboriginal communities represent between 3-4% of Australia’s population, they represent 27% of the country’s incarcerated population (Australian Law Reform Commission, 2018). Additionally, due to poverty and overcrowded living conditions, 43% of the Aboriginal population aged seven and up experience hearing loss in one or both ears (Health Performance Framework, 2023).
Drs. Elder and Schwartz started the forum by sharing the emerging data received from six interviews conducted with Aboriginal justice organizations throughout Australia. Their main objective was to garner feedback from the audience, which included members of the Aboriginal communities working on disability- and justice-related issues. Particularly compelling was validation provided by members of the First Peoples Disability Network (FPDN), specifically June Riemer, Deputy CEO of the FPDN and a Gumbaynggirr Dunghutti woman, who shared her community's personal experiences with discrimination and marginalization.
Dr. Michelle Fitts, a Senior Research Fellow at WSU, Yasmin Johnson, a proud Wulgurukaba woman from Yunbenun (WSU/National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women’s Alliance [NATSIWA]), and June Riemer (FPDN) led the second panel discussing the disproportionate number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women who have acquired traumatic brain injury (TBI) from family violence. Their focus centered on the rehabilitation needs of Aboriginal women living with TBI. The panel discussed their findings from a three-year multi-site project (Queensland, Northern Territory and New South Wales), funded by the Australian Research Council.
Dr. Scott Avery (WSU/FPDN), a profoundly deaf Aboriginal scholar from the Worimi people, presented the history of disability inclusion in Aboriginal communities and what it means to truly center disability inclusion in Aboriginal research. Dr. Avery discussed ways in which Indigenous knowledges of inclusion, belonging, and self-determination can promote healing pathways for people with disability and their communities.
While the Forum marked the final “official” event in Drs. Elder and Schwartz’s initial research trip, this first iteration of the project has already produced co-authored blogs for immediate dissemination of project activity and the co-writing of research articles to leverage additional funding for further research. The idea is to amplify Aboriginal narratives of discrimination at international conferences like the UN Conference of State Parties to the CRPD.