Critical reflection is essential to students’ learning in working with culturally different communities (Whitney & Clayton, 2011), such as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. It allows students to focus on individual responses to an event, carefully scrutinise own personal values and acknowledge their impact on future practice in cross-cultural settings (D’Gruz, Gillingham, & Melendez, 2007). Through critical reflections, students are able to develop respect for the rights and views of the Aboriginal community in delivery of culturally appropriate healthcare services, which is the ability defined as cultural competency (Commonwealth of Australia, 2013). Hence, this paper describes my personal development of awareness in cultural …show more content…
Coming from a Malaysian Chinese background, my community and I experience marginalisation and social discrimination against our ethnicity. The unjust policies in Malaysia have resulted in a decline in our rights as citizens and a sense of powerless in our community. Therefore, my background allows me to recognise the political influence on minority populations’ access to resources and opportunities in society. Hence, at the outset of this unit of study, I considered myself as having the ability to understand and empathise with the Aboriginal people because of my upbringing and past experience. However, the self-directed module increased my awareness toward the immoral measures exerted on the Aboriginal community members by the Europeans in compelling them to assimilate to the Western …show more content…
This explains my negative emotions around history of the forcible removal of Aboriginal children from their parents. As a result, I thought having come from a collectivistic background helped me to empathise with the pain endured by the Aboriginal people, whose kinship system is also based on interdependence of the family and extended family (Elston & Smith, 2007). Nevertheless, learning about the negative impacts of colonisation on Aboriginal people’s lives and health has unexpectedly changed my evaluation of own
Residential schools undoubtedly created detrimental inter-generational consequences. The dark legacy of residential schools has had enduring impact, reaching into each new generation, and has led to countless problems within Aboriginal families including: chemical dependence, a cycle of abuse in families, dysfunctional families, crime and incarceration, depression, grief, suicide, and cultural identity issues (McFarlan, 2000, p. 13). Therefore, the inter-generational consequence...
Kids were scattered across the country and family ties were obliterated forcing families to grieve their lost relatives This was devastating because in the First Nations culture, children are valued very highly, and those without children are viewed as being disadvantaged. The removal of children introduced problems of alcoholism, emotional stress and low self-esteem in Aboriginal communities. The events that played out “weakened the traditional family structure, and in doing so, weakened Aboriginal society as a whole”. An entire generation was not taught about their Aboriginal culture , traditions, customs or values, and this played a major role in the shaping of their
Aboriginal family life has been disrupted and forcibly changed over the last two hundred years, as a result of the many segregation and assimilation policies introduced by Australian governments. Often a combination of the two was employed. The policy of segregation has impacted upon Aboriginal family life, for through this policy, Aboriginals were restricted and prohibited to practice their traditional culture, hence, resulting in the loss of their Indigenous identity and limiting the cultural knowledge for future Aboriginal generations. The segregation policy also achieved in disfiguring the roles of family members, primarily the male's role within the family. The policy of assimilation, in comparison to the segregation policies, has also affected Aboriginal family life, because through the removal of children from their Aboriginal homes they to as a result were deprived of their Indigenous identity and cultural links. However, the policy of assimilation has had far greater an impact upon Aboriginal family life, for it has not only separated families and communities, but denied the parenting and nurturing of a generation of Aboriginal peoples and has also attributed to breakdowns in relationships between the non-Aboriginal and Aboriginal parent.
There are significant health disparities that exist between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians. Being an Indigenous Australian means the person is and identifies as an Indigenous Australian, acknowledges their Indigenous heritage and is accepted as such in the community they live in (Daly, Speedy, & Jackson, 2010). Compared with Non-Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal people die at much younger ages, have more disability and experience a reduced quality of life because of ill health. This difference in health status is why Indigenous Australians health is often described as “Third World health in a First World nation” (Carson, Dunbar, Chenhall, & Bailie, 2007, p.xxi). Aboriginal health care in the present and future should encompass a holistic approach which includes social, emotional, spiritual and cultural wellbeing in order to be culturally suitable to improve Indigenous Health. There are three dimensions of health- physical, social and mental- that all interrelate to determine an individual’s overall health. If one of these dimensions is compromised, it affects how the other two dimensions function, and overall affects an individual’s health status. The social determinants of health are conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age which includes education, economics, social gradient, stress, early life, social inclusion, employment, transport, food, and social supports (Gruis, 2014). The social determinants that are specifically negatively impacting on Indigenous Australians health include poverty, social class, racism, education, employment, country/land and housing (Isaacs, 2014). If these social determinants inequalities are remedied, Indigenous Australians will have the same opportunities as Non-Ind...
The education of Aboriginal people is a challenge that has been a concern for many years and is still an issue. However, it remains the best way young people can climb out of poverty. With the colonialization and the oppression of Aboriginals, there have been many lasting side effects that continue to be affecting the Aboriginal youth today. “While retention and graduation rates have improved among urban Aboriginal population, an educational gap still remains between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal youth in urban settings” (Donovan, 127). Many suffer from a diminished self-worth, as they do not feel valued and feel inferior to their classmates. In this essay I am going to outline the reasons Aboriginals are struggling, discuss what is being done
Throughout this course, I have experienced many different forms of personal growth, but I would say the two major areas were open-mindedness and research skills. Before this course, I alway thought my lifestyle was the correct way to live because it seemed to work very well for me. However, after learning more about the Aboriginal way of life, I have become much more open-minded to other lifestyles and cultures. I no longer think of my lifestyle as being correct, but I recognize this lifestyle is fulfilling and best for me, while another culture or way of life can make someone else just as happy and be just as fulfilling for them. Therefore, I’ve grown to be more open minded and
Minore, B., Boone, M., Katt, M., Kinch, P., & Birch, S. (2004). Addressing the realties of health care in northern aboriginal communities through participatory action research. Journal Of Interprofessional Care, 18(4), 360-368. doi:10.1080/13561820400011784
Since colonialism after the invasion, Australia indigenous peoples have experienced a great deal of loss of identity, loss, disempowerment, cultural alienation, grief. Many indigenous people's mental and physical health impaired. Suicide, family violence, drug abuse and unemployment rates is higher than the Australian average(Berry et al. 2012). That is complicated to contributing to develop and support sustainable mental health and social wellbeing for Australian aboriginals staying in rural areas ,related to much diversity involved in and between individuals and communities (Guerin & Guerin 2012).
Within Australia, beginning from approximately the time of European settlement to late 1969, the Aboriginal population of Australia experienced the detrimental effects of the stolen generation. A majority of the abducted children were ’half-castes’, in which they had one white parent and the other of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent. Following the government policies, the European police and government continued the assimilation of Aboriginal children into ‘white’ society. Oblivious to the destruction and devastation they were causing, the British had believed that they were doing this for “their [Aborigines] own good”, that they were “protecting” them as their families and culture were deemed unfit to raise them. These beliefs caused ...
In order to understand the impact of colonisation on Aboriginal health; it is important to recognize their worldview or set of beliefs on health (Tilburt, 2010). They practice a “holistic” approach unlike the Western Biomedical model where health is centred on biological functioning (Lock, 2007). According to this model the essence of being healthy relies on the mental, spiritual and social well-being rather than the absence of an illness (Hampton & Toombs, 2013). It is closely linked to spiritual and environmental factors; the heart of which is country, tradition and kinship. Land is a source of identity and spirituality for indigenous people (Hampton & Toombs, 2013). Kinship manages connection to land as well as ceremonial obligations and interpersonal relationships (Hampton & Toombs, 2013). For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders a healthy person consists of physical and spiritual elements. It’s evident that colonisation eroded the structures upon which Indige...
In saying this, Aboriginal communities feel the need to be independent and seclude themselves from the rest of society as they proclaim and habituate on “their land” in the search for recognition and hierarchal treatment. Aboriginal peoples are constantly being stereotyped, ridiculed for their way of living, and essentially dismissed as human beings contributing to our society. These individuals get treated unfairly due to their upbringings and ways of living, leaving an unpleasant disconnect between Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals, still today, many years
Racism and social disadvantage being the by-products of Australian colonisation have become reality for Aboriginal people from the early beginnings as well as being prevalent to this day. There exists a complex and strong association between racism and Aboriginal poor health, assisting in the undermining of the emotional and social wellbeing of this Indigenous group. Racism has an adverse and insidious effect upon the psychological and physical health of the Aboriginal people, as it gnaws away on the mental state of the individual, having detrimental consequence upon the standard of acceptable health in today 's modern society. The effects of this discrimination become the catalyst towards the undermining of one 's self esteem which leads to detrimental stress levels, self-negativity and having the potential
• Amnesty International: Australia- governments dismissal of UN criticism undermines hard earned credibility in human rights diplomacy.
Its important to recognize that many of the challenges Aboriginal women face are directly linked to each other, for example the low socioeconomic status as discussed above puts them at risk for experiencing abuse and violence. In a study by Daoud, Smylie, Urquia, Allan and O’Campo (2013)
Department of Health South Australia. (2004). Cultural Respect Framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health. Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council. Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Working Party