Keynote Address (Thursday, June 1st, 2006):
Cultural practices and disabilities
Gayle Kennedy,
Freelance Writer,
member of the Wongaiibon Tribe of the Nyampa speaking people
New South Wales, Australia
The ‘significance’ of disabilities for individuals and communities; the cultural factors influencing our perceptions of disabilities, the ‘significance’ of disabilities for individuals and communities.
I will give a personal story/history of my long illness as a child and my resultant disability.
My illness separated me from my family and my Aboriginal culture for three long years. When I finally saw my family again I was afraid of them because they were black and I had forgotten that I was too.
I will talk about rediscovering my Aboriginal culture as well as how I am perceived in the Aboriginal communities that I travel in. Aboriginal people in Australia are extremely marginalised, so if you are one with skills, your skill are appreciated and valued. Your disability is often not seen or ignored. This can sometimes bring problems in that people don’t take into account your physical frailty and need for rest and space.
I also found that whilst I believed that I had been hard done by in having a disability, that many of my family and kin thought that I had led a privileged life.
I will also talk about the places that my disability has taken me and ask the question, “did my illness and subsequent disability, allow me to go places and experience a life that would not have possible growing up in an underprivileged community?’