Speak My Language

Psychosocial disability is often misunderstood and rarely discussed, despite 1.1 million Australians experiencing it. As our attention turns to these issues during October, as we mark Mental Health Month, it’s worth digging deeper into psychosocial disability to better understand it.

While we celebrate our Australian Paralympians for their athletic excellence, they also play an important part in reshaping society’s attitudes towards disability. The Paralympic Games run parallel to the Olympic Games, showcasing unique events on a unique sporting landscape specifically created for people with a disability. 

Fashion is its own kind of language. The way we dress and express ourselves through our fashion choices helps us communicate our personal style, identity and culture to the rest of the world. One new business in the Illawarra region is expanding the world of fashion to make sure that local women living with a disability can build their self-esteem, confidence and individual expression through their clothes and accessories.

At the heart of living well is a universal need to be accepted, to belong and to feel personally fulfilled.  

We recently interviewed sixteen people who live with a range of disabilities, as well as carers or front-line workers, from ethnic communities across New South Wales. We wanted to understand what living well with a disability means from a culturally diverse perspective. Those who participated in the survey were from Vietnamese, Chinese, Arabic, Indian, Filipino, Nepali, West African and East African backgrounds.

This week, Australia has launched the first live fashion week the world has seen since February 2020. It has put diversity back into the spotlight, with advocates pushing for greater representation in the race, age, weight and gender expression of the fashion models participating. 

However, even within these discussions of diversity, disability is left out of the conversation.

National Reconciliation Week (May 27, 2021 – June 3, 2021) is a time for all Australians to learn about the history, culture and achievements of Indigenous Australians. It is also an opportunity for us to come together with a shared commitment for reconciliation.

When media representation of disability is done well, it can challenge stereotypes, shift social perceptions and empower people who would otherwise not see their stories on the screen. Here are five international films in languages other than English that explore disability.

Each film depicts universal themes within the subjectivities of their cultural context. Whether you watch them in-language or put on those English subtitles, these foreign films will be sure to leave an impact.

5 Ways To Make Your Social Media More Accessible

For the more than one billion people living with disabilities, the online world is a place to foster community and connection that might not be available offline. 

While social media is an incredible tool for participation, our digital spaces have a long way to go before they are accessible for everyone.

Our beliefs about disability are shaped by the culture we come from and the language we speak. In a multicultural society like Australia, our rich cultural diversity complicates cross-cultural understandings of disability. In 2016, there were over 300 languages spoken in Australian homes, with more than one-fifth of Australians speaking a language other than English at home. While services attempt to keep up with this demand by providing information in different languages, there are cultural nuances that are often lost in translation.