Globally, Indigenous people, also known as First Peoples, have the poorest health outcomes of all population groups, resulting in significantly higher rates of chronic disease, ill-health, and disability. Recent research strongly suggests that Australian First Peoples and the Sami peoples of the Nordic region are positioned at opposite ends of the disability–health spectrum. Australia’s First Peoples now experience the highest rates of disability in the nation’s recorded history, despite the significant government investment over recent decades in national Indigenous policy. Yet Nordic Indigenous populations appear to have similar health outcomes and living conditions as the rest of the population in the region. In this paper, we compare some of the global assumptions of the two leading countries of the United Nations Human Development Index – Norway (ranked first) and Australia (ranked second) – and examine the ways in which such rankings act to hide the disparities of life trajectories and outcomes for Indigenous persons living with disability compared to the rest of the population in each country.
Presented by:
Karen Soldatic is an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow (2016-2019) who prior to joining the Institute, worked at the University of New South Wales. Karen's DECRA, entitled 'Disability Income Reform and Regional Australia: The Indigenous Experience', draws upon two previous fellowships: British Academy International Visiting Fellowship (2012) and The Centre for Human Rights Education, Curtin University (2011-2012) where she remains an Adjunct Fellow. Karen's research on global welfare regimes builds upon her 20 years' experience as an international, national and state based senior policy analyst and practitioner."
Line Melbo is a Norwegian associate professor at the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Tromsø. Line’s earlier research has focused on disability and citizenship, and especially on pupils with intellectual disabilities and their participation in school and in leisure activities. The last two years Line has been head of The Arctic Centre of Welfare and Disability Studies. In this period she especially has worked on a qualitative study of the situation of Sami people with disabilities in Norway, and a quantitative study examining the living condition of people with intellectual disabilities living in Sami areas of Norway. Line is also head of the research group “Diversity and tolerance” at the university.
Event Details
- When:
- Time:
- 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM CST
- Location:
- Prairie Room, 101 Diefenbaker Place, University of Saskatchewan campus