First podcast for First Nations people with disabilities launches
A Cairns-based storyteller who had to learn to walk and talk again is now helping to empower First Nations people with disabilities.
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Having to learn how to walk and talk again after an incident left him in an induced coma, Bernard Namok, a proud St Paul, Badu, and Erub Torres Strait Islander man, is now advocating for Indigenous people living with disabilities in the Far North.
Mr Namok is teaming up with the First Peoples Disability Network (FPDN) to help empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders with a focus on giving a voice to the voiceless.
On National Closing the Gap Day, Mr Namok and the First Peoples Disability Network launched a first-ever podcast dedicated to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living with disabilities.
An experienced radio host and advocate, Mr Namok also has his own lived experiences with disability and the difficulty of accessing both information and services.
“I experienced an incident that left me in a induced coma, it meant that I basically had to begin from square one again learning to walk and talk again,” Mr Namok said.
“I have also experienced my brother also requiring assistance after a surgery and saw the difficulty it caused my family when trying to access information about what was available.”
Mr Namok said one of the barriers facing people with disabilities from Indigenous communities is simply knowing what help is out there and how to access it.
“Creating the podcast was about finding a way to get information to people who may be living in remote areas in places like Thursday Island where I grew up, as well as telling their stories,” he said
The Australian Bureau of Statistics has found that almost a quarter (24%) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia living in households lived with a disability with 8.8% living with a profound or severe limitation.
Using data from the 2018 Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers, a 2021 ABS report found that among ATSI people aged 15 and over living with a disability, 18.1% reported experiencing discrimination due to their disability and 46.2% reported they had avoided situations due to their disability.
The FPDN reports First Peoples with disability and their families are among the most seriously disadvantaged and disempowered members of the Australian community.
Mr Namok said the significance of releasing the podcast on Closing the Gap day was about amplifying their message as well as highlighting disability as a key piece of the puzzle to closing the gap and improving health.
“Before now there was no specific podcast dedicated to the stories and voices of First Peoples
living with a disability in Australia so we created Yarning Disability,” FPDN National Training and Engagement Manager Carly Wallace said.
“FPDN’S work is to ensure the voices of First Peoples living with a disability are heard.
We hope the stories that come from Yarning Disability will be a catalyst for change, not only in our community but systematically.
“These stories from Yarning Disability are raw and honest and will hopefully educate Mob and the disability sector around the experiences of First Peoples living with a disability, their carers and families, and the broader community as a whole.”
Episodes are available from March 16.
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Originally published as First podcast for First Nations people with disabilities launches
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