On Tuesday 11th March, the University of Sydney’s Poche Centre and Centre for Disability Research and Policy (CDRP) welcomed Dr John T. Ward during the official Australian launch of his new book Indigenous Disability Studies. Hailing from Turtle Island/Canada, Ward is Métis and Non-Status Indian from the Algonquin territory of Kitchisibi, and is a professor, researcher and “knowledge seeker.” Joining us over Zoom was contributing authors Kevin P. Morgan and Lexi (Giizhigokwe) Nahwegiizhic, Ward’s fellow disabled Indigenous advocates and scholars. In addition to Morgan and Nahwegiizhic’s captioned portions on Zoom, an Auslan interpreter was available for audience members.
The launch event was chaired by Professor John Gilroy, a Yuin man from the NSW South Coast and is a professor of Indigenous health and disability at the University of Sydney, specialising primarily in disability studies. The room of students, academics and members of the disabilities and carers communities were welcomed to Gadigal Country by Uncle Charles ‘Chicka’ Madden.
Ward delivered an impressive overview of Indigenous Disability Studies and spent the time providing an overview of each of the more than thirty First Nations scholars and Elders who had contributed chapters to the book about disability in their communities. This amazing breadth of authors included many Traditional Owners across Turtle Island, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malawi, Uganda, and more – each with different knowledge and lore to share about how disability is perceived and supported in their cultures, the impacts of colonialism, and routes for advocacy and representation.
The discipline of Indigenous Disability studies itself is relatively young and unseen in mainstream academia, and this book is starting to change that. By pushing back against the dominance of Western conceptions of disability and bringing together so many First Nations people endowed with cultural authority and academic backgrounds, Indigenous Disability Studies is not just a book that everyone should read, but that they should keep an eye on as a future seminal text in the discipline.
Delving into the concepts and epistemologies underpinning Indigenous Disability Studies, Ward explained the “Two-Eyed Seeing approach” that uses and accounts for both Indigenous and Western knowledge, worldviews and ways of knowing. He showed a table comparing Indigenous and Western conceptualisations of disability, emphasising the “very negative” nature of the settler-colonial framework and the more holistic, positive Indigenous knowledge belief system. As an example, he explained how an Indigenous way of knowing and worldview allows the mind to see the land of “North America” as turtle-shaped, as per the creation story that the land was formed on the back of a turtle, leading to the name of “Turtle Island” amongst many First Nations peoples.
Ward displayed a representation of the Medicine Wheel, a “way of understanding who we are” common to his home of Turtle Island. It represents interaction of the four aspects of an individual – physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual – each of which provides a basis for how disabilities are perceived in “Canada.” This model was used to explain an Indigenous, more holistic view of disability and disability was not, and remains as for many people, something that needed to be defined and viewed negatively.
Kevin P. Morgan, born Ronald Robert Joynson/Proulx, is a Sixties Scoop survivor — period of paternalistic policies enabling Canadian authorities to “scoop up” or remove Indigenous children from their families, and give them to white families. Morgan has been legally blind since birth and is of Oji-Cree and French descent, with his ancestral roots found in the Red River in Manitoba and of Chippewa of North Dakota. He spoke of his experience growing up in a Western household and society, before coming to understand his blindness and disability in a non-Western lens, saying “while I cannot see, I have the gift of vision.”
Lexi (Giizhigokwe) is a two-spirited, neurodiverse Ojibwe woman from Sheguiandah First Nation in Ontario. Her traditional name is Giizhigokwe, meaning Little Sky Woman. Nahwegiizhic was a softly-spoken but energising speaker, who emphasised feeling the tension between “both worlds” after being recognised positively for her differences by her community growing up, then going to school where she was struggling and frustrated from masking and the Western system.
Asking for questions from the room, a productive and open discussion followed with many First Nations “Australians” and others from around the world sharing their gratitude for the panelists validating their experiences and asking questions about their own fields of work. At the end of the event, Ward prepared a special treat with Canadian Maple syrup to share — using the opportunity to speak to the Maple’s importance.
The event perfectly encapsulated the essence and what is to be expected of the wonderful Indigenous Disability Studies — based in respect for and the knowledge of First Nations peoples, focused on community and diversity, and featuring the expertise of those with lived experience who may not be heard as often in mainstream academia or disability discourse. It has certainly solidified the University of Sydney and CDRP as a leader in this up and coming but all too necessary area.
Reflections by Eko Bautista
The work and knowledge of indigenous people was historically, and still is, disregarded or blatantly excluded in the field of disability studies, lacking the perspective and experiences of the communities persistently impacted by limited access to modern healthcare, lower socio-economic status, and ableism. The effects of colonialism still prevail, even in the spaces that speak towards compassion and understanding.
This troubled me growing up on Bidjinura, where I was separated from my family’s knowledge holders. As an Indigenous person from the island of Luzon in what’s known as the Philippines, my understanding of my autism was only informed by Western perspectives and ideals, positioning me in a Eurocentric perspective that was not compatible with the knowledge that I grew up with before settling here. As such, I turned to my ancestral roots for answers.
“Indigenous people view and conceptualize disabilities as well as learning disabilities in a different manner, not through a deficit or negative lens”
John T. Ward (2025)
The quote from the newly released edited book Indigenous Disability Studies highlights the experiences and insights of Indigenous individuals with disabilities, as well as professionals in the disability field. This perspective, rooted in Indigenous scholarship, reflects my own understanding of my disability.
