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Australian Indigenous People with Disability: Ethics and Standpoint Theory

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Abstract

Research on impairment and disability among Indigenous people in Australia has reflected and served the colonial enterprise. National ethical guidelines on research have not been effective in addressing the manner in which Australian Indigenous people with a disability are framed and disempowered in disability research methodology and epistemology. A comprehensive community-grounded, structural enquiry framework is proposed to address these concerns

In order to understand our position better and to ultimately act to improve it, we must first immerse ourselves in and understand the very system of thought, ideas and knowledge that have been instrumental in producing our position. (Nakata 1998: 4)

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Notes

  1. 1.

    We use the term Indigenous in this paper to include both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This term makes it easier to read when discussing Indigenous Standpoint Theory to an international audience.

  2. 2.

    Theories of ethical decision-making guided by the view that the morally right action is the action that produces the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people (Driver 2009).

  3. 3.

    Theories of ethical decision-making guided by duty and moral rules such as maintaining respect for people and that no matter how morally good their consequences, some choices are morally forbidden (Alexander & Moore 2012).

  4. 4.

    Country, in Indigenous language, is the traditional homelands of a person’s Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander ancestry. It is the geographic region where their spiritual ancestors were born.

  5. 5.

    These include Jackie Huggins (1993), Marcia Langton (1993), Martin Nakata (1997), William Oates (2003), Errol West (2000), Manulani Aluii Meyer (2008), Aileen Moreton-Robinson (2004), Wendy Brady (1992), Lester Irabinna Rigney (2007), John Gilroy (2012) and Linda Tuhiwai Smith (1999).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Disability, Research and Policy, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    John Gilroy

  2. Health and Human Sciences, Southern Cross University, Locked Mailbag 4, Coolangatta, QLD, 4225, Australia

    Michelle Donelly

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  1. John Gilroy
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Correspondence to John Gilroy .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Global Disability Research, The Critical Institute, Attard, Malta

    Shaun Grech

  2. Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University, New South Wales, Australia

    Karen Soldatic

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Gilroy, J., Donelly, M. (2016). Australian Indigenous People with Disability: Ethics and Standpoint Theory. In: Grech, S., Soldatic, K. (eds) Disability in the Global South. International Perspectives on Social Policy, Administration, and Practice. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42488-0_35

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