May 6 - 8, 2002
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Providing Culturally Competent Disability Services
to Persons Born in other Countries May 6 - 8, 2002 |
The intersection of culture, disability and child care: A view from "Down Under"
Frey, R.
Queensland University of Technology
Windsor, Queensland 4030 Australia
ron@sttar.org
Abstract
The STTAR program in Brisbane, Australia has undertaken to help children with disabilities from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds have greater access to Anglo-Australian childcare services. The goals are to facili tate mutual understanding between CALD groups and childcare providers, and to help parents understand the childcare services and system. Each group received specifically designed written materials. This paper raises issues found in pres enting the topic to caregivers and to parents, and is based in part on our survey of international disability literature which is relatively unknown in the child care field. The issues include: how to inform parents most effectively, the impact of a famil y's culture upon understanding "Western" services, how caregivers' cultural expectations affect the childcare services they provide, the challenge of finding unbiased cultural profiles, to build sensitivity and coping with negative cultural perceptions of children with disabilities.