Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

Objective: This presentation aims to share knowledge of the nature and meaning of "disability" from an Indigenous perspective of wellness and to illustrate the "disabling" effects of colonialism. For example, many Indigenous languages do not have a word for disability, mobility impairment or other vernacular that would oppose a collective view of normalcy and impose a medicalized notion of wellness. Clinical care takes place from a western (colonial) perspective and clinicians engage with Indigenous patients without an understanding of the disabling effects of colonialism. Clinicians equire knowledge of colonialism to develop and strengthen clinical relationships with Indigenous patients. Methods: In this presentation, I invoke the Indigenous tradition of image-based storytelling to embody Indigenous experience and identity. I extract stories from images. Through this process I problematize definitions of disability from the perspective of an Indigenous person who has been diagnosed with a disability and through my father's experience as a boy with a mobility impairment attending residential school. I share that western methods of rehabilitation were harmful to both of us and demonstrate that the wounds of colonization could not be healed with colonial medicine. My father and I abandoned clinical interventions and found rehabilitation through cultural reclamation. These images affirm our Indigenous identity and serve to engage clinicians in a dialogue about the intersection of Indigenous and western worldviews related to "disability". Outcome: This presentation provides an image-based overview of the implications of colonialism on rehabilitation in the Indigenous tradition of Image-based storytelling. It also serves to share stories of resilience and human flourishing. Understanding the effects of colonialism will better prepare clinicians to interact with Indigenous patients.