Impact of Colonization on Hearing and Sight in Indigenous Australians

This essay delves into the critical health issues of hearing, sight, and other senses affecting Indigenous Australians, highlighting the significant disparities compared to non-Indigenous populations. It explores the impact of colonization on the development of these health problems, including the introduction of diseases like trachoma and the disruption of traditional lifestyles. The essay identifies and discusses the influence of social determinants of health, such as housing and poverty, on the progression of hearing and vision impairments. Furthermore, it examines the cultural implications and obstacles in addressing these health issues, including language barriers, differing beliefs, and the lack of cultural safety in healthcare settings. The essay utilizes current statistics and research to illustrate the burden of these conditions and offers a comprehensive understanding of the complex factors contributing to health inequalities in Indigenous communities, providing a foundation for improved healthcare approaches.

Running head: NURSING 1
Nursing
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

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Hearing, sight and other senses
Hearing and sight are essential senses for mobility, communication and learning. There
are also other senses like touch, smell and taste whose health issues are insignificant to the
wellbeing of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals compared to hearing and
vision. Consequently, impaired hearing and sight can have implications for social participation,
education, independent living and employment (Mick, Parfyonov, Wittich, Phillips & Pichora-
Fuller, 2018). Disorders from the hearing can be present from birth or may develop as a result of
issues during pregnancy or delivery, neurological disorders, inherited condition, excessive noise
or injury or develop over time with age. Similarly, sight disorders can be present from birth or
develop over time due to ageing or chronic eye disorders or originate from an acute injury or
illness.
Moreover, sight and hearing loss are thought to elevate cognitive load and impair balance
control which declines the capability to perform multiple tasks, divert attention from the
environment and lead to incorrect evaluation of environmental impediments (Gopinath,
McMahon, Burlutsky & Mitchell, 2016). Impaired sight limits opportunities in social
engagement, education and employment. Besides, it increases the peril of damage and be a
reason for reliance on services and other individuals. Partial sight deficit also declines the ability
of a person to live independently and escalate the mortality risk (HealthInfoNet et al., 2019).
The indigenous people have a higher prevalence of combined hearing and vision
impairment compared to the rest of other Australians. This is because of the escalated incidence
of trachoma, otitis media, and conjunctivitis which can cause life-long sensory impairments.
Otitis media which is commonly called middle ear infection can contribute to hearing
impairment and if abandoned without any treatment may cause a constant hearing deficit. Some

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of the indigenous people have an incidence of up to ten times higher than 4 per cent of chronic
suppurative otitis media that the World Health Organization recognizes as an extensive public
health issue necessitating immediate attention (Burns & Thomson, 2013).
Statistics of hearing, sight and other senses issues burden for Indigenous Australians
compared with non-indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians encounter higher rates of certain hearing and sight disorders
compared to non-aboriginal Australians. As an illustration, in 2012-13, aboriginal individuals
were more than twice as probable as non-aboriginal people to have complete or partial blindness
and more twice as likely to have otitis media (Aboriginal, 2013). On the other hand, the 2013-14
survey data found that 7 per cent of Aboriginal children between the ages of 0 to 14 had hearing
issues.
After adjusting for differences in the age structures of the Aboriginal and non-indigenous
people, it was found that aboriginals are significantly more probable, that is 1.3 times to have
hearing issues compared to the non-aboriginals (Aboriginal, 2013). Furthermore, in 2012- 2013,
cataracts, myopia, blindness and hyperopia for Indigenous people was 1.4, 0.8, 7.4 and 1.1 times
the proportion for non-aboriginal people (HealthInfoNet et al., 2019). The data of 2016-2017
indicate that the rate of hospitalization for mastoid and middle ear conditions for indigenous
Australians was 1.4 times higher compared to the proportion for non-aboriginal Australians.
Improvement in hearing issues has been a challenge in Australia (HealthInfoNet et al., 2019).
Indigenous infants who are fitted with amplification devices are only 2 per cent in respect
of 10 per cent of the non-indigenous infants (Jones et al., 2018). Looking at the prevalence as
well as associations of demonstrating near-vision loss in Australian Eye Health Survey, the

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incidence for the indigenous Australians was higher at 34.7 per cent in contradistinction to that
of non-aboriginal Australians of 21.6 per cent (Keel, Foreman, Xie, Taylor & Dirani, 2018).
Impact of colonization on the development of hearing, sight and other senses issue for
indigenous Australians
Colonization along with government assimilation affected all aspects of indigenous life
including their culture, traditional roles, and access to services, health and equity (MacDonald &
Steenbeek, 2015). Colonization in Australia brought about racism, inequity and interference of
indigenous people’s cultures. Colonization has been the most detrimental of the health
determinants which continue to significantly impact the health outcomes of the Aboriginal
Australians. Contrary to what several Australians believe, Indigenous Australians actively
resisted the invasion of the British from the beginning and the resistance led to brutal massacres
called frontier wars. The main purpose of the British was to break down Australia's first people’s
resistance (Ryan, Debenham, William (Bill) Pascoe & Brown, 2017).
The European settlers of Australia brought eye issues like trachoma with them. After
children were forced to live their homes under the guise of hygiene concerns and people’s lands
were forcefully taken away, housing became a problem. This is because; they were taken to
foster homes and dormitories where they were overcrowded. Nevertheless, the destitute housing
surroundings of the early settlers and with flies, dirt and heat of Australia, trachoma became
pandemic and renowned (Waterworth, Pescud, Braham, Dimmock & Rosenberg, 2015).
The marginalization following colonization of the indigenous homelands initiated
inequity in health care. Many indigenous people became poor and lacked access to formal
education. Due to racism, those aboriginal individuals with hearing and sight problems could not
access better health care thus their conditions deteriorated increasing mortality rate (Waterworth

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et al., 2015). Lack of formal education hindered the indigenous people from understanding the
causes of these issues hence putting them at risk of getting them. Also, for those who already had
the vision and hearing impairment could not treat it for lack of education.
Impact of social determinants of health on the development and progression of hearing,
sight and other senses issue
One of the social determinants of health that affect the progression and development of
hearing, sight and other senses issues is housing. Many families in Indigenous communities are
deemed overcrowded, a condition that could result in a broad range of health issues. Aboriginal
households that live in overcrowded conditions are more prone to acquiring diseases via poor
hygiene from close touch with other people as well as poor sanitation.
Hearing issues like otitis media, sight issues like trachoma, and crusted scabies,
gastroenteritis, respiratory infections in addition to family violence and mental health problems
are possible outcomes from overcrowded surroundings. For instance, in isolated areas where the
families are overcrowded, more than two children of less than five years are connected with a 2.4
fold elevated peril of the youngest child with otitis media (Hartz & Geia, 2017).
Furthermore, poverty is a social determinant that affects hearing as well as the sight of
the aboriginal people (Taylor & Guerin, 2019). People living in low-income households have
worse health outcomes compared to high-income families. Poor individuals are most probable to
become blind or develop hearing problems as a result of lack of access and the ability to pay for
health services. Also, they have increased exposure to eye and ear infections and lack awareness
regarding eye and ear health.
Due to poverty, access to regular and preventative health care becomes scarce so the
incidence of health issues tend to be higher including that of hearing loss. Also, low-income

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caretakers of aboriginal children face additional external burdens as a result of long work
schedules and language proficiency (Taylor & Guerin, 2019). These factors make it hard for the
caretakers to advocate on behalf of their children or even notice delays in their children’s
development due to potential hearing or vision loss.
The cultural implications and obstacles to addressing hearing, sight and other senses
problem for indigenous Australian
To ensure the accessibility and availability of health care, strong, dynamic and well-
managed economic and geographical health system as well as semantic or cultural support is
required (Li, 2017). Cultural obstacles are any barriers that people might encounter including
clinical operations and practices, perceptions of gender along with sexuality or different
languages. These obstacles which could cause somber misunderstanding amongst people of
different cultural practices are the chief causes of inadequate health services results among the
indigenous individuals. Such obstacles result in unequal health among the aboriginals (Li, 2017).
Distinct beliefs, faith, understanding and interpretation regarding identity, value and
health make the aboriginals less willing to utilize mainstream health care institutions. The
people’s fatalistic beliefs are directly associated with problems in accessing free check-ups for
vision along with hearing impairment and follow-up appointments (Li, 2017).
Provided that language is the chief component of culture, poor correspondence results in
dramatic decline in health care results (Li, 2017). The most sophisticated health care systems
have been developed by the Australian government although it offers limited advantage if the
patients and health care professionals fail to correspond. Communicating efficiently in an
ethically convenient manner leads to less misunderstanding as well as confusion in addition to a
higher quality of health care.

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Cultural identity is another obstacle to addressing aboriginal's hearing and vision
impairment. It refers to individuals’ perception of belonging to a certain class of people.
Biological as well as physical differences might hinder the indigenous Australians from
participating actively in their therapy. Undoubtedly, individuals tend to trust the health providers
that come from the same religion, ethnicity, country and same social class (Li, 2017). It becomes
difficult for people with this health issue to develop a comfortable environment, more close
connection and better contact with a person from a distinct cultural group. Thereupon, it is
coherent why a few aboriginals resist seeking health services from a white health provider
alluding to absence of cultural safety.

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References
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13. Canberra, Australia.
Burns, J. F., & Thomson, N. J. (2013). Review of ear health and hearing among Indigenous
Australians.
Gopinath, B., McMahon, C. M., Burlutsky, G., & Mitchell, P. (2016). Hearing and vision
impairment and the 5-year incidence of falls in older adults. Age and Ageing, 45(3), 409-
414.
Hartz, D., & Geia, L. K. (2017). 12 Indigenous child health. Yatdjuligin: Aboriginal and Torres
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