1. Cultural beliefs of Asian people toward disabilities
Presenter: Cassandra Qin
Supervisor: Jelena Zidov (Policy Analyst, Blind Foundation)

2. An overview of this presentation
Attitudes and behaviours of Asian people towards disabilities
Cultural beliefs
Some suggested strategies to reach Asian communities

3. Models of Disability How do people think about disability?
“Let’s FIX the person!”
Medical model
Rehabilitation model
“They must have done something to deserve it /It’s God’s will”
Moral model
Religious model
A person is disabled by their impairment and needs to be ‘fixed’
A person’s disability is either a punishment or gift from a higher power

4. Models of Disability How do people think about disability?
“Disability is a social construct”
Social model
People are disabled by oppressive beliefs, attitudes and values of society.

5. Cultural & Beliefs in the Asian Community
Highly competitive - this means disabled people can be:
seen as not worth establishing a relationship with
seen as “Left behind from the start line”
expected to succeed same as non-disabled peers without getting the support they need to succeed

6. Cultural & Beliefs in the Asian Community
2. Patriarchal & hierarchical family structure means that:
Moral view of disability is passed down by respected elders that think disability is a punishment from God or other higher powers
Families hide disabled people from the community out of shame or fear of judgement

7. Cultural & Beliefs in the Asian Community
3. Other harmful beliefs and stereotypes around disability
Disabled people need help to do basic things
Disabled people deserve our pity
People with visual impairment only go out at night/always with sunglasses on

8. Barriers to accessing health services
Awareness
Lack of open discussion of the topic
Ignorance of related services
Language barriers
Insufficient communication
Health literacy
Realistic considerations
Lack of support, time, transportation and etc.

9. Some strategies to overcome barriers
Provide information on websites, in brochures and within other communications that people can access
2. Empower a role model who is uses, participates in and engages in your services as well as in the wider society

10. Some strategies to overcome barriers
3. Make reception areas inviting and welcoming by providing information in other languages and by visually including Asian faces
4. Increase confidence by using translation tools to eliminate the need for a third party

11. Any questions?

12. Thanks for your time!