Remote Communities

Published April 5th, 2007

Its about time that government leaders in health and Indigenous Affairs realised that many of the problems associated with life in Indigenous communities such as domestic violence, sexual abuse, drug and alcohol problems, incarceration, lack of self determination, unemployment, infant mortality, sexual deviancy, low birth weight babies, lack of motivation and the seeming inability to accept personal responsibility lies in the consumption of alcohol in pregnancy.  I’m not saying that every ill has its roots in this etiology but if we could even recognise and diagnose it in a few communities, those communities would be better able to deal with it with assistance from the federal government in the form of a disability support pension and a Disability Employment Program.
 

Because this condition IS a disability – it is NOT delinquency, it is NOT the result of the environment, it can NEVER be fixed, but it CAN be understood.
 

There is no doubt that the prevalence of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder is high in these remote communities.  In some communities it is thought that as many as 80% of the population has FASD.  In many cases, people who should know better do not realise that babies affected prenatally by alcohol grow up to be adults with a brain injury. 
 

They face life with a brain that sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t, and when it does work it works in a way that is different to many other people and constantly gets them into trouble.
 

The FASD brain can’t think through the linear process of cause and consequence, it CAN tell the owner to ‘do that’ – ‘now!’  The damage done creates an impulsive person focused on the here and now.  If there is something that this person wants, he or she can’t wait for a more appropriate time; if he is angry, he lashes out; if she is hungry she eats or if they want money, they steal.  The FASD brain can’t plan – even a day; this brain needs stimulation and extrinsic motivation.  This person knows they are different but doesn’t know why.  They are sometimes of small stature, can have kidney, heart and other organ dysfunction; behave immaturely, impulsively and usually model delinquent behaviour.
 

No wonder many of these remote communities in such an unfortunate way, no wonder strategies have tried and failed and policies come and go.  Nothing ‘sticks’ because in a group of people with FASD brains, that’s just the way it is – when the support is there it MAY work, when there must be responsibility and self determination – it is lost.
 

Until the government realises that ‘brain equals behaviour’ and brain injury equals (in this condition and this environment at least) violence, sexual abuse, trouble with police, dysfunctional families, horrendous stories and failure on such a large scale that very little is its equal, and starts targeting programs and strategies specifically for people with social and adaptive dysfunction, we will see very little improvement in the situation of our Indigenous Australians. 

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