The Burden of Low Expectations; Challenging Disability Stigma Across Cultures: Esther Simbi

This audio-story featuring Esther Simbi was produced by Carey Scheer, for the Purple Orange Podcast and is re-shared with permission. Purple Orange is an organisation whose mission is to create a fair world for people with disability.

Esther Simbi speaks to Carey Scheer. Esther contracted polio as a young child, and then went on to live 19 years in a Ugandan refugee camp before being resettled in Australia. She thought coming to Australia meant she was finally free, but then she discovered that her culture's negative you of disability followed her across the ocean. She had to stand up to stigma and shame to find her true freedom. Now she helps other migrants with disability do the same.

A content warning that this episode discusses discrimination and bullying of a person with a disability. 

Transcript available here.

Find The Purple Orange Podcast on Spotify, Apple podcasts or on their website. www.purpleorange.org.au

To learn more about Esther's organisation, head to https://www.ziondisabilityservices.org.au

Intro and outro music by Gregor Quendel under a Creative Commons Attribution licence

Stories of Community Resilience is proudly supported by the Community Broadcasting Foundation.

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