Career of Nova Peris

Write about the Narrative and Storying on an Indigenous Persons Health Journey.

Improving the overall health standard of indigenous population in Australia is a prolong challenge for Australian government. The gap in the health status of the non-indigenous and indigenous Australians always remain unacceptably high and this has been identified as the major human right concern by the United Nations Committees. The important social determinants of indigenous health inequality in Australia include lack of proper access of primary health care, lower standard of living and racial discrimination. These health inequalities increase the physical and mental health concerns among the indigenous population in Australia and thereby further creating a barrier towards their success (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2017). The following assignment aims to analyse the health journey of Nova Peris, a renowned sports person in Australia from indigenous origin. Upon analysis of the health journey of Nova Peris via a story-telling format, this assignment will act as a source of inspiration for other indigenous people who aspires to succeed in life via doing something significant. The assignment begins with a brief career history of Nova Peris followed by mental health issues as a result of racial discrimination and its subsequent impact on her family and community members.

Nova Peris is popular for her significant accomplishments in sports. She is the first indigenous Australian woman to win gold medal in Olympic at 1996 Atlanta Olympic as a player for women’s hockey team. This versatile sports person also achieved similar success upon switching to athletics. Her 200-meter sprint and 100-meter relay in 1998 Commonwealth Games fetcher her two gold medals. Her achievement earned her the title of Young Australian of the year (1997) and was later awarded Order of Australian medal. After her retirement from sports she became a prominent political personality and an aboriginal activist. She was a treaty ambassador for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission. On 2013, then prime minister of Australia Julia Gillard recruited Nova Peris as the senate candidate for Northern Territory on 2013 federal election. Her promising professional career as a sports person and political achievement while being an aboriginal woman made her story worth sharing from the perspective of indigenous person’s health journey (Ricci, 2013).

In spite of having a successful career as a sport’s person, Peris’s life was just like any other indigenous population residing in Australia. One of the prime health concerns that can be easily highlighted in Nova Perris’s life is victim of racism. Racism is broadly defined as practices, behaviours and prejudices that underlie unfair and avoidable inequalities across different groups in the society based on ethnicity, race, religion and culture. Racism is often conceptualized at three levels. The first one is overlap with the prevailing practice, second is interpersonal racism and the third one is institutional or system based racism (Kelaher, 2014). The life story of Peris highlights that she has been victim of all the three form of racism (Peris & Heads, 2003).

Impact of Racism on Nova Peris’s Life

According to Peris, she has faced discrimination dur to her race especially during childhood. Nova also believes that she was also the subject of racism when she was offered secretarial work in Queensland as she was denied for the job by her potential employees’ dur to her race. Even Peris also complained that one of the field and track mater repeatedly taunted her via calling her “nigger”. Moreover, the controversy that followed her on 1998 Common Wealth Games might have been inspired by racism (Peris & Heads, 2003).

The issue of racism faced by Nova peris during her childhood and also during her professional career can be regarded as the significant mental health issue. According to Kelaher (2014), there is a prominent link between the self-reported cases of racism and poor mental health outcomes. There are enough references that racism contributes towards poor mental health outcomes among the Aboriginals of Australia (Kelaher, 2014). Forrest, Lean and Dunn (2016) reported that racism experienced under any form of settings be it education, professionals or personal is associated with psychological distress.

It is due to her constant victim of racism in school, Nova used to frequently run away from school be it in primary school or while she was in high school. Her self-esteem was lagging and constant taunt from her friends and lack of support coming from her teacher made her reluctant to visit school. This scenario is still the same in the Australia. According to the reports published by The Conversation (2014), indigenous students skip schools in Australia in order to avoid bullying and racism. The survey also highlighted that the children who are the victims during the early years in school suffer from poor self-esteem and associated mental health complications.

Since Peris herself was victim of racism, she while being senator join campaign to combat again depression and racism experienced by the indigenous Australian and the Torres Strait Islander. Her campaign was jointly supported by Jeff Kennett (mental health advocate). During campaign Peris was found reporting that how racism and discrimination damage mental health (The Guardian, 2014). 

According to the autobiography of Nova Peris, the Peris family was always supportive towards Nova. Nova’s mother (Joan Peris) was a professional soccer player for Northern Territory. Thus she herself being a sport’s person was very supportive towards Nova and also looked after Jessie (Nova’s child) when Nova was in peak of her professional career. Nova’s father, John Christophersen was estranged from her mother but was very supportive and protective towards Nova. He being active in indigenous politics educated Nova about health and well-being of the indigenous Australians (Peris & Heads, 2003).  

Mental Health Concerns Among Aboriginals of Australia

Moreover, Nova’s step father Darwin policeman Les Chapman was also very supportive towards Nova. It is he who chastisement Nova and compelled her to complete her basic level of education before she venture out with her sporting career (Peris & Heads, 2003).

Thus, the life story of Nova Peris showed that a supportive family can help to overcome adverse mental health outcomes. It is due to her supportive family who channelized Nova towards the right direction in her career helped her to succeed in life. According to Wei, Yeh, Chao, Carrera and Su (2013), active support coming from the family members is extremely helpful for the indigenous children or the young adults who are suffering from the mental health complications or hurdles in the professional life due constant discrimination in the workplace.

It can also be seen that Nova’s health journey failed to cast any prominent negative impact on the family member’s of Nova. However, Nova’s husband was always indifferent to her success and this can be again an example of stereotype of indigenous culture were a working women or successful wife is always look down upon (Moreton-Robinson, 2013).

However, life of Nova Peris, her struggle towards success cast immense impact over her community member. She acted like a figure of inspiration to them. Moreover her political role as a senate helped her to connect even more closely with her community members, known their problem or health inequalities and work accordingly for their betterment. 

Conclusion

Thus from the above discussion, it can be concluded that Nova Peris, a successful sport’s person from indigenous Australian population is also a victim of racism and discrimination. This constant discrimination prevented her from going to school. However, active support coming from her family members and her strong determination helped her to succeed in her life via overcoming all the barriers and depression. She acts as an inspiration for all her community members who aspire to achieve something significant in life via overcoming the burden of health inequalities in Australia.

References

Australian Human Rights Commission. (2017). Social determinants and the health of Indigenous peoples in Australia – a human rights based approach. Access date: 31^st July 2018. Retrieved from: https://www.humanrights.gov.au/news/speeches/social-determinants-and-health-indigenous-peoples-australia-human-rights-based

Forrest, J., Lean, G., & Dunn, K. (2016). Challenging racism through schools: teacher attitudes to cultural diversity and multicultural education in Sydney, Australia. Race Ethnicity and Education, 19(3), 618-638. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2015.1095170

Kelaher, M. A. (2014). Experiencing racism in health care: the mental health impacts for Victorian Aboriginal communities. Education, 55(56), 8-3. doi: 10.5694/mja13.10503

Moreton-Robinson, A. (2013). Towards an Australian Indigenous women’s standpoint theory: A methodological tool. Australian Feminist Studies, 28(78), 331-347. https://doi.org/10.1080/08164649.2013.876664

Peris, N., & Heads, I. (2003). Nova: My Story: the Autobiography of Nova Peris. ABC Books. Access date: 31^st July 2018. Retrieved from: https://ia.anu.edu.au/biography/peris-nova-17821

Ricci., C. (2013). Who is Nova Peris?.  The Sydney Morning Herald. Access date: 31^st July 2018. Retrieved from: https://www.smh.com.au/education/who-is-nova-peris-20130201-2dpgi.html

The Conversation. (2014). Indigenous students skipping school to avoid bullying and racism. Access date: 31^st July 2018. Retrieved from:  https://theconversation.com/indigenous-students-skipping-school-to-avoid-bullying-and-racism-25433

The Guardian. (2014). Racism causing mental health issues in Indigenous communities, survey shows. Access date: 31^st July 2018. Retrieved from:   https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/29/racism-mental-health-indigenous-communities

Wei, M., Yeh, C. J., Chao, R. C. L., Carrera, S., & Su, J. C. (2013). Family support, self-esteem, and perceived racial discrimination among Asian American male college students. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 60(3), 453. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0032344