Bohanna, India, Catherall, Juliette, and Dingwall, Kylie (2013) Ensuring Indigenous Australians with acquired brain injuries have equitable access to the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 37 (6). p. 587.

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Abstract

[Extract] The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) has the potential to change the lives of Indigenous Australians living with an acquired brain injury (ABI) by providing much needed services and support. We believe it is imperative that greater effort and resources be focused on ensuring that Indigenous Australians with an ABI can access accurate and culturally acceptable cognitive assessment of a similar standard to that available for non-Indigenous Australians. While there is little data on incidence of ABI in Indigenous Australians, the prevalence of risk factors for ABI is high. For example, head trauma accounts for 30% of injuries requiring hospitalisation in Indigenous Australians, compared to 18% in non-Indigenous Australians. Between 2005 and 2008, Indigenous Australians were 21 times more likely to suffer a head injury due to assault. Indigenous Australians are 1.5 times more likely to drink alcohol at risky levels, although rates of risky drinking and alcohol-related head trauma appear to be much higher in regions such as the Northern Territory. Data suggest the burden of ABI is high in this population.

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