Empowering Cultural Diversity & Disability with Education & Social Inclusion

Officially, Isabel Osuna-Gatty is known a National Disability Coordination Officer in South Australia. In layman's terms, Isabel describes herself as a community educator. She engages with the Spanish speaking community, hosts her own radio show and online chat platform for Spanish speaking women worldwide.

Isabel is originally from Venezuela, and her experiences with disability and social exclusion has primed her for her work today. To learn more about Isabel's personal history, tune into Growing Bold Within the CALD Community in the link below: 

https://www.feroscare.com.au/grow-bold-podcast/season-two/episode-3-growing-bold-within-the-cald-community

Her background is in psychology, counselling, education and supporting disabilities. Her choice of medium is predominantly in the arts, whether verbal, digital, or plain ol' visual arts.

In this podcast, we explore trauma and learning amongst multicultural communities (migrant and/or refugee). We discuss how communication during group activities empower participants towards education and employment, as they assimilate and acculturate in Australia. 

Isabel educates us on how to approach such activities with cultural sensitivity, with a trauma-informed approach. This includes housekeeping rules of:

• what to say
• what not to say when participating during the group sessions
• how to create trust and rapport implicitly (disguised assistance)

We discuss the challenges and strategies of working with trauma survivors who do not choose to address their past traumas.

Here, we go in-depth to paint a vivid picture to take listeners through the extreme paradigm shift they face in order to grasp their challenges and experiences. 

We also draw upon our personal experiences as young students, and reflect upon teaching methods of the past. Isabel presents the 'glass half-full' philosophy to illustrate the types of educators, some of whom can be detrimental to the potential future success of youths that present with disabilities. 

She presents the work of Paulo Freire, a Brazilian educator, and advocates his method of education and learning. 

You can connect with Isabel via LinkedIn at https://au.linkedin.com/in/isabel-osuna-gatty-83b38419 

or visit her website at https://isabelosunagatty.com/