Voice Pack Archive
Use Your Voice
“What do I do when I’m not being heard?”
You can understand your body and describe it clearly, and still walk out of an appointment feeling brushed off. This edition is about what happens next: how to hold your ground, find your way through the system, and know your rights.
- Understand
- Prepare
- Communicate
- Navigate
- Advocate
Understand
When you’re not heard
Medical dismissal is when your concerns aren’t properly listened to, investigated or explained. It isn’t always rude or obvious. It can sound kind. It can come from someone who means well. The result is the same: you leave without answers, and start to doubt yourself.
It is not a test you failed. Knowing what it looks like makes it easier to respond in the moment, instead of replaying it on the bus home.
What it can look like
- Symptoms put down to stress, anxiety or weight before anything else is checked
- “That’s normal” without asking how it affects you
- Being told you’re too young for a condition
- Being interrupted, or the appointment wrapping up before you’ve finished
- Questions directed to your parent instead of you
- Leaving without a plan or any idea what happens next
Why it happens
- Short appointments and busy clinics
- Pain in girls and women being normalised for generations
- Assumptions about age, gender, culture, weight, disability or sexuality
- Language barriers, or no interpreter
- Symptoms that are hard to see or test for
- Young people not being expected to speak for themselves
Being dismissed says something about the conversation. It says nothing about whether your symptoms are real.
Implicit bias
- What it is
- Assumptions people hold without realising, which can shape whose pain is believed and what gets investigated. Research and public inquiries in Australia have found women’s pain is more likely to be underestimated.
- Good to know
- Naming bias isn’t about blaming one doctor. It helps you see why pushing for proper investigation is reasonable.
Diagnostic delay
- What it is
- The time between first having symptoms and getting a diagnosis. For endometriosis in Australia it averages 6 to 8 years, partly because symptoms get normalised.
- Good to know
- Delay is a pattern, not a personal failure. Edition 04 looks at what can change it.
“My auntie always called endo pain just ‘women’s problems.’ When I said my cramps were so bad I couldn’t stand, she told me to drink hot tea and be quiet. I didn’t even know there was a name for what I was feeling until I was 20.”
23, Vietnamese-Australian
“When I complained about cramps, my aunties said, ‘That’s just what being a woman is.’ No one mentioned endo or PCOS. So when I missed days of school, I thought it was my fault for not being tough enough.”
17, Lebanese high school student
“My pastor’s wife once said periods were ‘Eve’s punishment’ and that pain was just part of God’s plan. When I started fainting from cramps, I thought it was a spiritual test. It took me years to realise it was endometriosis.”
34, Nigerian-Australian
Shared with Aletheia and first published on our blog in Words we don’t translate and Body literacy through generations. Names removed.
Prepare
Walk in prepared
Preparation is the quiet superpower of self-advocacy. It means the important things get said even if you feel nervous or rushed.
Your one-page summary
Bring a short page (or a note on your phone) with:
- Your main concern in one sentence
- Your answers to what, where, when, how much and what changes it
- How long it’s been going on, and whether it’s getting worse
- What you’ve already tried
- Past appointments about it, and what was said
- What you want from today
You can bring someone
A parent, carer, older sibling, friend or youth worker can come with you to take notes or back you up. You decide whether they stay for the whole appointment. You can also ask to speak to the doctor alone for part of it.
- Can my friend stay while we talk about this?
- Could I have a few minutes on my own with the doctor?
Choose the right kind of appointment
Book a long appointment for anything complex. Ask for a doctor you prefer (for example, a female GP) if that helps you speak openly. Telehealth works for follow-ups and talking through results. If you’d like an interpreter, ask when you book: it’s free for GP appointments covered by Medicare.
Communicate
What to say in the room
You don’t need to be confrontational. The most effective responses are calm, specific, and bring the focus back to what the symptoms are doing to your life.
When it’s put down to stress
You’re not rejecting the idea. You’re asking for reasoning and a proper look.
When you’re told it’s normal
When you’re interrupted
When you don’t understand
Repeating back what you heard (called ‘teach-back’) catches misunderstandings before you leave.
Lines that change the conversation
- This is affecting my daily life, and I’d like to look into it properly.
- What else could this be?
- What’s the plan if this doesn’t work?
- Could you please note in my file that I raised this today?
- I’d like a referral, or a second opinion.
Advocate
Your rights, in plain words
The Australian Charter of Healthcare Rights applies to everyone getting healthcare in Australia, including young people. It has seven parts.
Access
Healthcare that meets your needs.
Safety
Safe, high-quality care in a safe environment.
Respect
Being treated with dignity, and your culture, identity and beliefs respected.
Partnership
Asking questions and being involved in decisions about your care.
Information
Clear information about your condition, options, costs and risks.
Privacy
Your personal and health information kept private and confidential.
Give feedback
Commenting on or complaining about your care, and having it dealt with.
Seven rights
They’re yours at 14, 16 and 24 alike. Many clinics display the Charter in the waiting room.
Consent
Before any test or treatment, you should be told what it is, why it’s recommended, the risks and the alternatives. You can ask questions, take time, say no, or change your mind.
Under 18? In most of Australia there’s no single age. If a doctor thinks you understand the decision well enough (often called being a ‘mature minor’), you can consent yourself.
Confidentiality
Doctors must keep what you tell them private, with some exceptions, such as a serious risk of harm to you or someone else. If you’re worried, ask at the start.
- Will this stay between us?
- Is there anything you’d have to share?
From 14, Medicare generally needs your consent before your claims information is released to a parent, and at 15 you can get your own Medicare card.
If something went wrong: giving feedback
Speak to the clinician or the practice
If it feels safe, raise it directly, or ask for the practice manager. Many issues are fixed here.
Put it in writing
A short email or feedback form: what happened, when, and what you’d like done. Keep a copy.
Contact your state health complaints body
If it’s still not resolved. In Victoria this is the Health Complaints Commissioner, which is free. Every state and territory has one.
Advocate
When culture, gender or identity are in the room
Who you are shapes how you’re heard. Good healthcare adapts to you, not the other way round.
If English isn’t your family’s first language
You have the right to understand your care. GPs can book a professional interpreter for free through TIS National. A professional interpreter is better than a family member, especially for private topics.
- I’d like an interpreter, please.
- Can we speak without my family translating?
If health isn’t talked about at home
In many families, periods, sexual health and mental health are private or taboo. You can still get care. Confidential services exist for exactly this, and a school wellbeing worker can help you find one.
If you’re LGBTQIA+
You have the right to respectful care. You choose what to share about your identity. It’s okay to correct your name or pronouns, and to ask whether a service is inclusive. QLife (1800 184 527) offers peer support.
- My name is ___ and I use ___ pronouns.
- Is this service LGBTQIA+ inclusive?
If you’re Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander
Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations offer culturally safe care, run by community. 13YARN (13 92 76) is 24/7 crisis support by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
If you’re neurodivergent or have a disability
You can ask for adjustments: more time, a quieter room, written information, step-by-step explanations, or a support person.
- I process information better in writing. Could you write that down?
If you’re told you’re too young
Some conditions, like endometriosis, can start in the teenage years. Age is a reason to be thorough, not a reason to stop looking.
- I understand I’m young, but this is affecting me now. Can we look into it properly?
Holding her ground
Maya’s plan helped a little, then stopped helping. The pain has spread to between her periods. At a new appointment she’s told it’s “probably normal for her age”.
This time she has her one-page summary and two years of tracking. She says calmly that it isn’t manageable, and asks what else it could be. When she senses the appointment wrapping up, she asks what the plan is if nothing changes, and asks for her concerns to be noted in her file.
She leaves with a referral to a gynaecologist. On the way out, she books a follow-up anyway, just in case.
Maya is fictional. Her story continues in Edition 04.Before your next appointment
- What’s the one thing I most need them to understand?
- What will I say if I’m told it’s normal?
- Who could I bring, or tell about the appointment?
- What would a good outcome look like for me?
Where this idea went next
From one voice to the tools young people use now
Self-advocacy became one of Aletheia’s foundations. It gave us the Medical Dismissal pillar, the Health Navigator, and the workshop young people ask for most.