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" I really love filling out forms - quite fortuitous, really, given that as one of Australia's 4 million-ish disabled people, ticking boxes and recording my life for other people is what I've spent a fair chunk of my time doing. "

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" I've lost count of the number of times that I've been approached by strangers wanting to tell me that they think I'm brave or inspirational, and this was long before my work had any kind of public profile. "

Stella Young

Brave

Inspirational

" Paralympic sport and other disability sport can and should be celebrated in its own right. "

" I quickly learned that asking if an interview space was wheelchair accessible was a bad idea; it gave a potential employer an immediate bad impression. It was either a black mark against my name, or a straight up discussion of why I wouldn't be able to work there because they had no wheelchair access. "

" From my first days in Washington D.C., where I rolled a whole four downtown blocks without seeing a single shop, cafe, bar or restaurant I could not access, to the beautifully accessible buses in New York City, I was in heaven. "

" In my own home, where I've been able to create an environment that works for me, I'm hardly disabled at all. I still have an impairment, and there are obviously some very restrictive things about that, but the impact of disability is less. "

Stella Young

Disability

Own

" Yooralla is a people pleaser with a very powerful PR machine. "

" We all learn how to use the bodies we're born with, or learn to use them in an adjusted state, whether those bodies are considered disabled or not. "

" In many ways, I'm incredibly lucky to have been born with my impairment and that it's visible. It means my path has been predictable. "

" Physical access is one of the very first issues disability rights activists of the 1960s and '70s fought for. "

" The thing about living with any disability is that you adapt; you do what works for you. "

" I went to school, I got good marks, I had a very low key after-school job, and I spent a lot of time watching 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' and 'Dawson's Creek.' "

" I do sometimes painful things to my body in an effort to conform to culturally imposed beauty ideals. "

" Yooralla, like most disability service organisations, is full of good people who are passionate about the rights of people with disabilities. "

" People with disabilities are simply part of diverse communities in the U.S. "

" I once choked on a chip at a friend's birthday when I was seven and had to be sent home, as I'd broken my collarbone coughing. "

" As a wheelchair user, I am utterly obsessed with toilets, and all my friends know it. A simple invitation to the pub is consistently followed by, 'Do you know if they have an accessible toilet?' "

" When patronised, I'm unfortunately more flight than fight. Perhaps it's because I actually feel quite wounded. "

Stella Young

Because

Than

" Disability is often framed, in medical terms, as the ultimate disaster and certainly as a deficit. "

" Personally, I like a generous side of wheelchair access with my cities. "

Stella Young

Generous

Side

" Too often, we fall into the trap of thinking 'equal' means 'the same' and that we achieve equality by treating everyone identically. "

" The problem for many people with disabilities is not that we are not able to work a certain number of hours a week. It's that no-one will let us. "

Stella Young

Week

Problem

" It is nothing short of baffling to me how a city like Melbourne, where I struggle to find accessible facilities on a very regular basis, could be considered the most livable city in the world. I suppose it all depends on what makes a city 'livable' for you. "

Stella Young

You

City

" For me, in some ways, my whole life is a bit performative and always has been - because I'm stared at and looked at everywhere I go. "

Stella Young

Always

Because

" Death is not treatment, even if it's medically facilitated. "

" Even those among us who are lucky enough to love our jobs would have to admit that at least part of the reason we work is to earn money. In between all this work, we like to eat out at restaurants, go on trips, buy nice things, not to mention pay rent and meet the cost of living. "

" We often hear that people mean well: that so many just don't how to interact with people with disabilities. They're unsure of the 'right' reaction, so they default to condescension that makes them feel better in the face of their discomfort. "

" We are a society that treats people with disabilities with condescension and pity, not dignity and respect. "

" We think we know what it's all about; we think that disability is a really simple thing, and we don't expect to see disabled people in our daily lives. "

" My disability exists not because I use a wheelchair, but because the broader environment isn't accessible. "

" There are real-world, devastating consequences for disabled women marginalised by the kinds of attitudes that deny them full agency over what happens to their bodies. "