Australia: Stella Young, disability activist, dead at 32

alex3619

alex3619

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Very sad. I have seen her on TV a few times over the years.

I fall into this trap of talking about Harriet as though she was a friend. She was, in a way. Hers was one of your 'coming out' books. Remember those days back before you came out as a disabled woman? You used to spend a lot of energy on 'passing'. Pretending you were just like everyone else, that you didn't need any 'special treatment', that your life experience didn't mean anything in particular. It certainly didn't make you different from other people. Difference, as you knew it then, was a terrible thing. I used to think of myself in terms of who I'd be if I didn't have this pesky old disability.
Click to expand...
http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/cel...-herself-at-80-years-old-20141122-11llol.html

I think my first blog here discussed this very thing. So many can expend too much energy wearing the mask of normal. We shouldn't need to wear masks, or be coerced into wearing masks, we should just be us.
 
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xchocoholic

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biophile

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Very unfortunate, I liked her. Is the cause of death known? There could have been medical complications.

I remember reading recently that Centrelink were giving her a very hard time about returning to the DSP.
 
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AndyPandy

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So very sad to read that Stella Young has died. Such a great loss.

I was fortunate to attend a function hosted by Stella. She was feisty, intelligent, hilarious and a fierce disability advocate.

Thank you for starting this thread @Sean
 
alex3619

alex3619

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The documentary episode on the disability issue of abuse of disabled that Stella commented on using Twitter was shown on Four Corners on 24 Nov 2014.

http://iview.abc.net.au/programs/four-corners/NC1404H044S00

I do not know if it can be watched outside of Australia.

I am aware of allegations like this going back to the 90s, none of which could be easily proved, relating to a different organization.

These kinds of problems highlight issues we may face in our own disabled community though involving different abuses.

Here is an old public debate forum with Stella that is being rebroadcast in her honour. You can see what kind of sterling advocate she was:

http://iview.abc.net.au/programs/qanda/FA1107H042S00
 
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