Stella Young
Stella Young
Stella Jane Youngwas an Australian comedian, journalist and disability rights activist...
NationalityAustralian
ProfessionComedian
Date of Birth24 February 1982
CountryAustralia
certainly work
Let me make this clear: my impairment is such that without a wheelchair, I can't do very much for myself. I can't get out of bed. I can't get myself to the toilet. I certainly can't get myself to work.
parents pretended quite worked
My parents didn't know what to do with me, so they just pretended I was normal, and that worked out quite well for me.
brave count lost number public strangers wanting work
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.
accessible alone cool disability employer employing feat job wheelchair workplace
The battle to find a workplace that's wheelchair accessible is a feat in itself, let alone an employer who's going to be cool about employing someone with a disability in a job you actually want to do.
disability living works
The thing about living with any disability is that you adapt; you do what works for you.
given work
I'm a full-time wheelchair user. And yet, given the right circumstances, I am able to work.
almost bus caught certainly deal disability gender great informs life religion whether work
Disability informs almost every part of my life. It's as important, if not more so, than my gender and sexuality. It's certainly a great deal more important to me than my religion or whether or not I caught a tram, ferry or bus to work.
admit among buy cost earn eat jobs love lucky meet mention money nice pay reason rent work
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.
certain hours number people work
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.
create disabled environment hardly home obviously works
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.
accessible against asking bad discussion either employer gave immediate interview learned mark potential quickly straight wheelchair work
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.
access activists fought issues
Physical access is one of the very first issues disability rights activists of the 1960s and '70s fought for.
age formal grew loves plumber remind somewhat
My mother loves to remind me that about the age of four, I made a somewhat formal announcement that I was going to be a plumber when I grew up.
accessible baffling considered depends facilities livable regular suppose
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.