Stella Young Quotes

For me, disability is a physical experience, but it's also a cultural experience and a social experience, and for me, the word 'crip' is the one that best encapsulated all of that.

A lot of times, we look at people who have disabilities as, 'Oh, we can't invite these people here or there.' And I hate that, because it's inappropriate. It's so weird to me when people say they don't have friends who have disabilities.

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.

In Australia, a deaf person attending an interview must take their own interpreter at their own expense, or ask the employer to provide one. Believe me, nothing says 'I'm the best person for this job' quite like asking an employer to pay to interview you.

I don't think of myself as being disabled, or able-bodied.

Congress acknowledged that society's accumulated myths and fears about disability and disease are as handicapping as are the physical limitations that flow from actual impairment.

If I can be an inspiration for someone, that's fine, but just don't look down on me. Don't say, 'Oh, you're in a wheelchair.'

People who are much too sensitive to demand of cripples that they run races ask of the poor that they get up and act just like everyone else in society.

A lot of the time, when people meet someone in a wheelchair, or with some disability, it's the first thing they notice, but they don't know how to react.

Maybe because I had a sister with a disability I was already sensitised to and fascinated by people who think or develop differently.

I grew up with a special-needs brother, and the separation from other kids is so extreme. We've got to break down those barriers.

Look, calling somebody in a wheelchair handicapable doesn't all of a sudden give them the power to climb stairs or the ability to grab Ho-Hos off the top shelf.

My best friend is disabled. There's nothing he hates more than being left out of the jokes, to be treated with kid gloves. That's the insult.

I typically start out almost every speech I give making some kind of joke about me being in a wheelchair.

Self esteem and a healthy body image for people with disabilities are so often hard-fought.

The sentiment of those suggesting the Olympics and Paralympics be combined is no doubt well intentioned. But it also echoes the myth that disabled people want to be other than what we are - that we'd like nothing more than to be 'allowed in' with the able-bodied competitors.

Through the 'It's About Ability' campaign and with parents and other members of society, we have created a social family for children with disabilities.

Disability doesn't make you exceptional, but questioning what you think you know about it does.

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.

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.

The biggest kick I get is to communicate with those who are exiled from the game - in hospitals, homes, prisons - those who have seldom seen a game, who can't travel to a game, those who are blind.

As disabled people, we are taught from a young age that those who are attracted to us are to be regarded with suspicion.

Being deaf or having any disability is not tragic. But the stereotypes about it are tragic.

A lot of people don't want to hire disabled actors. They think you're going to take twice as long over a shot, or they don't want have to put up a ramp for disabled access. They think, 'Why would I do that when I can just hire an able-bodied actor to play the disabled character?'

Why do we let blind people and people in wheelchairs become citizens? I feel sorry for cripples, but that doesn't mean I want them in my country.