Vale Stella Young

In her recent Ted Talk Stella Young said:

I want to live in a world where we don’t have such low expectations of disabled people that we are congratulated for getting out of bed and remembering our own names in the morning. I want to live in a world   where we value genuine achievement for disabled people.

Stella died suddenly last Saturday and the world is a smaller place for that. She was very small – 2 ft 10 in or 88 cms in height – but she became known for her ascerbic wit and classy dress sense, both of which she used to great effect. As Australia’s ex-Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes, said on TV: ‘Stella was an activist for people in the disability sector.’

I am glad I had the opportunity to know her and interview her for my book Little People Big Lives. I have my very own memory just by turning the pages and   reading what she said about her life, short though it was. Stella was 32 this year.   Here is a small excerpt:

I started doing comedy outside work hours when a friend encouraged me to register for a competition. I went to a heat in a Melbourne pub and did five minutes of stand-up. I got to the state final after several rounds and started being offered gigs. So then I had to seriously develop my shows and I wrote material based on my experiences in the world. I’ve always been interested in performance and all my life I’ve been conscious that people are looking at me so thought I may as well have something to say to them.

And what I want to say is this: everyone grows into their own special shape and size. Mine is small and different to most other people but I’m happy with this. And if I can make people laugh when I talk about my life then I’m happy with that too.