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...

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

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.

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...

It is a truth universally acknowledged that from puberty onwards, the female body is disgusting and unruly and must be tamed, trimmed and tinted to within an inch of its life before it can be...

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.

I’ve got the best job in the world; I love it. I get to meet so many interesting people, and I get to make sure that other people with disabilities can tell their own stories...

I do not identify as a person with a disability. I’m a disabled person. And I’ll be a monkey’s disabled uncle if I’m going to apologise for that.

On the whole, my life is and has been wonderful.

When I was seven and watched an episode of ‘Beyond 2000’ that featured a floating armchair, I thought we’d definitely have one of those by 15, at the latest.

I am not a snowflake. I am not a sweet, infantilising symbol of fragility and life. I am a strong, fierce, flawed adult woman. I plan to remain that way, in life and in death.

I don’t generally talk about medical terms when I discuss my position as a disabled person. I take a social rather than medical approach to disability, and so long Latin names for congenital conditions are...

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...

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...

I have a condition that is included among the 200 or so classified as Dwarfism.

I, like many women, buy into patriarchal standards of beauty every day. I very rarely leave the house without make-up. I dye my hair. I wear clothes that I choose carefully for how they make...

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

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

Disability simulation fails to capture the nuance and complexity of living in a disabled body. And it certainly fails to give a deep understanding of systemic discrimination and abuse faced by disabled people.

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...

From pink water bottles for breast cancer to dumping a bucket of ice water on your head for neuromuscular conditions, it seems we’re bombarded by requests to be ‘aware’ of one thing or another.

The mere suggestion that not speaking for a day can give you an appreciation of the social isolation that comes with the experience of disability, particularly those whose impairments prohibit them from communicating verbally, is...

I have always felt like a loved, valued and equal member of my family.

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’...

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.

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

The killing of a disabled person is not ‘compassionate’. It is not ‘euthanasia’. It is murder.

I use the term ‘disabled people’ quite deliberately, because I subscribe to what’s called the social model of disability, which tells us that we are more disabled by the society that we live in than...

From time to time, people pat me on the head. It happens on public transport, in the supermarket, in bars. It’s a common enough occurrence that it very rarely takes me completely by surprise.

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

I tend not to think about living to some grand old age. Then again, I don’t think about dying, either.

In days gone by, short-statured people were not only labelled as ugly, stupid and freakish, they were often owned by aristocrats and treated, at best, as entertainment and, at worst, as pets.

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

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 am repeatedly asked in interviews exactly ‘what’s wrong’ with me, and I always give them the same answer; I don’t identify the name of my condition in an interview unless it’s relevant to the...

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.

I used to think of myself in terms of who I’d be if I didn’t have this pesky old disability.

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....

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

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.

Apologies are great, but they don’t really change anything. You know what does? Action.

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...

I currently live independently without any funded support. I’m educated, and I’m employed. I enjoy paying my taxes and contributing to the economic life of Australia.

The magnitude of discrimination and stigma faced by people with disability in Australia cannot be underestimated. People do not understand disability, and people fear what they don’t understand.

I’m a full-time wheelchair user. And yet, given the right circumstances, I am able to 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...

The purpose of our justice system is to reflect the values of our society and to punish those who violate our standards.

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

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