Stella Young statue unveiled: What would Stella think?

It's not every day that a best mate gets a statue of themselves unveiled in the local town square. That's what's happening today in the Victorian town of Stawell, where my mate, the late and great comedian, journalist and disability advocate Stella Young grew up. The disability community is thrilled that future generations will know about Stella and what she fought for, but what would Stella think?

?I met Stella almost 25 years ago when she was in her first year of journalism and I was in my first year of a PhD. Shortly after we had met, we went to a disability conference together. Our wheelchairs were lost by the airline and our friendship was forged as we spent hours in the terminal raging over our lost wheelchairs and making plans to sue the airline for discrimination. We spent most of the time dodging the formalities of the conference and instead organised a secret meeting with our favourite politician back then, Senator Natasha Stott Despoja. Like Natasha, we were young people on a mission to change the nation for the better. And 10 years later, one of us did.

?In 2011, Stella was appointed Editor of ABCs disability website RampUp. The website was funded as part of Australia's National Disability Strategy to raise the profile of disability issues in the Australian media. Stella's incredible talent, hard work and leadership, achieved exactly that.

?For the first time, the disability community had a mainstream platform for our voices to be heard and for our stories to be told on our terms and in our words. Stella excelled in this role, her journalistic flair, comedic talents and relatable storytelling shone the brightest light we ever had before on disability issues. Suddenly discrimination and ableism was called out and people were listening. She made regular appearances on prime-time television and radio and became the disability spokesperson our community had always wished for.

None of this was Stella’s plan. In fact, I remember her asking me whether she should take the RampUp job. Stella didn’t want to work in the disability field, she wanted to be a teacher and really enjoyed her job as an educator at the Melbourne Museum. I wanted Stella to take the job, pointing out that this wasn’t a disability job, it was a job in the media and we both agreed that the role was a great opportunity to finally exercise her training in journalism and advocate for disability rights at the same time.

Stella taught Australia about the social model of disability, that we are disabled by a social environment that fails to accommodate our impairments. She helped the country understand that funding for a National Disability Insurance Scheme was an investment that was worth making, something that current mainstream commentators seem to have forgotten. She taught us to be proud of our disabilities and that? pride doesn’t come easy, tattooing “you get proud by practising” on her forearm.? ? ? ?

People paid attention to Stella, her messages cut through and her personal impact on social attitudes towards disability remains unprecedented.

?In July 2014, the ABC decided to shut down RampUp citing a lack of ongoing government funding and the website was no more. But this didn’t hold her back. Her Ted Talk was a massive hit. Her comedy career had taken off, with sell-out shows and awards. She had plans for a UK tour that were cut short by her death in December 2014.

Nine years on, the world knows Stella as the disabled Aussie chick who coined the term “inspiration porn”. She defined inspiration porn as representations of disabled people that objectify us for the benefit of nondisabled people, to help them to think that things aren’t so bad for them, “at least they’re not disabled!” Wrapped in with this is the social perception that disabled people have terrible lives and that just having the courage to get out of bed in the morning is a wonderful achievement.

?My favourite Stella anecdote illustrates this beautifully. In her own words:

When I was 15, a member of my local community approached my parents and told them she wanted to nominate me for some kind of community achievement award. My parents said, "Thanks, but there's one glaring problem with that... she hasn't actually achieved anything out of the ordinary."

And here we are again, 9 years after the end of Stella’s life and her local community is finally able recognise her achievements with a big bronze statue, but this time, I think she has achieved plenty.

But what would Stella think? The truth is, none of us will ever know. But my guess is that she would say something like this:

“That’s really sweet but it’s kind of ridiculous, I was just doing my job and I’m not sure that’s statue worthy. But hey, if there is going to be a statue of me, just make sure my outfit looks good and my tits are big enough, otherwise I might be mistaken for Quentin, and I’m not having that!”

Thanks for reading my article, I always appreciate your reactions, comments and shares. You can check out my?podcast series?and follow me on Twitter @drgeorgethecrip