Tuesday, June 16, 2015


Doing justice to disability: 

the upside of TEDx’s Stella bungle


The social media storm of blowback around the TEDX initiative in memory of Stella Young is as unfortunate in some frames as it was predictable if you like me had been working in the so-called ‘disability sector’ for some time. Lessons learned in this exciting and truly revolutionary space include the security of understanding that true person centredness which has a robust listening frame without prejudice for each individual living their own whole lives are instructive. As is indeed the position of generous grace required for us all to recognise the barriers shared by all persons with disability regardless of the particular condition or so-called impairment with which they come. There is much attitudinally to be left behind from the old systems for Australians to step into the space of active and sovereign citizenry for any person who lives with disability. One of the first steps to be of course recognising that the person is whole and their life experiences add always to the complex and rich mosaic of diversity in our common wealth.