Hannah Diviney, Writer, Disability Advocate, Actress, Screenwriter, Author and Media Personality will Address the National Press Club of Australia in partnership with Women in Media on "Wheels In Motion: Inside A Storyteller's Brain".
Hannah Diviney Bio:
Hannah Diviney is a writer, disability advocate, actress, screenwriter, author and media personality. Her disability advocacy has garnered global attention thanks to both a viral petition encouraging Disney to create a disabled Disney Princess and a successful campaign encouraging both Lizzo and Beyonce to change ableist lyrics. Her debut book, I'll Let Myself In, a collection of personal essays chronicling what it means to come of age in a world not built for you was released in 2023.
As a writer, her work has appeared in Harper's Bazaar, Marie Claire, Mamamia and The Guardian among others. As if that wasn't enough, she's also an actor having made television history as the first disabled person in Australia to do a sex scene on television, thanks to SBS digital originals series, Latecomers. She made her feature film debut in SXSW premiere pick Audrey.
Precis:
As a baby, my parents were told I would never talk or feed myself. That was the reality of life predicted for me, their eldest daughter, whose screaming arrival into the world three months early took them by complete surprise. With a head initially as tiny as a tennis ball and holes in my brain, I'm proud to say that little girl grew into a fairly fierce but hopefully always warm young woman. It wasn't easy.
Framed by the narrative of two distinct and formative breakdowns in my mental health (the first at 17 and the second only a few months ago), I'm going to take you through what it was like to grow up with a disability in this country. To have to fight for education, employment and the right to exist with ambition, joy and hope. The disabled identity is all too often used as a source of misguided ableist inspiration, or as a political football by people with little to no lived experience or knowledge. That needs to change, as does the lack of expectation and representation for our community.
Compounded by the complexities of mental illness (which is currently a national crisis), things are tough out there for young people. We've inherited a world beset by conflict, cooked by climate change and are facing perhaps the greatest cocktail of chaos ever seen. But we are facing that chaos with determination and optimism. We will not let systems of power continue unbalanced and unchecked. 'That's just the way the world works' is not a shrug of the shoulders anymore, instead a call to action. I don't have all the answers but I sure as hell have a lot of questions and ideas and I'm not afraid to ask or share them.
In partnership with Women in Media.
