Growing Up Disabled in Australia is part of the best selling Black Inc series. It’s released February 2021.
I am editing the book. We had over 360 submissions and I’ve chosen more than 40 contributors from those.
My body and its place in the world seemed quite normal to me.
I didn’t grow up disabled, I grew up with a problem. A problem those around me wanted to fix.
We have all felt that uncanny sensation that someone is watching us.
The diagnosis helped but it didn’t fix everything.
Don’t fear the labels.
One in five Australians have a disability. And disability presents itself in many ways. Yet disabled people are still underrepresented in the media and in literature.
Growing Up Disabled in Australia is the fifth book in the highly acclaimed, bestselling Growing Up series. It includes interviews with prominent Australians such as Senator Jordon Steele-John and Paralympian Isis Holt, poetry and graphic art, as well as more than 40 original pieces by writers with a disability or chronic illness.
Contributors are:
Alistair Baldwin
Andy Jackson
Anna Whateley
Astrid Edwards
Belinda Downes
Carly-Jay Metcalfe
Chantel Bongiovanni
Cubbie Mako
Dion Beasley
El Gibbs
Eliza Hull
Emma Di Bernardo
Fiona Murphy
Frances Henke
Gayle Kennedy
Hannah Sidney
Iman Shaanu
Isis Holt
Jane Rosengrave
Jasmine Shirrefs
Jessica Knight
Jessica Walton
Jordon Steele-John
K.Z. Barton
Kath Duncan
Kerri-ann Messenger
Khanh Nguyen
Kit Kavanagh-Ryan
Lauren Poole
Lucy Carpenter
Marla Bishop
Melanie Rees
Natalia Wikana
Oliver Mills
Olivia Muscat
Patrick Gunasekera
Ricky Buchanan
Robin Eames
Sam Drummond
Sandi Parsons
Sarah Firth
Tim Slade
Todd Winther
Tom Middleditch
Tully Zygier
Yvonne Fein
The cover art is by Wendy Dawson who is part of Arts Prjects Australia.
Preorder the book now. It will be available in paperback, ebook and eventually, audiobook.
A note on the social model of disability
Growing Up Disabled in Australia is based on the social model of disability.
People with Disability Australia states “The social model sees ‘disability’ is the result of the interaction between people living with impairments and an environment filled with physical, attitudinal, communication and social barriers. It therefore carries the implication that the physical, attitudinal, communication and social environment must change to enable people living with impairments to participate in society on an equal basis with others.
A social model perspective does not deny the reality of impairment nor its impact on the individual. However, it does challenge the physical, attitudinal, communication and social environment to accommodate impairment as an expected incident of human diversity.”