Please don’t ask me to work for free – the 2025 edition

Your annual reminder:

Please don’t ask me to work for free.

It’s 13 February and I’ve had several requests to work for free already. It’s incredibly offensive to ask disabled women of colour to perform free labour. (I’m not just talking about me here.)

I value my knowledge, skills, education, lived experience and my community – so I charge money for my work. I also have rent and bills to pay, my medication expenses are high, and I really enjoy fashion, travel, art and food. Exposure doesn’t put food on the table or allow me to buy fabulous dresses like this one (which I bought from Depop).

Work includes writing, speaking, creating social media content, training, editing, educating, podcasts where the company behind the podcast makes money, consulting on best practice for access or diversity content in books, and even answering questions like “tell me how to speak to my children about people with facial differences”, or “give me a list of books by disabled authors”.
It’s all work.

I have created a wealth of FREE resources – here on social media, on my blog (CarlyFindlay.com.au) and also on lots of podcasts (like KICPod, Shameless, It’s A Lot, Wilosophy, and ABC Conversations, in Articles (like ABC, Marie Claire, CNN) and on TV (You Can’t Ask That, The Cook Up, The Project). I’ve published two books (Say Hello and Growing Up Disabled in Australia) which you can borrow from the library in Australia, or buy for around $30 each.

I am looking to expand my paid work opportunities now. Last year, I was recovering from surgery and cancer – and my workload and income reduced significantly. It was hard. I’m re-emerging.

You can book me to work by emailing me – CarlyFindlay8@gmail.com. And if you have benefited from the free content I’ve created, you can buy me a drink at PayPal.me/CarlyFindlay. Thank you.
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Image: a photo of Carly, a woman with a red face and short dark curly hair, wearing a long purple dress against a grey wall. Next to her is text “please don’t ask me to work for free” and @carlyfindlay.