Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Death is not treatment, even if it's medically facilitated.
Yooralla is a people pleaser with a very powerful PR machine.
I have always felt like a loved, valued and equal member of my family.
Personally, I like a generous side of wheelchair access with my cities.
I've been an atheist ever since I heard there was only a stairway to heaven
People with disabilities are simply part of diverse communities in the U.S.
No amount of smiling at a flight of stairs has ever made it turn into a ramp.
I have a condition that is included among the 200 or so classified as Dwarfism.
Apologies are great, but they don't really change anything. You know what does? Action.
The thing about living with any disability is that you adapt; you do what works for you.
Paralympic sport and other disability sport can and should be celebrated in its own right.
I'm a full-time wheelchair user. And yet, given the right circumstances, I am able to work.
Self esteem and a healthy body image for people with disabilities are so often hard-fought.
Let's not forget that the Paralympics, just like the Olympics, are built on a rich history.
I used to think of myself in terms of who I'd be if I didn't have this pesky old disability.
The killing of a disabled person is not 'compassionate'. It is not 'euthanasia'. It is murder.
Disability doesn't make you exceptional, but questioning what you think you know about it does.
Disability is often framed, in medical terms, as the ultimate disaster and certainly as a deficit.
I do sometimes painful things to my body in an effort to conform to culturally imposed beauty ideals.
I tend not to think about living to some grand old age. Then again, I don't think about dying, either.
People are uncomfortable about disability, and so interactions can become unintentionally uncomfortable.
My disability exists not because I use a wheelchair, but because the broader environment isn't accessible.
We are a society that treats people with disabilities with condescension and pity, not dignity and respect.
Physical access is one of the very first issues disability rights activists of the 1960s and '70s fought for.
When patronised, I'm unfortunately more flight than fight. Perhaps it's because I actually feel quite wounded.
My parents didn't know what to do with me, so they just pretended I was normal, and that worked out quite well for me.
By far, the most disabling thing in my life is the physical environment. It dictates what I can and can't do every day.
As disabled people, we are taught from a young age that those who are attracted to us are to be regarded with suspicion.
The purpose of our justice system is to reflect the values of our society and to punish those who violate our standards.
For me, and for many other people with disabilities, our status as disabled people is one of which we are fiercely proud.
I once choked on a chip at a friend's birthday when I was seven and had to be sent home, as I'd broken my collarbone coughing.
For me, in some ways, my whole life is a bit performative and always has been - because I'm stared at and looked at everywhere I go.
It's undeniable that what we are taught as a culture to believe about disability is at odds with traditional notions of masculinity.
Too often, we fall into the trap of thinking 'equal' means 'the same' and that we achieve equality by treating everyone identically.
In many ways, I'm incredibly lucky to have been born with my impairment and that it's visible. It means my path has been predictable.
Doctors are not fortune tellers, and neither am I. Having lived with disability since birth does not afford me immunity from illness.
For lots of us, disabled people are not our teachers or our doctors or our manicurists. We're not real people. We are there to inspire.
Yooralla, like most disability service organisations, is full of good people who are passionate about the rights of people with disabilities.
My mother loves to remind me that about the age of four, I made a somewhat formal announcement that I was going to be a plumber when I grew up.
The problem for many people with disabilities is not that we are not able to work a certain number of hours a week. It's that no-one will let us.
I do not identify as a person with a disability. I'm a disabled person. And I'll be a monkey's disabled uncle if I'm going to apologise for that.
We all learn how to use the bodies we're born with, or learn to use them in an adjusted state, whether those bodies are considered disabled or not.
We think we know what it's all about; we think that disability is a really simple thing, and we don't expect to see disabled people in our daily lives.
When I was seven and watched an episode of 'Beyond 2000' that featured a floating armchair, I thought we'd definitely have one of those by 15, at the latest.
I went to school, I got good marks, I had a very low key after-school job, and I spent a lot of time watching 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' and 'Dawson's Creek.'
People get all up in arms when I describe myself as a crip because what they hear is the word 'cripple,' and they hear a word you're not allowed to say anymore.
There are real-world, devastating consequences for disabled women marginalised by the kinds of attitudes that deny them full agency over what happens to their bodies.
I currently live independently without any funded support. I'm educated, and I'm employed. I enjoy paying my taxes and contributing to the economic life of Australia.
The Paralympics have for too long been considered the poor cousin of the Olympics. It's always run after the main games and rarely gets anything like the media coverage.
My everyday life in which I do exactly the same things as everyone else should not inspire people, and yet I am constantly congratulated by strangers for simply existing.