Stella Young

Stella Jane Young (24 February 1982 – 6 December 2014) was an Australian comedian, journalist and disability rights activist.

Early life and education Young was born in 1982 at Stawell, Victoria. She was born with osteogenesis imperfecta and used a wheelchair for most of her life. At the age of 14 she audited the accessibility of the main street businesses of her hometown.

Career

Young served as the editor for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's online magazine Ramp Up.

In a Ramp Up editorial published in July 2012 she deconstructed society's habit of turning disabled people into what she called "inspiration porn", the idea that disabled people can do certain things "in spite" of their disability and are used to motivate non-disabled people, rather than uplifting disabled people. The concept was further popularized in her April 2014 TEDxSydney talk, titled "I'm not your inspiration, thank you very much".

Death Young died unexpectedly in Melbourne, on 6 December 2014 of a suspected aneurysm.

Legacy In 2017 Young was inducted posthumously onto the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in recognition of her work as a "journalist, comedian, feminist and fierce disability activist".

In 2020, S3.E7 of Loudermilk "Wind Beneath My Wings", was dedicated to the memory of Stella Young. The episode looks at the way our society views disability. Actor Mat Fraser plays Roger Frostly who quotes Young and her calls for an end to inauthentic “Inspiration Porn”.

In 2023 a bronze statue of Young in her wheelchair by sculptor Danny Fraser was unveiled in her hometown of Stawell in Cato Park. Motion-activated audio at the statue provides a description to provide greater accessibility. As part of the Remembering Stella Young project the https://stellayoung.com.au/ website was created.

A street in the Canberra suburb of Denman Prospect, Stella Young Way, is named in her honour.