Growing Up Disabled in Australia is the Intersectional Book For All

Ironically, I’m typing up this article with a cloud of fatigue hanging around my brain, and a heat pack for pain across my stomach. But, it’s because of these exact reasons that this ‘review’ feels too important to title it something as mundane as that. 

Growing Up Disabled in Australia is a collection of stories, interviews, poetry, and essays, edited by Carly Findlay. It criticises the medical model of disability, which links a disability diagnosis to an individual’s physical body and so aims to ‘find a solution.’ It instead amplifies the need for emphasis to be on the social model of disability, (post, during, and pre diagnosis), which focuses not on ‘fixing’ the individual, but rather identifies systematic barriers, derogatory attitudes, and social exclusion. All these are characteristics of ableism, and the novel's aim is to fix these, and not the person. 

The social model of disability moves away from viewing the person as any less capable, intelligent, efficient etc, instead identifying society and systems within society as needing to change. 

Growing Up Disabled in Australia critiques everything from stigmas, to experiences in the medical sector, to capitalism’s brutal impact on disabled peoples. But even more than this, it magnifies the voices of those who not only experience ableism, but many other forms of discrimination. The anthology’s defining trait is its intersectionality, as it aims to explain through personal experience how these lines of judgment intersect and the harrowing experience that racism, xenophobia, homophobia and more can have on people attempting to navigate the medical system. It details how positive a focus on the social model of disability will be for all. There’s also a number of entries from First Nations peoples, who narrate the impacts of colonisation, trauma, and racism within their illness or disability. 

Findlay has managed to put together a book that doesn’t depress, nor does it glorify positivity. It walks this line incredibly well, maintaining its voice of truth and experience. It shares the stories of disabled, physically and mentally chronically ill, and neurodivergent peoples. With 4 out of 25 Australian’s diagnosed with some form of disability, it truly is a must read for all. And despite being set against an Australian backdrop, it’s a novel meant for the world. Yes, the particular experiences of healthcare, certain Aussie idiosyncrasies and our particular experience with racism and colonisation may not be the same for everyone, but it can overwhelmingly be translated to most country's experiences. 

As someone who was diagnosed with a chronic illness in their late teenage years, and had to navigate the perils of the pessimistic internet, of coming to terms with what it means to be chronically ill, and of feeling like there was no space for me to comfortably and safely exist in, this book was everything I had ever hoped for. Not only that, but it also made me come to terms with the way I benefit from the current medical systems as a white person, and how I need to be uplifting the voices of disabled PoC around me. 

Growing Up Disabled in Australia is a novel both for people who suffer at the hands of ableism, and for those who want to further understand their own internalised ableism.

Change is slow, but if we all come together to educate ourselves, we can accelerate it.