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Write-ability: Own Voices - Why Writing Matters Forum (Mallee)

Date:

With:

Heidi Everett, Andy Jackson

Rating:

ALL

Summary:

Explore how language, writing and telling our own stories helps transform ways of thinking about the self, disability and community. Developed by people with disability, the forum also provides professional development on the Social Model of Disability and best practice language for organisations.

Heidi Everett, Write-ability Tutor

Details

Who is it for?

The forum is for people with disability in the Mallee NDIS region, as well as arts and community development workers, disability and health service providers, teachers, local councils and libraries.

When we say that Write-ability is a program for people with disability, we mean that it's for anyone who experiences barriers as a result of their particular impairment or condition (such as the lack of physical access, communication barriers, discrimination or other people’s attitudes).

This includes (but isn't limited to) people with sensory or physical impairments, hidden impairments, ongoing medical conditions, intellectual impairments, learning difficulties or mental health conditions. If you self identify as a person with disability, or as someone who experiences barriers as a result of your condition, then this opportunity is for you.

Program

By bridging the gap between mainstream arts and disability communities, the Own Voices Forum will use writing to break down barriers to social inclusion and give people with disability the skills and opportunity to tell their stories their way.

  • 9.45am - Registrations open.
  • 10am - Welcome and Why Writing Matters. The Write-ability team will teach you about the Social Model of Disability, best-practice language, advocacy and power, and share some tips on how to write about disability.
  • 12.30 pm - Lunch (provided).
  • 1.30pm - Readings from Heidi Everett and Andy Jackson.
  • 1.45pm - Writing Workshop. Develop creative and professional writing skills with Heidi Everett.
  • 2.45pm - Learn about upcoming writing opportunities for people with disability in the region, and how to get involved.
  • 3pm - Close.

 

About Heidi Everett

Heidi Everett is a creative advocacy facilitator and mental health/neurodiverse lived experience flag-waver. She's amassed an impressive collection of professional skills and achievements in the creative arts industry. She’s a writer, film maker, visual artist, singer songwriter, illustrator, stand-up comedian and producer, with writing being her favourite medium underpinning it all. She directs Schizy Inc. and Mojo Film Festival which celebrate story above all. Heidi was awarded one of the inaugural Writers Victoria Write-ability Fellowships in 2014 for her unpublished memoir My Friend Fox about life with schizoaffective disorder.

 

About Andy Jackson 

Andy Jackson is an accomplished poet who lives in Castlemaine.He  was shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Prize for Poetry for Among the regulars (Papertiger 2010), and won the 2013 Whitmore Press Manuscript Prize for The thin bridge. Andy’s most recent collections are Immune Systems (Transit Lounge 2015), and the chapbook That knocking (Little Windows 2016). His new book, Music our bodies can’t hold (Hunter Publishers), consists of portrait poems of other people with Marfan Syndrome. 

More about Write-ability

The Own Voices Forum is part of Write-ability Goes Regional and Online, one of the only fully accessible and inclusive writing and literary initiatives in Australia.

Following the forum, the Mallee WGRO program will include workshops, author talks and webinars for people with disability interested in writing and building writing skills for creativity and enjoyment. Watch this space for more information coming soon, or email Lyndel to register your interest.

Special Offer: People with disability in the Mallee NDIS region can also get 30% off a Writers Victoria membership before the end of September 2019. Find out more here.

*Please email any dietary requirements to Lyndel by Wednesday 10 October

Cancellation Policy

Venue:

The Benetook Room at the Alfred Deakin Centre, 190 Deakin Avenue
Mildura
Victoria 3500 Australia

Contact:

Phone:
Email:

Registration for this event ended on 16 May 2019 - 10:00
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