Short stories, features and poems from our writing community.
In 'Deafness Down', Michael Uniacke uses a Greek font to give the sensation to the reader of something said but not understood, an everyday experience for deaf people. This extract is part of Michael's memoir being launched in Castlemaine on Monday 14 March with the support of Write-ability Goes Regional. The protagonist is about 11 or 12 years old and trapped in a history class.
Writers with disability in the Castlemaine region are welcome to join a free workshop with acclaimed writer and activist Arnold Zable later this month, as part of our Write-ability Goes Regional program.
In Get Writing, Arnold will help participants decide how to write their story and answer basic questions about writing, techniques and how to get going.
Sarah Widdup was a Write-ability Fellow in 2014. She was host and guest speaker at the Write-ability Salon (Nothing About Us, Without Us) at The Wheeler Centre in December 2015.
My neighbour's growling four-wheel drive reverses past our headboard. Thin walls and a driveway less than a metre from our bedroom negating any need for an alarm clock. Pavlovian instinct kicks in triggering my first curse of the morning. An unsteady hand extends from the covers. Sausage fingers stabbing at the screen turning off flight mode. If I squint and close one eye I can mostly deal with the little flashing light. The phone vibrates and messages by the dozen begin to arrive. It's too early. Pre-caffeinated me can't process that level of interaction.
How do you define disability? What does it mean to you, and why?
For a long time I mostly saw disability through the eyes of an able-bodied person with little experience of that world, until I realised it was broader than I imagined and I belonged in it. I had thought that disability would be obvious; there would be visual cues such as mobility aids, Auslan being used, white canes and service dogs - I thought that disability was mostly something you could see, which meant that chronic illness was illness, not disability. That was then.
There is a quote from Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, a Professor of English and Bioethics, and a scholar of disability studies, which I think about quite a lot: ‘Disability is a culturally fabricated narrative of the body’.
Ashlee Bye was a Write-ability Fellow in 2015. She read this extract from 'Out of the Shadows' at the Write-ability Salon (Nothing About Us, Without Us) at The Wheeler Centre in December 2015.
Writers Victoria’s Write-ability program has been built around the importance of self-told stories, disability leadership and peer support — creating opportunities for even the quietest voices to be heard.
Now in its third year, Write-ability has grown to include a regional focus with Geelong-based Harriet Gaffney as our first regional project officer.
Deanne Sheldon-Collins talks about writing, passion and career change with barrister, musician and writer John Tesarsch following the publication of his second novel 'The Last Will and Testament of Henry Hoffman' by Affirm Press.
