Inspiration porn and the objectification of disability: Stella Young at TEDxSydney 2014

Stella Young is a comedian, disability advocate and Editor of ABC's Ramp Up website, the online space for news, discussion and opinion about disability in Australia.

Born in Stawell in Western Victoria, Stella cut her activist teeth at the age of 14 by conducting an access audit of shops on the local main street. It didn't take long -- it was a pretty short street. Since then she has been active in the disability community in a variety of roles, including membership of the Victorian Disability Advisory Council, Ministerial Advisory Council for the Department of Victorian Communities and Women With Disabilities Victoria.

Stella was a two-time state finalist in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival's Raw Comedy competition; and has hosted eight seasons of Australia's first disability culture program No Limits. With a strong interest in issues facing women and young people with disabilities, Stella has worked with the Youth Disability Advocacy Service to establish the LiveAccess project, advocating for better access to live music venues. She holds a degree in Journalism from Deakin University and a Diploma of Secondary Education from the University of Melbourne.

TEDxSydney is an independently organised event licensed from TED by longtime TEDster, Remo Giuffré (REMO General Store) and organised by his General Thinking network of fellow thinkers and other long time collaborators.

TEDxSydney has become the leading platform and pipeline for the propagation of Australian ideas, creativity, innovation and culture to the rest of the world.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)