The struggle as a disability activist while writing my memoir

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I wrote this for the Feminist Writers Festival, on the struggles I’m having writing my own book as a disability activist. It’s not just the enormous amount of work that is difficult, but the purity politics. It was a difficult piece to write because this has been a difficult time.

Read it here.

“Around a year ago, I got a book deal to write a memoir. Due out early next year, Say Hello will tell my story of life with the rare, severe skin condition ichthyosis. Writing this book has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but not just because of the length or the subject matter. It’s because in the process of writing this book, my disability activism has been questioned….

“I could either be stifled by fear and do nothing at all to create change, or do activism my own way, and create something I needed when I was younger.”

Thanks to the Feminist Writers Festival for having me. Attend the Victorian events on 25 – 27 May.

More writing like this will be in my memoir Say Hello, out in early 2019. Sign up to my mailing list for updates. 

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Image: woman with red face, short dark curly hair and bright dress, smiling. Above the photo is text in the form of a red and blue logo that reads “Feminist Writers Festival” and a heading and byline that reads “SAY HELLO: DOING DISABILITY ACTIVISM MY OWN WAY

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By Carly Findlay”.