My name is Eliza Hull and I'm a musician
and a writer and a disability advocate
and a mother of two. I have a
seven-year-old and a 2-year-old. When I
was 5 years old, I started falling over
at school and uh there were a lot of
hospital visits and a lot of people
talking about me and not to me. And I
had a lot of surgery operations and so
throughout school I was a wheelchair
user. It just so happened that when I
was five and developed my disability, I
also realized that I could sing. I used
to escape in the heat of summer and go
into the piano room and just play and
express myself. I guess it enabled me to
unpack all the things that I was
feeling. The biggest barriers that I've
faced is it actually is in the music
industry, but also when I was deciding
to become a parent. When I went to my
neurologist and said that I wanted to
start a family, I was really excited. I
remember that uh moment where he looked
at me and said that he didn't think that
I should become a parent was when I
really realized uh that it was time to
break down these assumptions about what
it means to be a disabled parent. I
remember when my daughter was I think
she was only about 2 years old and she
said to me, "Mom, why do you walk like a
penguin?" And we had a laugh. I think
for young children, what better time to
start by than having these conversations
about disability and also authentically
representing various families with
disability. I had the idea of come over
to my house and I went to my very good
friend Sally Ripen who's a great
children's author. I came to her with
the idea and wanted to represent various
families. So there are families that are
deaf, a family that has a mother that is
blind. Ultimately, it shows that these
families are incredible problem solvers,
great creative thinkers, and have a lot
of fun. I think people with disability
are still greatly underrepresented in
the media, in the music industry, in the
arts world. And for me, I feel like
International Day of People with
Disability is a way to amplify the
voices of people with disability, to
create more change, to disrupt
stereotypes about people with
disability, and ultimately to celebrate
our achievements.