Hi, I'm Hannah Diviney and I'm an
ambassador for International Day for
People with Disability for 2023. I
agreed to become an ambassador because I
feel that representation is really
important and that the more visible
disabled stories can be in the community
and in the broader world, the better
it's going to be for the 4 million of us
who have disabilities around the
country. One thing that I would love to
shape about society, I think it would be
creating a world where people's
differences and unique needs and
abilities were accepted and catered for.
Words have so much power. I mean, I'm a
writer by trade. I'm a storyteller. So,
words are my bread and butter. And I
think for me calling out ableist
language has always been motivated by
wanting people to understand how much
words matter. I was on Twitter and I
noticed some friends of mine were
expressing discomfort with a lyric that
that Lizo had written in a new song of
hers. So I wrote a tweet. It took me
less than 5 minutes and then my phone
went ballistic for a couple of days.
Lizo ended up changing the lyric, the
world's media covered it, and then 6
weeks later, Beyonce did the same thing.
I ended up starting a global
conversation and disabled people's
perspectives were heard around the
world.
I think advocacy has taught me a lot
about being resilient, about the
importance of choosing your words and
acting with care. Please know that if
the that if the only person you can
advocate for is yourself, that's more
than enough.