5 fierce advocates from the community discuss disabled culture and queerness.
“I think being disabled let me be queer in an easier way. I wasn’t scared of being different, I wasn’t scared of not fitting in because I didn’t fit in. I’m so thankful to my disability for that experience. I love what being disabled has given my queerness.”
On today’s episode, we hear from five fierce advocates from the queer and disabled community. Hannah, Jack, and Georgia from the YPN sit down with Anneka Bodt, Crystal Nguyen, and Grace King in a powerful and enlightening discussion about disabled culture and queerness.
For more info on our guests: youthpridenetwork.net/queerandpodcast.
Got a story or an idea for an episode? Hit us up at ypn@yacwa.org.au
This podcast was recorded on Whadjuk Noongar Boodjar and we wish to acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples as traditional custodians of this land, its waters, and its communities. We acknowledge and pay respect to Elders past, present, and future as sovereign leaders. Sovereignty was never ceded. This always was, and always will be, Aboriginal land.
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Crystal Nguyen kick-started her performance career at 15 placing 6th in the inaugural season of Vietnam’s Got Talent. Crystal (who lives with Brittle Bones Disease) is an actor, singer, and theatre-maker who has collaborated with organisations such as UNICEF to raise awareness and challenge the stigma surrounding disability and self-expression. Crystal’s stage and screen credits include BESIDE (Perth Festival 2021), The Complete Show of Waterskiing (Laura Liu 2022), Teenage Dick (Dan Graham 2022) and Erotic Stories (Madeleine Gottleib 2023). Crystal represented WA in the Midsumma Pathways Program 2022-2023 for outstanding queer and disabled artists. When not acting, Crystal enjoys swimming, most of the time in real life, and other times on her Animal Crossing island.
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Grace King is a singer, actor, and voice over artist living in Perth, Western Australia. She brings passion, dedication, and her lived experience as a totally blind person to all that she does. Her previous roles include Iolanta with WA Opera, Kate Hainey in Fremantle’s Dark Corners and co-lead in playtime with Grace and Fergus Fringe 2019. She has also performed in festivals, educational videos and community and private events.
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Social justice, human rights, and equal opportunity are just some of the mammoth things that new committee member Georgia is passionately advocating for. A proud, queer, greyhound-owning, disabled person, Georgia works with politicians and decision-makers to ensure that all young people have access to trauma-responsive, person-centred, holistic care that empowers and enables them to build their vision of a meaningful life. This important work recently had Georgia as the sole consumer representative in a highly successful 10-person Ministerial Taskforce into Public Mental Health Services for Infants, Children, and Adolescents. The task force investigated the current pressures and demands on the state’s public mental health system and came out with a comprehensive report with 32 recommendations. All of which have been endorsed and committed to by Health and Mental Health Minister Amber Jade Sanderson. The short and long-term recommendations are currently being implemented!
Georgia never stops advocating for equal opportunity but does enjoy taking their greyhound to the park, absolutely SERVING in a jumpsuit, and buying more books to add to the pile of books they are yet to read.
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Jack has been a member of YPN for just over two years and, as well as being an LGBTIQA+ and Disability Advocate, performs in Auslan for the Queer Deaf band Alter Boy. Jack learned Auslan from TAFE, completing his diploma in 2020. Currently working as the project officer for the “Make Queer Spaces Accessible” project,
Jack is passionate about the intersection of LGBTQIA+ and Disabled identities. Jack started his disability advocacy 9 years ago and has relished every minute since combining it with his queer advocacy in 2019.
Jack enjoys reading, embroidery and knitting, he can often be found travelling by bus to feed his pet snake, John, who lives in a nicer house than Jack does