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Deaf authors Judith Wright and Henry Lawson wrote that they became writers partly as a result of being deaf. Similarly, Les Murray said that autism was the main catalyst for his poetic creativity, and Alan Marshall said that being disabled led him to develop the observational abilities that he believed were essential to his writing. Such experiences are shared not only by other Australian disabled authors, but disabled authors from around the world.

This free, online symposium aimed to highlight the myriad ways in which disability engenders creative writing in eight sessions across two days. With a focus on intersectionality, the presenters explored the influence of impairment and disablement on writing techniques or topics.

View and listen to the captioned recordings of the symposium on YouTube.

Day 1

Day 2

With thanks to Katerina Bryant for assistance with captioning.

From short-statured Rocca in Katharine Susannah Prichard’s Haxby’s Circus to autistic Don Tillman in Graeme Simsion’s Rosie series, Australian literature frequently relies on representations of disabled people for narrative intrigue. Yet, regardless of how nuanced such representations may be, they cannot substitute for the experiences of Australian disabled authors who, in contrast, are often marginalised or erased. Through poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, these authors continue to demonstrate the complex reality of impairment and of being disabled in Australia.

The Finding Australia’s Disabled Authors Symposium explored these complexities via keynotes and presentations from 25th – 27th September 2025. Click on the links below to listen to the presentations, which have captions enabled.

• Day One featured a keynote, ‘Fostering Solidarity rather than Separateness: Intersectionality, Collaboration and Australia’s Disabled Writers’, from poet Andy Jackson.
• Day Two featured a keynote from Worimi scholar, Dr Scott Avery, ‘Hangin’ with the One-legged Mungo Man: A Place for Disability in Indigenous Story-telling’.It also included presentations from Professor Craig M. Rustici, Kate Swaffer and Dr Kate Forsyth.
• Day Three featured presentations from Dr Amanda Tink, Dr Annmaree Watharow, Lauren Poole, Dr Jessica White and Dr Katerina Bryant, as well as readings from Mascara Literary Review‘s forthcoming Cartography of Other Worlds: An Anthology on Disability and Neurodivergence, by Laura Pettenuzzo, Beau Windon, Dr Katie Hansord & Misbah Wolf​. Dr Amanda Tink concluded the symposium with closing reflections.

With thanks to Evan Jarrett for the captioning.