The Life of Elizabeth Hastings: A Pioneer of Disability Advocacy in Australia
- Suraksha Guragain
- May 16
- 4 min read
Suraksha Guragain
In 1992, Elizabeth Hastings was appointed as Australian's first Disability Discrimination
Commissioner. She indeed created a remarkable history, but her life was not very
straightforward. Born with polio aka infantile paralysis, she only ever dreamt to break free
from the dependence on others. She was born in England, and she contracted polio when she
was 6 months old. She lost all her power of movement shortly after her birth with very small
hope of survival from doctors.
Eventually, her temperature dropped, and her movement returned to her body albeit to a small
extent. However, her legs unfortunately were completely paralysed. The muscles in her trunk
were badly affected and the aftermath caused weak arm, weak shoulders and a paralysed
hand. She ended up needing wheelchair assistance to get around despite numerous remedies
and multiple operations.
She was two years old when she returned from hospital to her home. Her parents established
bathroom and bedroom on the ground floor to help her access them. Her father created a
device called “gadabout” with a wheel at the front, two at the back which would be steered by
a tiller. With the help and support, she was able to get herself to the kindergarten without
anybody helping her.
Elizabeth was a lively child, bright, energetic and sociable. She did not let her disability hold
her back from living a good life. On her 8th birthday, she won a fancy dress competition as a
jack-in-the-box on the ship to Australia. She made a use of her wheelchair to hang her props
on. By the age 15, she had spent a lot of her time in hospitals recovering from operations.
After six years in multiple special schools, she finally started her schooling in private girls;
school in Melbourne's eastern suburbs.
She excelled in her education there but most importantly; she mixed freely with ordinary and
non-disabled people. She went to earn a psychology degree from the university of Melbourne
which Elizabeth describe as the best four years of her life. This was because she didn’t feel
different than others as a university student. She didn’t like being called “different” or
“brave” or “determined, she wanted to be seen normal. Her family treated her like ordinary
whereas the outsiders treated her differently, as far as being surprised that she did not behave
like a child. While courage, bravery, and determination are great qualities to possess, she
often felt inner qualities like intelligent, sensitive, and empathetic are more welcoming,
aligned and warm words to describe a person like herself.
After graduating, she worked in the Department of Labour and National service for five
years. She then moved to the counselling service at La Trobe university where she worked for
17 years. It was around the same time she found courage and energy to speak up and become
an activist. Her journey to disability activism and empowerment was not an easy one.
Elizabeth faced numerous hurdles on her way. In one such instance, her five-minutes long
presentation at a conference of psychologists was preceded by forty minutes of “real speech”
given by a woman without disability. Her speech as a result turned out to be an expression of
her frustration of being patronised yet again. The audience applauded her raw, and authentic
voice by the end of her speech.
Throughout her life, she maintained her insistence that disabled people did not want pity or
charity and only wanted human rights. Most importantly, they wanted to take control of their
own lives. She noticed that a lot of empowering campaigns revolved people with Stephen
Hawking and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. This resulted in lack of representation among
people who are stigmatised by abled bodies.
As she became the first disability discrimination commissioner in 1992, Elizabeth focused on
challenging the mindsets that perceived people with disabilities as different or recipients of
charity. She wanted people to perceive disabled people as people before anything else. She
often referred non-disabled people as Not Yet Disabled (NYD) to express the sentiment that
disability is a natural part of life that can affect anyone over time. She used this term to
challenge the narratives that mark disability as something distant. She dedicated a lot of life
to improve the lives of people with disabilities. She regularly fought battles that the majority
of people never do. Unfortunately, she passed away untimely from breast cancer in October
1998.
After her death, Phillip Adams, who oversaw the Australian IYDP media campaign recalled
the time he worked with her:
“She made me realise that they weren't merely an issue in Burma or Afghanistan. They were
missing here every time our bigotry, our buildings or our institutions placed a barrier in a
disabled person's path”
Women like her, who challenged the society despite being born with a disability have one
thing in common: their parents insisting on a good education for their daughters. Like
Elizabeth, they also acknowledge that university experience helped them label theorise
disability as a social construct. Women with disability have double disadvantage in the
society and their gender and impairment combined may make them less likely to receive a
good education.
References:
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