Cirrus@Austlit

'I’m walking down the street with Gay, a friend who often theorises then says, ‘Don’t you think?’, so I have to listen closely. We’re on a psychogeographic walk with thirteen strangers, all bonded together through reading and this small regional writers’ festival. Everyone’s enjoying themselves, might be the weather because, indeed, it is a beautiful day, but Gay and I think this session’s lacking. A man takes us around corners into car parks and alleyways to show us ghost signs— words on buildings that once spoke with bold and solid strokes but have since been painted over, and because that painting-over has itself faded, the original signs are showing through once again. Though barely. Almost invisibly. I love the concept but our guide is failing it. He’s left out the stories behind the words.' (Introduction)

'Orchestrating this feature was a gift—from the initial swift and positive responses, to the conversations and possibilities that emerged between the poets and poems themselves. Here are six poets, all based in the United Kingdom, who refresh, surprise, write fuently with and against assumptions around disability. They share an individual but symbiotic approach to health, medical narratives, social stigma, illness and disability through the original ways they merge experience, poetry, teaching and critical research. On a personal and scholarly level the poets give way to a host of contexts for relevant writing and discussion, and through this process translate to themselves and others private and social experiences of discrimination and breakthroughs. The poems are memorable, unusual, lit-up—as well as grounded—explorations of life and language. We hope this feature demonstrates how seamlessly combined critical and creative approaches to disability have significant potential to move conversations beyond neurotypical constructions of the able-bodied and minded.' 

 (Introduction)

'When K. arrives at the unnamed village in Kafka’s The Castle, the village is ‘deep in snow’ (3). The hill on which the Castle stands is ‘hidden, veiled in mist and darkness’ (3). There isn’t even ‘a glimmer of light to show that a castle was there’ (3). K. stands on a wooden bridge that leads into the village, ‘gazing into the illusory emptiness above him’ (3). The snow and dark winter trail K. through the narrative as he encounters people in the village. Most of the denizens are obfuscatory, and none can give him clear advice on how to reach the Castle. • • •

'In July 2018, the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) becomes available in Brisbane. Administered by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) it will, according to the NDIS website, ‘provide all Australians under the age of 65 with a permanent and significant disability with the reasonable and necessary supports they need to enjoy an ordinary life’ (‘What is the NDIS?’). It stemmed from a 2010 Productivity Commission inquiry into a long-term disability care and support scheme. In 2013, NDIS legislation was passed and the NDIS Act 2013 was created. Pilot studies were conducted for three years, then the national rollout began on 1st July 2016.'  (Introduction)

'Write-ability is an award-winning program supporting disabled writers to develop their skills and writing careers. It began as a partnership between Arts Access Victoria (AAV) and Writers Victoria (WV) in 2012, with mentor-in-residence Fiona Tuomy and Kate Larsen, then Writers Victoria director, developing an effective, flexible and ground-breaking program based on the Social Model of Disability. Writers Victoria is now solely responsible for the program, but collaboration with arts, literary and disability organisations are vital to the program’s ongoing self-renewal.' (Introduction)