Stella Young

I am not a snowflake. I am not a sweet, infantilising symbol of fragility and life. I am a strong, fierce, flawed adult woman. I plan to remain that way, in life and in death.

I have a condition that is included among the 200 or so classified as Dwarfism.

For me, and for many other people with disabilities, our status as disabled people is one of which we are fiercely proud.

If I think something is right, I'll fight for it - always have. If it's wrong or I've been proved wrong, I'll walk away, and I'll apologise.

For me, I never ever felt the ownership or any identity with any community of disabilities. I didn't grow up being told that I was a disabled child.

So, for example, if a child is labeled as having a learning disability, it has very concrete consequences for the kinds of services and potentially accommodations that child will get.