Writer and disability advocate Hannah Diviney on finding her voice – and her power

In our MECCA M-Powered interview series, fearless people from around the globe share their incredible stories – from overcoming adversity to following their passions and inspiring a future generation of changemakers.

At just 23, writer Hannah Diviney – who was born with cerebral palsy – is one of the most exciting and impressive new voices in media. As a disability advocate, she successfully campaigned for both Lizzo and Beyoncé to change ableist lyrics in their hit songs, as well as led a Change.org petition encouraging Disney to create a Disney Princess with a disability, scoring 62,000 signatures and praise from the company itself: “We love Hannah’s passion and hear her important voice on why inclusive and representative storytelling matters.”

Next, she is set to make her acting debut in December 2022, as the lead in SBS’s Latecomers – and if that wasn’t enough, she’s also the editor-in-chief of global grassroots youth newsroom Missing Perspectives, which is dedicated to platforming the lived experience of girls and young women around the world.

Here, she tells us about why representation matters, speaking truth to power and changing the future.

HD: “Kurt Fearnley [gold medal-winning Paralympian] and Stella Young [the late comedian and journalist] were the only examples of life with a disability that I resonated with. Other than them, I have always gravitated towards strong women that reflected parts of my personality that sat alongside my disability – so people like Taylor Swift, Emma Watson, Michelle Obama and so many more.”

HD: “I dreamt of doing and being exactly what I am now – I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was four years old, and now, that’s what I get paid to do. I’m working on a book! Beyond that, I just wanted to be a creative little sponge who felt seen, and I’m so lucky that my life has fallen into that shape over these last few years.”

HD: “I’m really lucky to have grown up in a family that always encouraged me to use my voice. In fact, they made sure I could, because my parents both knew that I would need it. The world wasn’t going to be waiting to listen to me; I had to make them.”

HD: “I honestly try really hard to take it as a sort of twisted compliment, because I think having people disagree with you (sometimes viciously, in ways that you hope they’d never say to a person’s face) is a real marker that you’re making people think and create change because you move outside the echo chamber of wonderfully supportive people who are always going to tell you you’re doing a good job.”

HD: “Because they shake up the status quo. Because they force people to interrogate the power structures around who gets to tell stories and why. Missing Perspectives prioritises lived experience, which is rare for organisations – and it shouldn’t be. We’re changing who gets the power and rearranging the world order so that it becomes more reflective of the world we live in as young women. This persistent myth that young women have nothing to say and that when they do speak, there’s no value, is completely disproven by our brand and platform.”

HD: “I am the editor-in-chief and creative officer here at Missing Perspectives. Because we’re such a tiny team (there’s only really two of us!) no day looks the same but always starts with text threads and FaceTime calls between Phoebe [Saintilan, co-founder and CEO] and I. We go over our to-do lists for the day, which could be absolutely anything: answering emails, writing applications for grants, Zoom meetings with potential investors or project partners, scouring social media for young women or stories that we find interesting, keeping up to date with world news (which can be expansive and exhausting), writing newsletters, doing behind-the scenes business stuff or even recording interviews for our podcast.

“We just look for young women and girls who have interesting things to say, telling stories or breaking things open that traditional media won’t touch; or, if there’s a world event – like the war in Ukraine, for example – we’ll specifically go and find a young woman whose lived experience humanises that news for our readers, followers and listeners.”

HD: “Every single day – and combatting it is not easy for me. Some days I’m really good at keeping it quiet, and others, it’s the only thing I can hear. Reminding myself that I deserve to take up space has to be something I am really intentional about, even down to listing the things I’m good at out loud and making myself re-frame luck as hard work.”

HD: “I think it comes from the very early realisation I had as a kid, driven in part by my parents reconfirming it, that nothing would ever be handed to me – society would never just hand something to me or assume I was capable, because that would mean fundamentally changing the way we view people with disabilities. It was never going to happen – especially not while I was growing up. Now, representation has improved so much; we’re seeing people with disabilities in more and more public spaces, in regular public roles.

“But yeah, I think the idea that I have to work twice as hard for half as much is very much ingrained into me, even insofar as understanding that, for me to live the life I need and want, things are going to exponentially cost more because I need equipment and help.”

HD: “It's a constant balance, I think. It’s something you have to be very aware of and tuned into. That means listening to your body, prioritising rest, knowing how your brain works and being willing to say no as a full sentence, without guilt. I don’t always get it right, and while my time management is pretty great, I do drop the ball. Self-care looks like music, time with friends, time to let my brain charge creatively, time to rest.”

HD: “Wow, you guys have done your research! The context for that was this idea that when women create things, they’re immediately held to this unconsciously higher standard by audiences – whether that’s music, films, books or even advocacy and allyship statements. Women have to be constantly new to us as audiences, always put in more effort; they can never rest on their laurels or make the same thing twice.

“The second half of it is that something is immediately less important, less valuable or should be taken less seriously if its audience and fans are young girls. That’s been happening for decades. It’s also apparent in the things we’re taught to pick women apart for and let slide with men. For example, if a woman looked as rumpled and messy as former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson did every day, she’d be crucified. There’s no way anyone would take her seriously – and that’s exhausting.”

HD: “I love you guys for asking this question! Things bringing me joy at the moment are writing, my family, my friends, building Missing Perspectives, getting to spread my wings creatively in all sorts of exciting new directions and being surrounded by good movies, music, TV and food!”

HD: “I would love to see girls everywhere have access to education, be taken seriously as leaders and changemakers and I’d love to get to a place where the only decisions made about a woman’s life are made by her. Anything else can disappear, please.”