Anne's Example

Once free from the institution Anne McDonald co-authored a book, Annie’s Coming Out, with Rosemary Crossley.  The book was an Australian bestseller, and was a set text for many school courses.  It was made into several plays and, in 1984, an award-winning movie Annie’s Coming Out (in the USA, Test of Love).
 
Anne went on to get the education she had been denied and graduated from Deakin University with a humanities degree. 
Anne’s courage in adversity, her strength under pressure, and her struggle for vindication inspired many people with disabilities in Australia and across the world.

“I tried to show the world that when people without speech were given the opportunity to participate in education we could succeed.  I went to Deakin University and got myself a degree.  That … was seen as an exception.
I gave papers and wrote articles on the right to communicate.  I set up a website to show that there was hope for people without speech.
People thanked me for being an inspiration; however, they didn’t understand why there weren’t more like me.  They continued to act as if speech was the same thing as intelligence, and to pretend that you can tell a person’s capacity by whether or not they can speak.“ 
(Anne McDonald, National Disability Awards, Parliament House, Canberra, 2008)

Go to Anne's Advocacy