65 David Abello: Paul

David Abello shares stories about his dear friend, Paul Young. David was born in the inner-west of Sydney where he still lives. He became involved in the lesbian and gay movement in 1975 and in 1980s was a member of the Gay Liberation Quire and the Gaywaves Gay Radio Collective amongst other things. He's been active in the disability movement since the 1980s and in membership-based organisations concerned with employment, advocacy, multicultural advocacy and housing. In the late 1990s he was a founding member of the queer disability activist group, Access Plus – Spanning Identities. In the 1980s he worked in the Commonwealth Department of Employment and Education in Western Sydney as an Employment Counsellor and then became its state coordinator of disability employment. After 14 years he was retrenched which led to doing an Honours Degree in Arts and Social Sciences at UTS, and his next career as a social policy researcher at UNSW. After 12 years retrenchment propelled him into two simultaneous new careers - a PhD and the daily support of his mother following her Alzheimer's diagnosis. The thesis, In Memory of Now: A Queer History of the Present is available online, as his his album My Life as a Social Movement. Queerstories is an LGBTQI+ storytelling night programmed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For Queerstories event dates, visit www.maevemarsden.com, and follow Queerstories on Facebook. The Queerstories book is published by Hachette Australia, and can be purchased from your favourite independent bookseller or on Booktopia. To support Queerstories, become a patron at www.patreon.com/ladysingsitbetter And for gay stuff and insomnia rants follow me - Maeve Marsden - on Twitter and Instagram.