Stella Young has died aged 32. Source: NewsComAu

She was passionate about disability support, and wasn’t afraid to challenge people’s thinking on this issue.

MORE: Stella Young dies aged 32

Last year, it was a journalist here at news.com.au who found himself in the firing line of Stella’s feisty spirit after we published a divisive opinion piece about whether or not we should be expected to fork out to fund the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

Ms Young didn’t hold back in her column when she replied with her own piece: $300 for Julia Gillard’s NDIS scheme? Please, my wheelchair costs $22,000.

It may have been at our expense, but this fiery column just about sums up everything we love about the comedian and writer who sadly died on the weekend:

Stella Young made us realise the NDIS was something we all needed. Source: Supplied

The question of how we fund the National Disability Insurance Scheme is one that I’ve managed to avoid for the past year. It’s an insulting question for me and the many other Australians with disabilities.

It’s hard to think about dollars when it may mean how many showers we get to have per week, or whether we can get mobility aid that will let us to leave our houses.

But with the Budget just two weeks away, we need to address the question. We must fund this scheme somehow.

Typically, every man and his guide dog has an opinion, including news.com.au’s Matt Young and Claire Porter. “How selfish of me to want to spend money that I’m working hard for on myself! To put clothes on my back, food in my mouth and a few luxuries like a morning coffee,” Matt exclaims.

Do you know what I spent the money I worked hard for in 2012 on, Matt?

The clothes on my back, the food in my mouth and the odd morning coffee as well. But I also spent a fair whack of my annual salary replacing my 17-year-old wheelchair.

I live in Victoria where the current maximum funding for a wheelchair is $8,000. My chair cost $22,000, so $14,000 of that came out of my pocket.

Stella Young has been a high profile disability campaigner for many years. Pictured here in 2000. Source: News Corp Australia

No doubt many Australians assume people who need wheelchairs can just have them. Not true.

The amount and type of funding you receive to have your needs met depends on where and how you acquired your impairment. There’s a dark joke among many of us who were born with our impairments: “If only my parents could have made it look like a car accident”.

I’m actually incredibly fortunate for someone in my position. With half of all people with disabilities in Australia living near or below the poverty line, I consider myself extraordinarily lucky to be able to save up for my own wheelchair in the first place, let alone sip my morning latte.

I know what you’re thinking. This isn’t about you, it’s about people like me. You’re wrong. Disability currently affects one in every five Australians. 95 per cent of Australians will enter the disability community, either temporarily or permanently, at some point in their lives.

Last year I forked out for my chair so that I can continue to work and live. I did it so that I can pay taxes. So that means if there’s a levy for the disability scheme, I will have the honour of paying for it too.

We should all be thrilled to see it. If you have a stroke at 40, you won’t become one of the 7,000 young people living in nursing homes in Australia.

If your partner is injured in a car accident, their rehabilitation and mobility aids won’t send you bankrupt.

You won’t have to give up work to look after them. You’ll know that if you have children and one of them is born with an impairment of some kind, that child will be entitled to a life of dignity, rather than one reliant on charity and the goodwill of others.

I’m happy to pay $300 a year to ensure that whatever your life circumstances turn out to be, you can continue to buy your morning coffees instead of your own wheelchair.

Disability advocates in Australia have fought for a National Disability Insurance Scheme not just for our own futures, but for yours too. You’re welcome.