Editor and comedian Stella Young has died aged 32. Source: NewsComAu

Ms Young’s family released a statement that said she passed away on Saturday, unexpectedly, but with no pain.

“With great sadness we acknowledge the passing of Stella Young, our much loved and irreplaceable daughter and sister. Stella passed away on Saturday evening, unexpectedly, but in no pain,” the statement said.

She will have a private funeral, followed by a public event in Melbourne.

Her family has requested privacy and asked that people consider making donations in support of Domestic Violence Victoria, a cause which Young was passionate about.

Ms Young was a regular commentator on disability issues and editor of ABC’s Ramp Up website, that published news and opinion about disability in Australia.

Stella Young In Tales From The Crip. Picture: Supplied Source: Supplied

In a statement, ABC managing director Mark Scott described Ms Young as “an unforgettable communicator and a passionate advocate”.

“As a writer and broadcaster Stella was sharp and incisive, challenging and provocative. She was very warm and generous, the first to laugh and to make us all laugh.

“Stella helped us understand disability issues by sharing with a raw honesty about her own life and forcing us to reconsider how we think about disability and create an environment where those with disability can best get on with their own lives. She took great delight in challenging conventional wisdom and lazy thinking.

“It is so hard to believe we have all lost Stella at such a young age. She was so talented, so widely loved and respected. The more people heard her, the more the opportunities in her career were growing.”

Mr Scott said she was increasingly in demand as a comedian in Australia and had a growing international reputation.

“Her many friends at the ABC are filled with sadness at this news – as are Australians around the country, who loved and admired her columns, her broadcasts and her comedy performances.”

In an opinion piece for NewsCorp published in 2013, Ms Young wrote passionately in support of the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

Widely loved and respected: Stella Young. Photo: Josie Hayden Source: News Corp Australia

Born in Stawell in western Victoria, Ms Young had a genetic disorder Osteogenesis imperfecta which is commonly known as brittle bone disease. She was active in the disability community in a variety of roles, including membership of the Victorian Disability Advisory Council, Ministerial Advisory Council for the Department of Victorian communities and Women With Disabilities Victoria.

Tributes have flowed in on Twitter at news of her death including from fellow media personalities Charlie Pickering, Magda Szubanski, Josh Thomas and Eddie Perfect, as well as Paralympian Kurt Fearnley and former prime minister Julia Gillard.

Federal politicians also joined the tributes, with Opposition Leader Bill Shorten describing her as a “fierce advocate” for people with disabilities.

“She was a much larger than life figure and she’s going to be sorely missed,” he told ABC Radio.

As the editor of Ramp Up, which was established in 2010, Ms Young soon created a bold voice and robust forum on a subject that people tended to tread carefully around. She proudly described herself as a “crip”.

“People get all up in arms when I describe myself as a crip because what they hear is the word ‘cripple’ and they hear a word you’re not allowed to say anymore,” she told ABC in 2012.

“Crip is a word that I find empowering the same way that some members of the gay community, but not all members of the gay community, find the word ‘queer’ empowering.”

However, funding for Ramp Up was cut off in the May budget, as part of Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey’s cuts to the Department of Social Services, and Ramp Up ceased publishing on June 30 this year.

Muscular Dystrophy Australia executive director Boris M Struk described Ms Young as a “brilliant woman”.

“Her strength rang not from a victim mentality but as someone who wanted equality for the disability community rather than special treatment,” Mr Struk said.

In a TED talk this year, Ms Young said she wanted to push back against the fact that people with disabilities had become “inspiration porn”.

“For lots of people disabled people are not our teachers, or our doctors or our manicurists,” she said. “We’re not real people, we are there to inspire.”

“I’m not here to inspire you,” she said.

She said people had been sold a lie that having a disability made someone exceptional.

“Disability doesn't make you exceptional,” she said, “but questioning what you know about it does.”

Ms Young was a two-time state finalist in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s Raw Comedy competition and hosted eight seasons of Australia’s first disability culture program No Limits, which aired on Channel 31 and community stations across the country.

She was set to tour her show, Tales from the Crip, nationally and in London in 2015.

Prior to joining the ABC, Stella worked in Public Programs at Melbourne Museum, where she taught children about bugs and dinosaurs.

In a letter to her younger self published on Ramp Up, Ms Young acknowledged the reality of her situation: “All your worries about love and sex and relationships are reasonable and real. I’d be lying if I told you none of your fears are justified.”

But said that able-bodiedness was not the “Holy Grail”. “The body that you’re in is perfectly fine, perfectly beautiful.

“The truth is, there will be people who will overlook you, who will pass you over and ignore you. There’ll be people who are really attracted to you, but whose feelings are squashed by the social pressures of what the media and society tells them is acceptable attraction. That’s OK. It’s just the way it goes. The good news is, it’s nowhere near as bad as you think it’s going to be. Not even close.”

Ms Young urged her younger self to accept that “disabled people live complicated lives”.

“Lead a rich and messy life. It will get better and better, and just when you think it can’t get any better than that, it will.”