The Australian Women’s Weekly’s 2021 Women of the Future finalist Hannah Diviney transforms ableism into action. When we met her last year, the 22-year-old activist and writer had garnered more than 61,000 signatures for an online petition to demand Disney create a princess with a disability.
Now, as The Australian Women’s Weekly catches up with Hannah in a dreamy princess-themed shoot for the September issue, Disney Studios has finally responded to her call, saying:
“We love Hannah’s passion and hear her important voice on why inclusive and representative storytelling matters.
“As storytellers at Disney, we’re committed to reflecting the incredibly rich diversity of the human experience, and in ways that inspire, open minds and hearts and bring people closer together in a world where we all belong.”
Disney is the latest of Hannah’s many wins to make the world more inclusive, particularly knowing 18% of Australians - or around one in six of us - have a disability.
When Grammy award-winning singer Lizzo used an ableist slur in her song Grrls, one tweet from Hannah saw the lyrics changed in response just two days later.
And those changes raised the bar, prompting Beyonce to remove the same from her newly released song, Renaissance.
The exclusive photos are in this month’s issue to celebrate the next wave of 2022 Women of the Future finalists, who will be announced next month.
The Women of the Future awards offer $100,000 in prize money, networking and connections to propel female trailblazers to the next level.
After her time as finalist, Hannah now has a book in the works and is also about to appear in an SBS series.
Words can be weapons or wonderful, and Hannah also works to capture them on a global platform named Missing Perspectives, where she is the editorial and creative lead.
The gales of change towards inclusivity are blowing the future open for Hannah.