Poet tells sister’s story of joy and triumph

POET and writer Anne Gleeson will be at the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute next month to launch a poetic memoir about her sister Denise’s life.

The Deepest Thing: A Poetic Memoir tells the story of Gleeson’s life with her disabled sister, celebrating Denise’s resilience and open heartedness.

It explores the reality of Denise’s medical conditions, her personality and how intellectual disabilities are experienced within the Australian social, medical and language context.

The memoir also tells the story of Gleeson’s father, who was Denise’s carer, and acquired a disability after being involved in a bike accident.

“In the last few years, I’ve had this real yearning to talk about [Denise’s] life because she has intellectual disabilities and lots of times the voices, the wants of people living with intellectual disabilities are either not heard or their wants are discounted,” Gleeson said.

When Denise was born, her parents were advised to send her to a care home, however, they refused.

“They brought her home to the farm and she had a really lovely childhood, and she has a very simple but lovely life,” Gleeson said.

“Her life is important, it matters.”

Gleeson said the aim of the memoir is to tell Denise’s story when she cannot, and that her life is one of triumph.

“Her biggest quality is she can love; she is a very loving, affectionate person and I don’t think everyone in Australia could say that about themselves or about the people they’re with,” Gleeson said.

“She is somebody who learnt to read and write and gets a lot of joy from very simple interactions from that, so I think it’s a triumph in terms of rejecting medical advice.”

Maryanne Diamond, who has lived experience of a disability, and been employed in the information technology sector, the disability sector, and government, will join Gleeson in launching her book.

The event will also include folk music Suzette Herft and will take place Sunday 4 May from 2pm.

RSVP by Tuesday 29 April to [email protected].