WHEN Eliza Hull chose to become a parent, her decision was not met with the excitement she expected.<\/p>\n
The artist, who lives in Castlemaine, has lived with the neurological condition Charcot-Marie-Tooth since she was five, which led to muscle loss and affects the way she walks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I decided to become a parent eight years ago, it was really the first time I experienced medicalised discrimination,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy neurologist said I shouldn\u2019t be a parent. I remember being so excited meeting my husband to be and wanting to start a family.<\/p>\n
When she couldn\u2019t find any media about being a disabled parent, Hull decided to take the matter into her own hands.<\/p>\n
She wrote and edited the new book We\u2019ve Got This<\/em>, an anthology of stories from 25 parents with disabilities designed to change the perception of what a parent should be.<\/p>\n Now she\u2019ll share the book in front of an Ulumbarra Theatre audience for the Bendigo Writers\u2019 Festival in May.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to show a real varied scope of what disability looks like in Australia,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s parents that identify as having a chronic illness, a disability, that are wheelchair users, parents with dwarfism and parents that identify as deaf.<\/p>\n \u201cThey were so thankful, they wished that this book was around when they were thinking of having a child\u2026 they were excited to share their story to help people with disabilities with their decision to parent.\u201d<\/p>\n Hull\u2019s daughter is now seven, and her proud mother said she has grown up with an exceptional sense of acceptance.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s really open to diversity and differences, she\u2019s a really caring child, she\u2019s inclusive at school and she\u2019s really proud to have a parent with a disability,\u201d Hull said.<\/p>\n