Hannah Diviney - 'We are complex'

THE WRITER IS APPEARING IN A NEW TV SHOW

- Jodie Wolf

For writer and disability advocate Hannah Diviney, performing has always been a huge part of her life, participating in NIDA workshops as a child and keen to be near a stage whenever she could. “The first time I saw a disabled character on-screen, I was 10. It was Artie Abrams [Kevin McHale] from Glee. He seemed perfect because he was having relationships and just having a grand old time,” recalls Hannah. “But there’s a dream sequence during the show, where Artie gets out of his wheelchair and starts to dance. For me, the realisation that if he can do that, then the actor himself mustn’t be disabled and that he was kind of like wearing a costume that he could cast off as soon as the director yelled cut, that was a real punch in the gut.”

Hannah is the one to be on our screens now, having been cast in SBS’s Latecomers as 26-year-old introvert Sarah, who has cerebral palsy. She says, “It’s not something that I expected. Latecomers is really refreshing. Not only are there disabled characters on-screen, but disabled people who created the show and behind the camera. It was really inclusive,” she says.