Although cheers and laughter were the call of the day at Friday morning's public memorial for disability advocate, writer, standup comic, journalist and television presenter Stella Young, who died unexpectedly on December 6, 2014, tears still flowed for the much and widely loved Young. While the main ceremony was held at a temporarily upgraded Melbourne Town Hall on Swanston Street, in the middle of the central business district, a small group of people also viewed the proceedings on the large screen at Federation Square.
The venue was altered just for the occasion in accordance with the inclusive perspective that Ms Young developed since she was very young, and carried with her for her entire career. Arts Access Victoria's Rick Randall informed the Age: "Given it's a memorial for Stella Young, who was very loved in the community, we want to ensure the people experiencing grief and trauma are supported". The foundations of such support consisted of:
- Three accessible toilets on the ground floor, where none exist.
- AUSLAN sign language interpreters and social interpreters who translated for the event.
- Live captioning on the screen inside the Town Hall.
- Audio description set up for people with visibility difficulties.
- Water bowls to hydrate the seeing-eye dogs that were in attendance.
Furthermore, an executive decision was made beforehand to only allow guests to use the accessible entrance on Collins Street—the grand entrance stairwell was closed to everyone—and another side entrance was a second option. Mr Randall explained that the venue arrangements on the day adhered to a "philosophy that says second best is not good enough".
Media figure Waleed Aly, who first befriended Ms Young while they were both doing work at community television station Channel 31, was the master of ceremonies, while close friend, comedian Nelly Thomas, delivered a humorous, heartfelt speech. Ms Thomas presented an account of the future with Ms Young that she had prepared for the farewell, as she cannot bear to accept a world in which her influential friend does not live until the age of 80 years—the statement is a reference to a letter that Ms Young wrote to her 80-year-old self that has been widely circulated since her untimely death.
Despite the earnest support of the many guests—including disabled high school student Stella Burton who said her late mentor inspired her to "live with pride", and 80 staff who wore t-shirts depicting Ms Young's signature red polka-dot shoes—Ms Thomas reminded those gathered that they need to "do something about it" to honor Ms Young's memory. The Young family asked for tributes to be sent to Domestic Violence Victoria in the form of a monetary donation in Ms Young's name.