Katie Ball is a front-line activist with twenty years experience in the disability rights and social change movements. She is a qualified secondary teacher, a community development worker, a wife and a mum. She has worked in the phone sex industry and taught Politics of Disablement at Kangan-Batman TAFE. Totally fascinated by human sexuality, Katie upholds the right of all people with disabilities to social and sexual equality. She has spoken at many forums and written a library-based dissertation on the sociological analysis of sexuality and the disability rights movement. She is bi-sexual and describes herself as a raving nymphomaniac. Katie was featured in award-winning television documentary ‘Untold Desires’ and her photos have been published in Picture Magazine. Katie has Kugelberg Welander Syndrome (Juvenile Spinal Muscular Atrophy) and uses an electric wheelchair for mobility. The trauma of institutionalisation at the age of fifteen has left her with Separation Anxiety Disorder, Generalised Anxiety Disorder and Anxious Attachment. She lives with depression and continues to suffer panic attacks as a result. Katie passed away in 2004 at the age of 39.
Peter Vanderfeen is Katie’s partner. He has a visual impairment as the result of an industrial accident. He has volunteered his time and energy to many different organisations. He is a husband, a father and ‘a bloody good fuck.’
Harley Vanderfeen-Ball is two and a half. She loves The Wiggles and she absolutely adores trains. She has fun in the bath. She never draws on the walls. She can say lots of big words like ‘concourse’ and ‘shopping’. Harley is a highly social person with a wonderful nature. She loves other kids and is really looking forward to the arrival of her new baby brother.
River Vanderfeen-Ball is still in the womb.