Skye Cusack is a writer and comedian exploring the mess and magic of everyday life, from classrooms and workplaces to relationships, through a candid, comedic lens. In this episode of Speak My Language Skye shares her story about writing, comedy and managing creative opportunities when living with an invisible disability. She also chats with Ngaire about her newest work, 'Checked Out', which received a 2025 Elevate Grant, the 2025 Copyright Agency Varuna Fellowship, and was shortlisted for the 2025 Penguin Write It!
Skye Cusack is a Dulgubarra-Yidinji, Indonesian, and Chinese writer, journalist, and comedian based in Rubibi (Broome). As someone who lives with disability Skye notes that clearly defining and explaining both invisible and physical disabilities can be difficult, and that identifying symptoms and confirming diagnoses is often challenging, even after years of appointments with healthcare professionals.
People will say to me ‘Oh what’s your disability?’ and I will say ‘sometimes I just can’t walk and I don’t really know why or what I’m going to do about itSkye Cusack
Skye established her roles in the workplace through self‑advocacy, what she calls 'constructive complaining'. This approach has helped her move beyond feelings of shame and blame, both at work and in conversations with healthcare professionals. At its core, constructive complaining centres on educating others and identifying feasible structural and policy changes to make environments more accessible for people with disabilities.
You have to have a lot of love for yourself and a lot of love for the people you trying to constructively complain to
Growing up, Skye moved frequently, attending 14 different schools, and also experienced bullying. Despite these challenges, she found the structure of the Australian curriculum suited her learning style, and Skye went on to later earn a master’s degree in marketing after being admitted to university via alternative pathways, including recognition of prior work‑based learning.
Skye explores her own life experiences through creative writing. Recurring themes include mental health, disability, fatphobia, and the existential Blak crisis. Working in young adult (YA) comedy, she tackles the realities of self‑advocacy, stigma, and the dangers when systems fail you. She has created a story that she hadn't read before; one that places herself and her experiences in the centre, and one that finds the humour in everyday life living with disability.
I do like to find the absurdity in things… you might be like, ‘how is advocating for yourself to a doctor about weight stigma funny?' but I like to think that I found a way to do that.
As well as creating YA manuscripts that have landed Skye with multiple accolades like receiving a 2025 Elevate Grant, Skye also takes to the stage with her own brand of comedy which she describes as spinning yarns about her own crazy life.
I think I have a very subjective type of humour that just comes from being a blakfulla that’s just had like a hectic life.
The Speak My Language (Disability) program is an initiative funded by the Commonwealth Government under the Information, Linkages and Capacity Building (ILC) Framework. It is proudly led by ECCNSW and the primary national Partners are ECCV, ECCQ, MCCSA, MCNT, MCOT, ECCWA, and our national broadcasting Partners SBS.
Podcast Tile Artwork: Paul Constable Calcott
