Stella Young spoke with 'searing honesty'

Stella Young was a diminutive comedian whose "searing honesty" made her a giant of disability advocacy.

Politicians, disability support groups and others paused on Monday to remember the feisty 32-year-old who labelled herself a "proud crip" and who used humour to challenge Australians to think differently.

Young passed away unexpectedly on Saturday, and a private funeral is being planned.

Her former employer, ABC Managing Director Mark Scott, said Young's advocacy liberated Australians to have a more frank and honest conversation about the issues people with disability faced, and the kind of support they needed.

"She spoke and wrote with a searing honesty and ... gave us insight into the lives of people with disabilities in a way that I don't think we'd really experienced before."

Young was the outspoken editor of the ABC's Ramp Up website, which recently ran out of funding.

"We set up that website with special government funding and that funding didn't continue ... but we kept an engagement with Stella because we knew what an important figure she had become," Mr Scott said.

She was due to record more ABC radio this week.

Political leaders joined in paying tribute to the comedian, who railed against the notion that disabled people were an inspiration.

"Stella dreamt of a society where people with a disability who studied, worked and achieved great things were conventional, even ordinary," Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said.

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Stella Young spoke with 'searing honesty'