The award-winning comedian, writer, feminist and activist who died unexpectedly at the weekend aged 32 refused to be cowed by the fact that she suffered a disability.

It was this toughness that endeared her to people and enabled her to get heard where others could not.

She detested misguided sympathy towards her, writing recently that she was no ‘‘snowflake’’ — a term an admirer had used to describe her on social media. Instead she, now famously, referred to herself as a ‘‘strong, fierce, flawed adult woman’’.

Ms Young’s passing will be keenly felt in south-west Victoria where she addressed residents in August at a forum in Warrnambool. At the time she called for a greater focus on efforts to tackle violence and discrimination against women with disabilities.

While it might have been hard to imagine anyone taking on the feisty Ms Young and winning, the sad truth is that women with disabilities face multiple forms of discrimination including violence, verbal abuse and social isolation.

Her short but intensely bright life — leaving her home town of Stawell to study media and education at Deakin before joining the ABC as a much-loved presenter — was lived against the odds and she will never be forgotten by those who had the pleasure of meeting her.

Ms Young was a shining example of how to live a productive, generous and fulfilling life whoever you are, wherever you come from or whatever the setbacks you receive along the way.

She was a genuine fighter, a strong and uncompromising woman who took on the world and won.

Many will mourn her passing and rightly so, but Ms Young would not want them to spend too long feeling sorry for her or for themselves. She would much prefer it if they remembered the good times, the laughs, the wit and the strength of purpose.

And then she’d like it very much indeed if they just got on with it.