About Melinda

Melinda Hildebrandt is a former film researcher and cinephile with a doctorate in British cinema.

She has contributed to key texts such as The Oxford Companion to Australian Film (1999) andThe Encyclopedia of British Film (2003).

The seeds of her passion for the movies were sown from early childhood with parent-sanctioned screenings of films like Lawrence of Arabia, Seven Samurai, Psycho, The Searchers and Duck Soup.

She has worked for over fifteen years as a senior administrator in the university sector. Long before disability became a part of her family life, her work was driven by a commitment to equity and access in higher education and student-centred projects for young people at risk.

Melinda loved writing from a young age, but it wasn’t until she started blogging about raising her deaf and autistic daughter Amelia in 2013, that she discovered the power of words to express the turmoil, grief, wonder and hope of her daily life.

Posts from her blog ‘Moderate-severe/profound... quirky’ have been published by Mamamia, ABC Ramp Up, Catherine Deveny and The Limping Chicken (UK deaf news and deaf blog).

Other pieces have been featured in parent support-group publications by Aussie Deaf Kids, Parents of Deaf Children and Aurora School Early Intervention.

Melinda lives in the gentrified northern suburbs of Melbourne with Amelia and her husband. Her interests include gardening, distance running, Pilates, alt-country music (especially with fiddles), German football, Marlon Brando and loud soprano singing in the shower. Sometimes Amelia makes it an operatic duet.