News
Peter Torres Fremlin

The Chair of Saint Peter

The most famous wheelchair user in the world, and curated news on disability from 29 countries
A photograph of Pope Francis being lifted out of his wheelchair by a tall man wearing a dark suit. The Pope is wearing a hat and white robe that bunches as he is lifted. They are on stage with ornate golden furniture, next to a large white chair. Behind them there are huge candlesticks and a cross. A third man, in white and purple robes, looks on with a slight smile.
The late Pope Francis being lifted by an aide. Presiding over a mass in September 2022. Photo by Vincenzo Pinto/AFP.

Dear Debriefers,

I'm not caught up on how fast the world is spinning but here's another global tour of disability news, today from nearly 30 countries.

We dip into on what's going wrong in the US, meet a Deaf teacher in a mainstream school in New Zealand, rethink disability law and tour some of the latest in disability research and culture.

But we start by remembering Pope Francis who, in the last few years of his life, was the most famous wheelchair user in the world.

I'm struck even by this picture of him. He's being helped to stand in a way that I've asked friends, family and strangers to lift me ever since I was a teenager. (Although normally I'm wearing different clothes.)

Explore the full guide with 117 hand-picked links: curated across 29 countries or 42 subjects. This edition picks up from the update in March.

Peter Torres Fremlin is editor of Disability Debrief and is from the UK.

Disability Debrief is published through a pay-what-you-can model. Thanks to Abigail, Kelly and Phil for new contributions.

The Chair of Saint Peter

Pope Francis, leader of the Catholic Church, passed away on 21st April, aged 88. For the last few years of his life he was the most prominent wheelchair user in the world.

The late Pope first used a wheelchair for a public appearance in 2022, explaining that “I have to obey the doctor, who told me not to walk.” He acknowledged feeling “ashamed” to need the chair.

Catholic doctrine sees the Pope as infallible when speaking “ex cathedra” which means “from the chair”. The role of the Pope is seen as symbolically occupying the “Chair of Saint Peter”. And over the last few years the Pope performed his globally important role, occupying a fairly standard manual wheelchair.

Pope Francis used his wheelchair not just for public appearances at the Vatican but in wide-ranging travel, as far afield as East Timor and South Sudan. As well as assistance from his aide, temporary ramps were put in place – some were modest, although one cost Malta €45,000.

Among the faithful some felt his wheels could do with an upgrade. One French wheelchair user was shocked by how basic the Pope's chair was – “neither beautiful nor comfortable”. He made the Pope a new chair out of wood, using charred beams from Notre Dame. Similarly, a Mekong chair was gifted from a technical workshop for people with disabilities in Cambodia.

I won't try to assess his overall legacy, but an important part of what Pope Francis did was speak for the marginalized and excluded. Speaking at the end of the year he started to use a wheelchair in public, Pope Francis insisted that inclusion of people with disabilities not be limited to nice words:

“There is no inclusion if the experience of fraternity and mutual communion is missing. There is no inclusion if it remains a slogan, a formula to be used in politically correct speeches, a flag. There is no inclusion if there is no conversion in the practices of coexistence and relationships.”

So often assistive technology is seen as somehow contrary to a leadership position. Pope Francis's use of a wheelchair was a welcome example of making the slogans real.

Not new to the American political landscape

More on the Trump's administration impacts, carrying on from last time.

What I'm worried about recently: cuts to the Administration of Community Living, which coordinates federal policy on aging and disability and funds programmes such as Meals on Wheels and centers for independent living across the country.

Deported and disappeared. A Venezuelan man living in Texas was one of hundreds deported to a dangerous prison in El Salvador. His family say that immigration authorities saw his autism awareness tattoo as proof of gang membership. This is an awful parallel of how Salvadorian authorities captured a deaf man after mistaking sign-language for gang signs.

Running a government like a startup. Valerie Black points to a “eugenics logic”: “Startups are built on expendability”. And, on the wide-ranging impacts of the new government:

“Surreally enough, the current administration appears to have taken intersectionality to heart, albeit in the most perverse way possible: their assault on anti-racism efforts, trans rights, disability accessibility, and feminism—and far more besides—is not merely simultaneous but intertwined.”

Not new. Looking at how the US right is coming for disabled people, Sara Nović writes that:

“Leaving disabled people behind is not new to the American political landscape; the US has a history of eradicating the disabled.”

“Jeopardizing decades of hard-won progress, not just in the U.S. but across the world”. An urgent call to action regarding international leadership on disability rights.

The favourite thing I read this week

It's not all bad news here on the Debrief. (Like I say, I'm not caught up).

This is a very wholesome RNZ feature on a Deaf teacher in a mainstream primary school classroom in New Zealand. It's full of quotes about how the kids and school administrators are all loving it.

Phillip King uses New Zealand Sign Language and lip-reads what his students say. He uses a wide range of communication methods, including a bell to ring for attention and:

“King uses his laptop to read aloud, the whiteboard to write things down and pose questions and an app on his cellphone that transcribes words if the children have something they aren’t able to convey through sign.”

He has an interpreter for staff meetings or parent-teacher interviews. But with his classes he can phase the interpreter out and communicate directly with students, doing this as quickly as four weeks after meeting a new class.

Coming together as we fall apart

Last week I wrote about the recent Global Disability Summit (GDS) in Berlin and asked whether it was a goodbye in international disability rights.

The work continues. See a summary of the GDS from the organizers. Brings out highlights, key commitments and new initiatives. And has information on those who attended - us Brits made up 5% of attendees, the second-most prominent nationality after Germans, who made up 30%.

Make your own accessible conference. The Zero Project Team has shared a practical guide on conference accessibility – full of their own hard-won experience: “There is no perfectly accessible conference.”

Justice outside the law

Angharad E. Beckett, an academic in the UK, is asking us to rethink disability law.

Beckett is concerned that the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) is seen, in disability law, “as the pinnacle of disability rights achievement”. She argues that we need to explore other approaches too, especially those not made in relation to governments granting rights.

Beckett makes clear that she sees the CRPD as “an incredible force for good”:

“The UN CRPD has provided a legal and political framework that holds governments accountable, offering a mechanism to shame them into action when rights are violated. It has embedded disability rights within broader human rights law, ensuring a universal foundation for legal and policy reform while promoting intersectionality and supported decision - making. Beyond law, it has helped shift institutional and cultural attitudes, reinforcing the principle that disabled people are active rights-holders not passive recipients of care.”

But she asks what would happen if we thought about “disability rights through other traditions”:

“What if, instead of seeing justice as something secured through the state, we considered how it might be built through solidarity, interdependence, and shared responsibility? Might different legal architectures emerge – ones that rethink power, community, and care? Would this require a new conception of rights – not as individual entitlements/possessions, but as relational commitments? Could such a system scale beyond local communities? If justice were no longer secured through the state, what structures might take its place?”

More to explore

If you're into reports and research agendas, take a look at:

I found the “preconditions for inclusion” interesting as I don't love the use of the word “precondition”. I see how it's a response to arbitrary or isolated measures on disability, and there's a need to make clear the importance of non-discrimination, accessibility and other factors. But my own experience of inclusion shows me it can happen in places and situations where many of those “preconditions” are not met.

If you prefer TV, podcasts or books. I haven't gotten into these but they are all intriguing:

  • Ziddi Girls, a coming-of-age show on Amazon “gets disability right”.
  • Hunchback, a “a captivating short novella that follows the life of Shaka, a severely disabled woman who lives in a care home near Tokyo”.
  • Pod Access: Connecting d/Deaf and disabled podcasters with their audiences.

More from me

Welcome to many new readers who found the Debrief via my Q&A with Kaitlyn Arford. It was good to talk about building a freelance career and how the Debrief comes out of that.

The Global State of Disability inclusion in 2025. Together with Susan Scott-Parker I was on You Can't Spell Inclusion Without a D. Previous generations of disabled activists left us with a world that's better for disabled. Will we be passing a better one to the next generation?

Enjoy these highlights or the full guide (table of contents below). And let know what you find in your own adventures in disability news,

Peter

Outro

Further reading. All the links from these curated editions go into the Debrief library, which now has over 6,000 links from over 160 countries. See below for contents from this month's update.

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Connect. Get in touch, and find Disability Debrief on Linkedin.

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Recent News

This update has 117 curated links from 29 countries and regions, organized across 42 subjects.

You can explore it organized by subject or by country.

Subjects

Countries

Acknowledgements

The photograph of the late Pope Francis is by Vincenzo Pinto/AFP via Getty images.

Thanks to Celestine Fraser for selecting the photograph and research on Pope Francis.

And many thanks to everyone who shares links, news and reports – and the readers and organisations whose support makes this work possible.

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