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Peter Torres Fremlin

“It is a theatre of contradictions”

Disability day, climate change, and curated news from 38 countries
A brightly coloured photograph of seven men and women, several of whom are wheelchair-users or visibly disabled. They are side by side on a kitsch, carefully choreographed stage backed by a screen with Korean text marking the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. Three women wear colourful traditional dresses, a man and women in the centre use wheelchairs and wear suits, two young men in sports clothing wear medals around their necks. Each person is holding a bouquet of flowers, and most of them have their mouths open or eyes closed, as if singing into their microphones.
Commemorations in North Korea. International day of persons with disabilities in Pyongyang, 3rd December 2025. Photo by Kim Won Jin / AFP via Getty Images

Dear Debriefers,

This edition does a world tour of recent disability news, starting with the contradictions of the international day of persons with disabilities.

From there we see the latest evidence of the impacts of climate change, and the emerging dangers of artificial intelligence chatbots.

There's more on disability and care, disability inclusion in the last place you'd expect it, and one of the world's longest exams. Plus, more from the nuns who ran away.

Browse highlights below, or explore the full guide of 105 hand-picked links: curated across 38 countries or 36 subjects. This edition picks up from the update in November.

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“It is a theatre of contradictions”

The international day of persons with disabilities was commemorated on the 3rd December around the world, including by North Korea. According to the state news agency:

“The performers represented their cheerfulness and vigour of bringing their hopes and talents into full bloom under the loving care and benevolence of the Workers’ Party of Korea. Prior to the meeting, the participants looked round photos showing the life of the disabled who lead a happy life under the most advantageous socialist system of the country.”

In Switzerland, Malick Reinhard summed up the the corporate use of the day as “handiwashing”. And, in Kenya, blogger Asimba George wrote about the illusion of impact, brought out especially on international disability day:

“It is a theatre of contradictions where corporate foundations and NGO heavyweights have mastered the art of cooking reports to simulate change, all while the lived reality of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) in Africa remains trapped in a desperate status quo.”

In the United Kingdom, Lucy Webster found the day difficult in the new political climate, with engagement with advocacy work decreasing, and pushback increasing: “I have experienced more hate this year than ever before”.

Investing in disability rights

Some good news on the day came from Australia, as they announced an $50 million ($33 million USD) investment in disability rights movements across the Indo-Pacific.

In Europe, the European Disability Forum also raises the question of funding and freedom of civil society. Noting that most European governments “keep deprioritising” support to organisations of persons with disabilities, they point to the “good example” of Luxembourg, “which increased funding for the disability sector in 2025 and 2026.”

Climate change's frontline

Reporting from South Asia, Invisible Impact is a documentary on the risks faced by people with disabilities, and how they are responding. It's directed by Jason Strother, and I really liked the interviews and the chance to better visualise the climate change-related disasters.

Further documentation on the impact of climate change on persons with disabilities comes from women with disabilities in Nepal and also testimonies and policy from Europe.

Despite these impacts on the ground, a new status report (from McGill University and others) shows continued gaps on disability in climate policy:

“While over 50% of states now reference disability in their climate adaptation policies, only 35 include specific measures, such as accessible communication platforms or inclusive early warning systems.”

Global advocacy on this continues: see the Disability Caucus' briefing paper prepared for the climate talks in Brazil.

AI amplifying delusions and self-harm

As more and more people use artificial intelligence, the risks become clearer. OpenAI itself estimates that, among its 800 million weekly users:

“Around 560,000 people may be exchanging messages with ChatGPT that indicate they are experiencing mania or psychosis. About 1.2 million more are possibly expressing suicidal ideations, and another 1.2 million may be prioritizing talking to ChatGPT over their loved ones, school, or work.”

The concern is not just that people in distress or with mental health conditions are using the AI chatbots, but that the chatbots may amplifying delusions or encouraging harmful behaviour. As Marlynn Wei writes, researchers describe the emerging problem of “AI psychosis”:

“In some cases, individuals who are stable on their medications stop their medications and experience another psychotic or manic episode. In addition, people with no previous mental health history have been reported to become delusional after prolonged interactions with AI chatbots, leading to psychiatric hospitalizations and even suicide attempts.”

Meanwhile, in other AI news:

Independent living and care

Damarie Kalonzo and Lauren Avery reflect how discussions on disability and care continue to evolve. They point to why the disability movement has found it difficult to recognise the rights of caregivers and especially mothers of children with disabilities:

“Many disability activists are hesitant to talk about the issues facing mothers or others providing unpaid care and support, as they themselves are either facing their own battles or have experienced medicalised or paternalistic approaches from parent movements.”

See profiles of independent living from Argentina, and Scader Louis sharing her story to reflect on care and support in Malawi.

For other recent studies:

Disability inclusion in Nazi Germany

I did not expect to see an article about Disability Inclusion in Nazi Germany. It is about Bann K, a pre-war section of the Hitler Youth for physically disabled people.

The authors, Matilda Svensson Chowdhury and Niklas Altermark, are careful to contextualise this “inclusion” in the many horrors of Nazi Germany, “one of the darkest chapters in the history of disability.”

They find three central ideas of inclusion in this group to show how “Bann K combined Nazi ideology with disability empowerment”:

“First the idea that the Bann K could instill in members the mindset needed to be included into [Hitler Youth] and the Third Reich. Second, the idea that inclusion of Bann K members is linked to the progression of Germany under Nazism, depicting Weimar Germany as having prevented physically disabled people from being included. Third, the idea that Bann K can free society from the burden of disability. These ideas can be viewed as a response to the challenge of legitimizing a disability organization in an ideological and institutional landscape idolizing health and strength and disdaining deviancy.”

One of the world's longest exam days

In other news...

In South Korea, blind students are given extra time on the Suneung, an exam for college entry. It takes the regular eight hours up to nearly thirteen.

In the United Kingdom, Motability, a disability benefit supporting people to get cars, is under scrutiny and facing cuts. This comes about because of fake news fuelled by social media and adopted by our political parties.

In the United States, further tributes to Alice Wong celebrated her as the “first disabled public intellectual”, remembered lessons learned as well as cursing over cookies, and vowed to keep fighting for disability justice.

A new resource. ATConnect is a new “global hub for assistive technology resources and programmes”.

And for those who appreciated the Austrian nuns who ran away from their old people's home: they have gotten support to stay in their former convent, as long as they give up social media. Neil Crowther sees their story in terms of the principles of “negotiated dependence”.

A decade of disability policy

A decade of disability policy. Happy 10th birthday to the Center for Inclusive Policy! As well as their wide-ranging research and mentorship on disability policy, they were the first supporters of Disability Debrief. To this day CIP provide essential support and fiscal sponsorship and this project wouldn't be the same without them. Here's to many more.

And to close out, catch-up on the past month on the Debrief:

Enjoy your adventures through disability news and let me know what you find,

Peter

Outro

Further reading. All the links from these curated editions go into the Debrief library, which now has over 7,000 links from over 170 countries. See below for contents from this month's update.

Connect. Get in touch. You can find me on Linkedin and Bluesky.

Help us do more. The Debrief is free thanks to reader support.

Recent News

This update has 105 curated links from 38 countries and regions, organized across 36 subjects.

You can explore it organized by subject or by country.

Subjects

Countries

Acknowledgements

Photograph by Kim Won Jin / AFP via Getty Images. Thanks to Celestine Fraser for selecting it.

And as always 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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