Disability news and resources in Europe
This page lists the countries in Europe with resources and recent highlights.
Countries
- Europe
- Albania
- Andorra
- Austria
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czechia
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Italy
- Kosovo
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Moldova
- Montenegro
- Netherlands
- North Macedonia
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Russia
- Serbia
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
- Vatican City
- Western Balkans
- Yugoslavia
Recent Highlights
In Belgium:
Struck out Disability Debrief feature on physical education's lessons of exclusion and ableism:
“If gym was so terrifying, it wasn’t simply because I found it unpleasant and was no good at it. It was because I knew we weren’t just playing. Our games were the symbolic staging of something bigger and incredibly important: our place in our group. The sports pitch was where the border between the included and the excluded was being drawn.” (Jan, Disability Debrief)
In Europe:
“This should not be happening” Lessons on how backsliding democracy curtails disability rights:
“When democracies weaken, disability rights are threatened in many ways. Protest is quashed, the media silenced, rights mechanisms hollowed out and it’s harder for disability movements to organise in a climate of fear and mistrust.” (Oct, Disability Debrief)
Deinstitutionalisation and Later Developments in the Lives of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities. Lessons from the Nordic Countries:
“Challenging the popular idea of deinstitutionalisation as a “mission accomplished” in this region, it heralds discussion about how the relocation process has unfolded and what consequences it has had for people with intellectual disabilities in practice.” (Open Access Book, SpringerLink)
In France:
Anti-ableist activists and management associations a useful breakdown of political history of disability in France and understanding the different claims of organisations to represent disabled people. (2024, Capucine Lemaire)
In Germany:
The choices are not equal. Raúl Krauthausen challenges segregation of disabled people in Germany: in education, work and housing. (Mar, Disability Debrief)
In Hungary:
Falling for Budapest: Moving country with a progressive disability and finding a new attitude to risk. (Nov, Disability Debrief)
In Netherlands:
“We had a normal relationship, but people treated us differently” Personal essay by Inge Volleberg on growing up with Esther, her sister with Down Syndrome:
“In general, interactions went like this: I want to tell a funny story about my sister. Ah, they will not understand what is funny about it if they don't know about her disability. I quickly note her disability as a sidenote, so that I can tell the funny story. Now the mood shifts, the other person gets this sad look. They tell me: Aww, condolences? I am in no mood for my funny story anymore.” (May, Inclusion Europe)
In Poland:
The ‘tug-of-war’ for disability rights. The push and pull of progress and retreat from rights'-based approaches. (May, EDF)
In Sweden:
Disablised or Ablised?: Linguistic Categorisations of Dis/ability in Swedish Print Media Over Time:
“The study shows that the overall terms to name dis/ability and disablised people in Swedish have changed regularly, while the underlying concepts, structures and ways of categorisation regarding dis/ability remain the same. Dis/ability is shown to be understood along a medical-biological model as located in the individual. Ability is rarely mentioned. These results suggest that any attempts at changing mainstream society's conceptualisations of dis/ability need to involve more work than just replacing outdated or offensive words by new ones. The results also suggest a need for making tacit ableist norms explicit if they are to be challenged.” (2024, Disability Studies Quarterly)
In Ukraine:
Russia Targeted and Deported Disabled Children From Ukraine reporting on 84 disabled people, both children and adults, forcibly moved by Russia from the Oleshky Specialized Boarding School. (2024, New Lines Magazine)
In the United Kingdom:
BSL is not for sale: a Deaf-led approach to AI procurement:
“British Sign Language (BSL) AI systems are being procured across UK public services without adequate Deaf community involvement, creating institutional risks. Current procurement approaches treat BSL as a technical accessibility challenge rather than recognising it as a complete language with legal standing under the BSL Act 2022. This generates predictable failures that undermine linguistic rights, compromise service effectiveness, and create serious legal compliance risks.” (Sep, British Deaf Association)
Breathing in My changing body, new assistive technology and internalised ableism. (Jul, Disability Debrief)
Disability, loneliness and relationships: a thematic report. Disabled people “often have smaller networks than non-disabled people and are more dependent on these networks, which can lead to alternate definitions of friendship”. (Jul, Disability Unit)
Going off script. Moving through shame to find pride in disabled and queer identity:
“When I was four, my life started to veer off-script. An onset of strange symptoms and unexpected feelings made me feel different from the other kids.” (Jun, Disability Debrief)
The 'war' on disabled people and my fight for an independent life. Musician and activist John Kelly:
“You've got to chain yourself to the busses
Show them what the fuss is.” (2024, the Guardian)