Lived Experience and Opinion

International News

Vision Impairment: Science, art, and lived experience. An open access book which “blends individual stories, key research findings and the most recent scientific discoveries to present an informative yet optimistic overview of living with sight loss.” (Jan, UCL Press)

Eddie Ndopu on How Disability Helped Him Rethink Excellence

“The honest truth is that the more barriers that I have been able to break down as a person with a disability, the more barriers have awaited me on the other side.” (2023, Time)

Are Blind ‘Superpowers’ Another Caricature? A medical screening program in India reinforces belief in blind "superpowers." What does the science say? (2023, TD)

Yes, Disabled People Can Be Parents stories from disabled parents. (2023, Women Enabled International)

Naming Disability Including Disability Issue 2 explores “the power play between stigma and identity”. (2023, Including Disability)

Disability and Technology? No, Disability as Technology. "My argument is, rather, that technology is a constitutive mechanism of disability, that is, disability is a fully-fledged technology (artifact) itself, a complex and complicated apparatus of power, a composite of technologies and other artifacts." (2023, Biopolitical Philosophy)

An issue of the Massachusetts Review dedicated to Disability Justice (2022, Massachusetts Review)

Disability Pride Month July “looks to celebrate disability as an identity by sharing the experiences of the disabled community” (2022, Forbes)

The Valuable 500 reflects on What Disability Pride means to us. (2022)

How a Cyborg Challenges Reality “It seems obvious that cyborgs are first and foremost disabled people, and yet I’m stuck inside this other reality, defined by nondisabled people, where I make an appeal for personhood.” (2022, NYT)

From the Debrief's own Áine Kelly-Costello: Social Role Valorisation: What is it, and what’s the problem? “When people hold roles that are valued by others, they will become more valued as individuals”. Unfortunately this can have the side-effect of ”perpetuating the devalued status of disability and disabled people” by focussing on individual conformity. (2022, A Frame on Life)

Satirical take on Five Ways to Accommodate Sighties in the Workplace “Turn on the lights. You know this.” (2022, Squeaky Wheel)

A powerful tribute to her body from Frances Ryan: Living in a woman’s body: this body is a genetic mistake – but it is sex, laughter and beauty too.

"This body is a genetic mistake, a pitiable stare, the scan on a mundane Tuesday lunchtime with a doctor speaking in hushed tones by the bed.

It is glorious too, thanks. It is deep-in-the-bones laughter at 2am with people who love you; only strangers care that it is sitting in a wheelchair while doing so (“Have you got a licence for that thing, sweetheart?”). It is straight-As, promotions and beating expectations as much as the odds. It is being buckled over from the pain, clutching a public toilet bowl, pills and dignity rattling at the bottom of a handbag. It is sex, fevered goosebumps and kisses to the skin like magic. It is warm summers with friends, sunshine on bare legs and 90s dance music ricocheting through the air. It is fucking knackered." (2022, the Guardian)

Jane Waithera′s fight against the stigma of albinism (short video, no subtitles, 2022, DW)

Define Yourself: Riva Lehrer’s and Jan Grue’s Disability Memoirs (2022, LA Review of Books)

Living Inclusion a campaign featuring the voices and lives of persons with disabilities in the global south. (2022, GIZ)

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Latin America and the Caribbean

Portraying our diverse bodies. Animation of stories of women with disabilities. (2023, Fondo de Acción Urgente America Latina y el Caribe)

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Middle East and North Africa

Toxic positivity harms the disabled community (2022, The National News)

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Africa

Young people with albinism call for acceptance conversations with three advocates. (2023, UNICEF)

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Djibouti

Searching for identity “The award-winning Djiboutian author, Abdourahman Waberi, shares his reflections on writing, power and living with a disability.” (2023, Africa is a Country)

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Egypt

The reaction of Egyptians to meeting blind people on the street. Mostafa Attia shows, in a video, how Egyptians are the most helpful of any country he's travelled to. (in Arabic, 2022, Mostafa Attia)

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Ghana

The elite stigmatizes disability the most: “Ms Sophie Boakye Acheampong, President of the Little People Organisation of Ghana (LPOG) has called on Ghanaians especially the elite to train their children to respect difference in human beings.” (2023, Ghana News Express)

She's a U.N. disability advocate profile of Gertrude Oforiwa Fefoame new chair of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. (2023, NPR)

The story of Anaaba Agbango, the visually impaired farmer in Goka. (2022, Ghana Web)

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Kenya

How Baringo mum bounced back after losing both arms Gladys Chepyegon, a 35-year-old mother of three, runs a greengrocer’s in Kabarnet town. (2023, Nation)

How we navigate our careers despite disability an interview with Senior Probation Officer and Football player for Kenya Women Amputee team Caren Musungu. (2023, Business Daily)

Top 40 Under 40: feature on Patricia Mativo. (2023, BDO)

SARAH, a short movie “The story is centered on the life of Sarah who is a pregnant woman with disability. She is unable to access health services in time because of stigmatization and discrimination she faces.” (2022, DAYO Kenya)

Feature on Eve Kibare's story focussing on managing periods as a visually impaired woman. (2022, Mummy Tales)

Open letter to Kenyan Disability league leaders: “When will you rise to the occasion?” Argues that so far progress has been “low-hanging fruit” and ”having a few of persons with disabilities in to the system but not yet more robust gains for the Kenyans with disabilities.” (2022, Mugami Paul)

Citizen Reporting series features small business owner's COVID-19 story (2022, Inclusive Futures)

Kenyan activist Ashura Michael fights for disability and gender rights (short interview, no transcript, 2022, BBC)

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Malawi

Youtube channel from Du Lucius a “Deafblind young man from Malawi, student at secondary school and l will be sharing my life style, Deafblind and disability awareness” (2023, Youtube)

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Nigeria

Esther Suubi, Triumphing Psychosocial Disability. An interview by Debrief contributor Alexander Ogheneruemu, exploring Esther's life story:

“In primary school, I was bullied – which worsened my psychosocial disability. In high school there was so much discrimination – pushing me into the introversion I find myself today. My medication was causing me to gain weight which made me really uncomfortable with the snide remarks from people. I had to change schools after four years to complete the remaining two years of high school for no other reason than to be in an environment where people hardly knew who I was.” (Mar, BONews)

Interview with Olawale Alade Olawale Alade is a Nigerian Deaf nurse in the United Kingdom where he attends to Deaf adults with varying degrees of mental health challenges. (2023, BO News)

From telecoms engineer to disability advocate: interview with Dolapo Agbede (2023, Techpoint)

How discrimination affects Albinos freedom. (2023, Radio Nigeria)

It’s The Little Things: stories and life experience of people with visual impairments. (2022, Unbias the News)

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Rwanda

‘I Wish to Live a Normal Life’ For Many Rwandan Families, Caring for Their Children’s Needs Becomes a Job All Its Own. (2023, Disability Justice Project)

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Somalia

The Social Worker Making a Difference: Meet Dahir Abdulle. (2023, UNICEF)

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South Africa

Parenting a child with disability: A mother’s reflection on the significance of social support. “I avoided public areas because I did not want the community to know that my child was disabled and I was shy.” (2023, African Journal of Disability)

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Sudan

Elkhansa's Story “Elkhansa is a young leader in Sudan. She is a disability rights activist advocating for equal rights for disabled women and girls in her country.” (2023, ADD)

A moment that changed me: after losing my hearing, newspapers helped me find a way to cope (2022, the Guardian) By Saleh Addonia, a refugee from Eritrea, who later moved to the UK and whose short story collection the Feeling House has just come out.

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Tanzania

The life journey of a blind Tanzanian professor. (2022, The Citizen)

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Uganda

A Peace Fellow and polio survivor focuses on accessibility: feature on Ronald Kasule. (2023, Rotary)

Let it pass an animated poem about the lived experience of anxiety. (2022, Making it Work)

Why I do self-advocacy as a deafblind youth (2022, Voices of Youth)

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Zimbabwe

Being a deafblind child in Africa: My personal experience

"Unlike most fellow children with deafblindness, I was lucky enough to have an educated, working and caring father who supported me in my education. By the time he died, when I was doing my junior secondary school, he had built a foundation for my upbringing. My disability nevertheless haunted him. I would hear my parents whisper their helplessness and despair when I lost a great deal of my hearing and sight at the age of 10 and 15 respectively. It was a miracle to them that I continued to pass at school despite my deteriorating senses of sight and hearing. This is what encouraged them to keep me in school. They concentrated on enhancing my ability, rather than limiting me because of my disability. " (2022, Thought Leader)

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Bangladesh

Short video of Tagari's Story from Cox’s Bazar. (2023, CBM UK)

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Cambodia

Sokhak's story “Sokhak, 31, is a young leader working with ADD International, Cambodia. She comes from Kampot province, and has a degree in accountancy. She has worked in the disability rights sector for several years.” (2023, ADD)

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China

Staring with the heart a blind writer shares experiences on exploring hearing, touch, smell, taste, and intuition in their writing. (In Chinese, 2023, Ziqiang Wenyuan Micro Journal)

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India

Dear Editor, I Disagree: Disability inclusion must move beyond tokenism:

“While we celebrate limited entry points given to a segment of the disabled population, like accessibility in cinema halls, it will do us good to remember that such accommodations are only available to the non-controversial, mainstream, ‘good’ disabled citizens.” (Mar, The Indian Express)

Everyone is Good at Something. Stories and photographs of disabled people from all over India. (India Inclusion Foundation)

What It's Really Like to Date with a Disability! Excerpt from Abhishek Anicca's book The Grammar of My Body. (2023, Penguin)

Interview with Nu Misra, community leader, disability and queer rights advocate “I believe we don't just walk into revolutions, but also wheel, limp, hop, crawl into one or initiate one for ourselves. There is power in a movement with disability. A way of survival, of thinking and of doing with disability.” (2023, UN Women)

Reclaiming Consent As A Non-Visibly Disabled Trans Survivor (2023, Revival Disability Magazine)

There are too many barriers for persons with disabilities “Accessibility in India is often seen from the lens of the individual and the collective or societal approach is missing [...] It is not surprising that it is disabled individuals who have to take the onus on themselves and turn into activists and serial petitioners in courts.” (2022, Money Control)

Not Your Everyday Ableism a series of short videos to “to unlearn everyday ableist notions, acknowledge the need for creating disability affirmative spaces, and understand the ways for taking action, one conversation at a time.” (2022, That Sassy Thing)

Don't Mourn For Us, an advocacy poem by Aishwarya Othena (on Youtube, 2021, Rising Flame)

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Indonesia

‘We Are Born Perfect’ Rina Prasarani Has a Message for Disabled Women: “Don’t Give Up, Keep Fighting, and Show We Can.” (2023, Disability Justice Project)

‘I Feel Like an Outsider’ Facing Stigma and Discrimination, Ardiansyah, a 44-year-old Indonesian Man with Schizophrenia, Finds Refuge in a Mosque. (2023, Disability Justice Project) See also a poetic response to it on the Debrief.

Agus's Story profile on an international advocate for the rights of people with psychosocial disabilities. (In Bahasa, 2023, Detik Edu)

Sticks and Stones Naufal Asy-Syaddad Encourages Other Young Indonesians with Autism to Know Their Rights (2022, Disability Justice Project)

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Iraq

The inspiring journey of Chawan a 33-year-old from Erbil in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. (Mar, Iraq)

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Japan

New documentary Fujiyama Cottonton offers a look at life with disabilities. “In the film, Aoyagi attempts to show audiences how people at the welfare facility live full lives by communicating with others and pursuing simple passions,” (Feb, Japan Times)

Profile of Yui Yuda and the care that supports her independent living. (2023, The Japan Times)

Why is Japan Seemingly Obsessed with “Barrier-Free Minds”? “Why is the phrase “Barrier-free minds” almost always used, but there is rarely any mention of ‘Barrier-free spaces’, physical environments where people with disabilities can live?” (2022, Barrier Free Japan)

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Kuwait

Head Above Water: a disabled writer shares her journey with multiple sclerosis in a new book. “Head Above Water excels in exploring the mental and emotional scars of being a mixed-race disabled woman in a very traditional and patriarchal society.” (2022, Disability Horizons)

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Malaysia

Profile of Debrief illustrator KA Tan "Painting makes me reflect and reflect. When society is progressing, what should life be like and what is its meaning? Are those illusions important to life?" (In Chinese, 2023, Penang China Press)

A day in the life of people with visual impairments. (2023, Malaysia Now)

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Nepal

Crossroads a video documentary showing the lives of blind women in Nepal particularly in terms of relationships (and two whose husbands left them). Hardship, hope, and the collective efforts of activists working to change. (Mar, Disability Justice Project)

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North Korea

What is life like for disabled people in North Korea? - The Korea Times Escapees from North Korea talk to the situation of disabled people there. (2023, The Korea Times)

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Philippines

Notes on Paralysis “Becoming disabled saved my life”. (2023, Protean Magazine)

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Denmark

Dealing with chronic illness isolation by becoming my best friend “Isolation due to chronic illness is incredibly traumatic and soul-wrenching. I deal with it by becoming my own best friend. Here are my practices.” (2023, The Bed Perspective)

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France

A lot has been said about me: I had to move forward. Documentaries about the lives of disabled people, “who must learn to live with their bodies, bypass the narratives that we build on their backs and make do with the obstacles that society throws in their way.” (2023, BLAST)

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Ireland

I moved from all I know: “Jennifer McShane moved to London when it became too expensive and difficult to live in Dublin.” (2022, Irish Times)

I've Used A Wheelchair Since I Was 19. Why Don't I Need It In My Dreams? Is it denial, long-term memory of previous ways of mobilizing or mirroring what we see? It can take years for our dreams to catch-up with how our bodies change. (2022, Huffington Post)

Does Representation Miss the Point When it Comes to Creating Body Diversity in Fashion?

"Looking back on my relationship with my body—and perhaps more importantly, the world’s perception of it—it makes sense that I gravitated towards the fashion industry. Even in my teenage years, I knew that clothes could be used as a vehicle to create change. [...] It was also disappointing that such efforts were needed for people to see me the way I wanted to be seen." (2022, Vogue)

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Kosovo

“I have the right to be here in this bar, smoking a cigarette and drinking a coffee without people whispering, looking at me, and being surprised at how I can do this,” profile of blind poet Muhaxhiri Agusholli. (2023, Balkan Insight)

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Sweden

Help to live before help to die powerful personal testimony on why end of life decisions shouldn't be left to medical professionals (2022, Adolf Ratzka on Facebook)

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United Kingdom

I want to raise disability awareness but it doesn’t mean I’ll work for you for free “Expecting us to work for free doesn’t just do us a personal disservice, it adds fuel to the already raging fire of inequality our community faces on a daily basis.” (Mar, Metro)

Disabled Parents Interview w/ Laura Lulika sharing experiences of parenting and a traumatic birthing experience. (Mar, Painwise)

‘I wanted people to laugh not at me, but with me’: Tom Shakespeare on his new Novel, The Ha-Ha. (Mar, the Guardian)

This is how we do it: ‘His disability might change the sex we have, but we’ll adapt’. (2023, the Guardian)

A disabled farewell to 2023 Reflections on my year and how Judy's passing changes our movement (2023, Disability Debrief)

I learned to love my disabled body – why can’t my non-disabled friends love theirs? (2023, the Guardian)

‘I cried with anger’: the trials and torment when travelling with blindness. “‘Help’ ranges from being accused of faking it to being offered a wheelchair. That’s why society needs to be educated about the nuances of sight loss.” (2023, the Guardian)

Not Getting Better: Polly Atkin talking about her book, Some of Us Just Fall (2023, Lighthouse)

Why I'm not faking being sick: I'm faking being well. “A woman who is ill and disabled wouldn’t wear make-up or care about looking fashionable.” (2023, Brain Lesion and Me)

Ellie Simmonds on finding her birth mother: ‘During this journey I cried so much’ (2023, the Guardian)

Rosie Jones on death threats, anxiety and anger:

“Rosie Jones always wears earphones when she’s out alone. She jokes it is for pleasurable reasons – “a chance to listen to Steps” – but it is actually to block out something much more menacing: when strangers see her walk down the street with her movement affected by cerebral palsy, they shout abuse at her.” (2023, the Guardian)

‘Disabled is still seen as the worst thing a person can be’: Why Disability Pride Month is a vital celebration of what it means to be disabled (2023, Glamour)

The 90s are back why disability simulations are harmful. (2023, The Accessible Link)

‘I did not expect motherhood to legitimise me’: parenting with a disability – “four families share their eye-opening stories of love and joy” (2023, the Guardian)

On the Debrief: Don't you have mercy on yourself? How we turn our isolation into connection (2023, Disability Debrief)

What London Is Like When You're Deaf. (2023, Londonist)

Why We Need Spaces to Discuss Disabled Joy in All Its Complexity Rather than Inspiration. (2023, The Spill)

Moving Nowhere Here a poem by Kimberly Campanello. “I must be propped on pillows // to attempt anything at all // other than dream”. (2023, Granta)

Invisible: Documentary about 6 disabled women activists. (2022, Tend Project)

On living two lives:

“To be as disabled as I am is to have control of your life parcelled out to people you’ve never met and who will never know you. The doctor, the care recruiting firm, the dating agency. I am forever trying to claw it back; a decision made for myself here, a stand taken there. Sometimes I think I am succeeding, I can breathe a little easier. I feel in control - of my career, of where I’m going, of the small but vital details of how I live my everyday life. And then the dam breaks and the water is rushing again, seemingly higher than before. I find myself wondering whether this time it’ll finally flow over my head.” (2022, The View From Down Here)

Disabled people don’t need your outrage – we need you to fight with us for change (2022, the Guardian)

How I found my own disability pride “Disability pride came slowly to me, like dawn breaking on a December morning.” (2022, The View from Down Here)

'Being grabbed, pushed or touched without warning is terrifying when you can’t see' (2022, Mirror)

What Does it Mean to Forge a Body? Autonomy through Disability Cures and Gender Transition (2022, Catch these Words)

‘I’m a TV producer’s dream!’ – Rosie Jones on the trouble with being the poster girl for disabled comedy:

“sometimes think I am the ‘perfect amount of disabled’. I am being facetious but hear me out. I look disabled and I sound disabled, but I am not too disabled. I can appear on a panel show without disrupting the whole programme. There’s no need for subtitles, ramps or additional needs. I’m a TV producer’s dream!” (2022, the Guardian)

“No you’re not” collection of profiles of autistic women (2022, Wellcome Collection)

I'm treated differently depending on what kind of wheelchair I use - on the difference between using a manual and powered wheelchair. (2022, Metro)

Unbound an animation reacting to the phrase "wheelchair bound": "my wheels travel the world, and they dance, whirl in light and colour" (subtitles but no visual description, 2021, BBC)

My Life With Dynamic Disabilities: What You Should Know (2021, Refinery29)

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Vatican City

The Pope says that inclusion of disabled people must not remain a slogan. “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.” (2022, Vatican News)

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Canada

Disability culture is something you are a part of — not something that is happening to you:

“Disability culture isn't asking us all to put on capes and be superhuman; it's encouraging us to identify and celebrate the estimated 1.3 billion people worldwide who are disabled. Seeing disability as a culture reinforces that it's something you are a part of – not something that is just happening to you – and that leads people to connect.” (Feb, CBC)

Living with a spinal CSF Leak: making your home more accessible a detailed feature by Jodi Ettenberg on her accessibility modifications. (2023, Jodi Ettenberg)

Letters with Smokie Blindness and More-than-Human Relations: a book of letters from a guide dog and a disability studies professor. (2023, University of Manitoba Press)

Dispatches from Disabled Country a book by Catherine Frazee, “a poetics of identity, an ethos of empathy, and a sanctuary from philosophies of greed and utility.” (2023, UBC Press)

A Disability Justice Issue featuring writing and art from activists across Canada. (2022, Briarpatch)

What Does It Mean to ‘Crip’ Healing?

'We’re used to thinking of “healing” as specific treatments — surgery, pills, herbs, acupuncture. Those things are useful and important. But a cripped definition of healing would include anything that supports someone’s disabled body/mind. My cane; my friend’s garden bench chair they sit on while they weed; my heating pad and excellent ice packs; my friend’s sensory friendly hijab; the CRV my friend and his partner bought that can easily fit his wheelchair in the back; stim toys; my car with its disabled parking permit; the disabled parking spaces at the Grocery Outlet; the portable wheelchair at the protest; Zoom captions; the autistic Black, brown, Indigenous, Asian and mixed race group I hang out in online; and my close and extended disabled BIPOC friend family who are available to bitch and vent and commiserate and troubleshoot and doula each other: none of these are healing in the “cure” sense. But all of these things do a lot to ensure my or someone else’s chances of an excellent disabled life.' (2021, The Tyee)

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Mexico

Disability is living life in a more creative way. Profile of of Odila Agustín, who “decided to use her voice and personal experience to remove fears and increase inclusion at Procter & Gamble.” (In Spanish, 2023, Yo También)

Short-film “Sufficient” features five disabled people and the barriers they have faced. (In Spanish, 2023, Yo También)

A wonderful short video on inspiration porn reflecting on ableism, privilege and presentations of disability online. (In Spanish, no image description, 2022, Ruido En La Red)

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United States

Living With Muscular Dystrophy Makes Death My Shadow Partner by Alice Wong. (Mar, Time)

I’m Not The Only One In My Family With A Disability. But I’m the First to Release Shame (Mar, Refinery29)

What Can Deaf Philosophy Teach the World — and How Will It Change It? An interview with Teresa Blankmeyer Burke. (Feb, Truthout)

Your 2024 Disability Horoscopes (Jan, The Squeaky Wheel)

Sick of Exclusion: Making Space for Chronic Illness in Disability Advocacy Spaces:

“The medical model of disability does everyone harm, and should not be the prevailing way of framing disability in our societies. However, the emphasis placed on divorcing disability from a medical context often makes chronically ill people the scapegoat.” (Jan, Women Enabled International)

Bowling Without Sight Scott Krahn and Robb Fischer’s short film follows a trio of friends who take part in a bowling league for people who are visually impaired. (Jan, New Yorker)

Justin Cooper: The Accessibility Advocate A Black disabled photographer, filmmaker and podcaster. (2023, Chicago Reader)

He hits four L.A. raves a night in a wheelchair: ‘We need more disabled people going out’ (2023, Los Angeles Times)

How to navigate a chronic illness Whether it’s your own or someone else’s (2023, Vox)

1,374 Days My life with long covid. (2023, NYT)

My Tattoos Have Helped Me Reclaim My Chronic Pain “My life involves two kinds of needles.” (2023, Refinery29)

How I Really Feel About Sex Work and Disability as a Disabled Client. (2023, Andrew Gurza)

How a Blind Black Entrepreneur Thinks About Race thoughtful interview with Kamille Richardson. (2023, Who We Are to Each Other)

Against Technoableism review of Ashley Shew's book: “she argues that technoableism — the popular depiction of tech as a wholesale cure for disability — does real damage by positioning the disabled body as fundamentally broken.” (2023, New York Times)

Disability Ink Goes Mainstream challenges of getting a tattoo with a physical disability and how they can be a “great way to celebrate and commemorate your life on wheels.” (2023, New Mobility)

Blindness transformed my social world, and I changed with it:

“Especially disruptive were the sudden and striking changes in my interactions with others. Strangers often seemed anxious around me. Even people I had known for years sometimes avoided me. Other blind people told me of family members who were embarrassed by their blindness.” (2023, Psyche)

How adaptive gardening shifted my self-perception as a disabled woman (2023, Washington Post)

The Accessibility Profession Can Be Stressful, Exhausting, and Frustrating (2023, Access * Ability)

Welcome to the Disabled Future ”I am aware of the way my body serves as a warning”: a comic illustration of the disabled future. (2023, The Nib)

I Have a Choice to Make About My Blindness

“I could pull out my phone and try to use its magnification or text-to-speech capabilities to read the menu, or ask my family for help. There’s a powerful tension between the independence facilitated by assistive technologies, and the possibility of interdependence that can emerge from the exchange between disabled and non-disabled people. This tension has never been more pronounced than today, when advances in technology stand to usher in an unprecedented era of independence for disabled users.” (2023, New York Times)

We don’t all “have the same 24 hours.” “One of the things that people with disabilities inherently lose access to when we become disabled is that we don’t have the same 24 hours as everyone else does. The disability time thief sees to that.” (2023)

Loving Our Own Bones “A transformative spiritual companion and deep dive into disability politics that reimagines disability in the Bible and contemporary culture”. By Julia Watts Belser. (2023, Beacon Press)

‘I Don’t See the Wheelchair, I Just See You,’ Says Lying Coworker Who Does See Wheelchair. (2023, The Squeaky Wheel)

What Does It Mean to be Blind? A Writer Chronicles the Loss of His Vision. In “The Country of the Blind,” Andrew Leland explores the history, the culture and the experiences of blind people. (2023, New York Times)

Beyond Dining in the Dark: What It’s Actually Like to Eat Out When You’re Blind. “The biggest problem for a blind diner has very little to do with any mechanical or logistical difficulty of blindness, and instead centers on the condescending, exclusionary, or simply ignorant attitudes and behaviors of sighted people.” (2023, Eater)

Crip Negativity an open-access book by J. Logan Smilges. “Smilges asks and imagines what horizons might exist for the liberation of those oppressed by ableism—beyond access and inclusion. [...] Smilges proposes that bad crip feelings might help all of us to care gently for one another, even as we demand more from the world than we currently believe to be possible.” (2023, Manifold @uminnpress)

"All the parts work together": Author Sara Nović on Identity, Adoption, and Falling Short as a Parent. (2023, Mutha Magazine)

Honoring All of Ourselves: On Disability and Transness. “Transness and disability are frequently linked and presented as a danger by state legislatures as they dehumanize trans people and deny rights” (2023, Disability Visibility Project)

Quad moms: Portraits of mothers with disabilities (2023, CBS News)

Low and Slow A series on the joys and pleasures of eating, cooking, and sustenance (2023, Eater)

Activism, Adaptation, or Awareness? Different modes of action in modern disability culture. (2023, Disability Thinking Monthly)

Our Son Has Down Syndrome. Then we started to hear a line that many parents of a child with a disability hear: “God only gives a burden to those he knows who can handle it.” (2023, Huffpost)

My Son & I Both Have Autism. My Wordless Days With My Son Are Filled With Love (2023, Romper)

Disability Conference Rejoices in Disregarding the Pandemic Just Like Everyone Else. (2023, The Squeaky Wheel)

How A Disabled Chinese Immigrant Turned Polio And Ableism Into Becoming An Apple Executive And Author (2023, Forbes)

I Am Going Blind, and I Now Find It Strangely Exhilarating. “Daily life has a renewed delight and vigor. I am learning new things constantly. The most ordinary tasks, like going to the post office, have become terrifically interesting. In terms of everyday life, I feel that I am finally in there, more mindful and alert, more fully present. I have chosen curiosity over despair.” (2023, New York Times)

Disability Is Always Someone Else’s Problem Why I’m not celebrating Disabilities Awareness Month. (2023, The Nation)

Imani Barbarin: My Experience As A Black Woman With Cerebral Palsy I Didn’t Think I’d Make It Into Adulthood (2023, Refinery29)

5 Things I Wish I Understood As A Disabled Youth Andrew Pulrang's thoughts for young disabled people. (2023, Forbes)

Alice Wong on Hospitalization, Crowdfunding Medical Care, and Finding Love In Community: “a paper tiger is delicate and light, it can fold and transform itself, resisting the forces that seek to crumple it” (2023, Teen Vogue)

Five Ways to Clarify You’re (Badass) Disabled and Not (Inspirational) Disabled (2023, Squeaky Wheel)

Profound discussion of how ableism enables all forms of inequity. “Ableism plays a leading role in how we frame, understand, construct and respond to race, class, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, nationality, criminal status, disability, and countless other identities.” (2023, Truthout)

4 Ways People With Disabilities Can Have Privilege Too “Money can buy at least some access and opportunity – which in turn increases social acceptance, and can even reduce a disabled person's exposure to ableism”. Neatly summed up in Game of Thrones as “If you’re going to be a cripple, it’s better to be a rich cripple.” (2023, Forbes)

Deaf Role Model of the Month: Pamela Molina (2023, Deaf Unity)

How Innovation Sets Me Backwards Tech that could be enabling me is impairing me instead. (2023, Immerse)

Sipping Dom Pérignon Through a Straw. Autobiography by Eddie Ndopu. “Reimagining Success as a Disabled Achiever” (2023, Legacy Lit)

Ageist? Ableist? Who, Me? “Think what older people could learn from them about asking for help, adapting to impairment, and age pride! Think what younger people with disabilities could learn from olders about moving through life. Think how we’d all benefit if hearing and mobility aids were stripped of stigma. Let’s get interdependent!” (2023, Generations)

What disabled people know about making better New Year’s resolutions resolutions to do less and quit Yoga. (2022, Washington Post)

'My Life Is in My Caregivers' Hands': Disability Advocate Alice Wong's Vision for a New Approach to Health Care. (2022, KQED)

Year of the Tiger. Alice Wong's book on her activist life: “Drawing on a collection of original essays, previously published work, conversations, graphics, photos, commissioned art by disabled and Asian American artists, and more, Alice uses her unique talent to share an impressionistic scrapbook of her life as an Asian American disabled activist, community organizer, media maker, and dreamer.” (2022, Disability Visibility Project) See an exerpt in Teen Vogue.

Our Meeting on Accessibility Is Just Down Those Stairs. “There is a special lift that would help you down the stairs, but it has been out of order for the last ten years.” (2022, McSweeney's)

Progress Over Perfection: A Better Way to Accessibility: “Don't wait until everything is done and perfect. The small steps make a big difference. [...] Educate, don't berate.” (2022, Meryl Evans)

Alice Wong: I Still Have a Voice.

“While recovering, communication access is one of my greatest challenges since I can no longer speak. People have talked over me, ignored me, or became impatient as I type my responses. I currently use a text to speech app called Proloquo4text. The voice options are robotic, clinical, and white. It mispronounces slang and Chinglish, a mix of Mandarin and English which is part of my culture. It also fails to capture my personality, cadence, and emotions.” (2022, KQED)

Constant Cravings “My feeding tube means I can no longer enjoy the feeling of being sated after a meal. But there are other ways to nourish myself beyond my body.“ (2022, Eater)

Queer, Crip and Here: Meet blind writer Caitlin Hernandez (2022, Washington Blade)

For 'disabled oracle' Alice Wong, rest is a radical act. (2022, Los Angeles Times)

11 Disability Rights Activists on Where the Fight for Justice Stands (2022, Teen Vogue)

What It's Like to Fall a Lot Because of My Disability “Really, I probably fall as often as you get Starbucks.” (2022, The Mighty)

Growing Up As A Disabled Latinx Immigrant In America. “I believe that my community is best served when we gather and envision a liberated world outside of oppressive systems, and we fight toward it everyday. We’ve always been our own best answers.” (2022, Refinery29)

My ICU Summer: A Photo Essay. Alice Wong's harrowing experience in the hospital system. (2022, Disability Visibility Project) Alice is fundraising to get the resources needed to live in community.

I’m Going Blind. This Is What I Want You to See. “It’s time to expand our definition of blindness.” (2022, NYT)

My Experience as an Immigrant and Expectant Mother with a Physical Disability. (2022, Blogs @ Brandeis)

Benevolence Porn “I suggest that we consider benevolence porn as a means of distinguishing media attention that centers the abled person rather than the disabled person.” (2022, Not an Angry Deaf Person)

A new book, by John Kemp, Disability Friendly: How to Move from Clueless to Inclusive, “a call to action for businesses around the world to realize the opportunities presented by employing people with disabilities.” (2022, Lakeshore)

The Tragedy of Nondisability: A Sad and Boring Life. “As crip testimonies show, it can be a relief to be liberated from nondisabled culture, with its fixation on prescriptive life-stages and rituals, to be followed in a specific way and at specific times from birth until death. Crip culture stands in opposition to this culture, as a site of non-normativity, resistance, and playful world-building.” (2022, Biopolitical Philosophy)

‘Is That Ableist?’ Good Question. (2022, NYT)

Disabled Community Disappointed that Corporations Don't Pander to Them During Disability Pride Month “I have the right to be pandered to and patronized just like any able-bodied person,” one disabled consumer told us. “I already pay more for accessibility in my daily life; I have the right to pay more for branded pride merch too.” (2022, Squeaky Wheel)

Selma Blair: It’s Time We Shift the Story About How Disabled People Are Represented (2022, Variety)

Observing Disability Pride Month this July (2022, Human Rights Watch)

Americans with Disabilities Act Turns 32 Buys a Motorcycle and Gets a Cute Pixie Cut (2022, The Squeaky Wheel)

Care Tactics an essay on “hacking an ableist world”, the tech that goes viral versus the adaptations we actually use the new worlds that disabled people and their caregivers are building. (2022, The Baffler)

It’s Time for ‘Crip Time’:

“The concept of crip time emerges from disabled experience and acknowledges that people with disabilities experience time and the demands of time differently from nondisabled persons. Crip time means that we may need to sleep more or longer, that it may take us longer to cook a meal, that it might take longer to get from point A to point B, or—most relevant to the academy—that it might take longer to write the book, that we may need to schedule meetings later in the day because that is when our bodies and minds are most functional, or that we may need additional time on our tenure clock because of health-related disruptions in our scholarly production.” (2022, Inside Higher Ed)

In New York City, a video feature on wheelchair users, discussing adaptive sports, accessibility and inclusion. (2022, CUNY TV)

The Micropedia of Microaggressions - the first encyclopedia of microaggressions. (2022)

Short documentary film, My Disability Roadmap “The path to adulthood is a precarious one for those with disabilities. So Samuel Habib, 21, seeks out guidance from America’s most rebellious disability activists.” (2022, NYT) The NYT page doesn't load properly for me; you can also see the film at Like Right Films.

Disability Justice Resource Directory evolving curation of disability justice tools, resources and best practices. (2022, Creating Freedom Movements)

I'm Deaf And I Have 'Perfect' Speech. Here's Why It's Actually A Nightmare. (2022, HuffPost)

Autism Speaks, and It’s Telling Allistics to Shut Up (2022, Jonah Rothman)

Is There A Healthy Place For ‘Inspirational’ In Disability Culture? (2022, Forbes)

I Approach Polyamory With the Same Drive I Do My Work.

'As I hopped across genres [of writing], and from page to screen, nondisabled people would ask, “Why don’t you just be yourself?” and I would hear, in their question, Tell the story we expect: Your disabled life is very hard, you are very sad, but then you overcome it and are very happy. I refused. I’m not Cyborg Cinderella. I’m not a parable. I’m an artist.' (2022, The Cut)

Rebecca Cokley on her Break-up with Little People America:

“It is harmful to be surrounded by people who are actively celebrating the eradication of your people. Because the reality is, average height people and corporations don’t see us as a distinct people, as a culture. We are patients and a market. A majority of average height family members see us as a flaw in the genetic code, a reminder that their loved one is not EXACTLY like everyone else in their family. For some parents, our dwarfism is a reminder that there is always something that they will not fully understand about their child.” (2022, Disability Visibility Project)

If you're interested in controversy about Autism, see this Position Statement on Language, Images and Depictions Concerning Severe Autism This statement criticizes "vocal activists and autism self-advocates" in ways that I don't agree with, but I provide this FYI and because there are important issues in play. (2022, NCSA)

An interesting twitter thread from @cmmhartmann on "feel[ing] torn about the trend of people describing their physical appearance during meetings for those who are blind/low vision. [...] I am uneasy with the assumption that visual details are better." (2022)

Ableism Is More Than A Breach Of Etiquette — It Has Consequences (2022, Forbes)

Disabilities are not binary. Why do we treat them that way? (2022, AAMC)

NPR Life Kit: Don't be scared to talk about disabilities. Here's what to know and what to say, feature with Emily Ladau, with links to further resources. (2022, NPR)

Dave Grohl, of Foo Fighters and previously Nirvana, talks about hearing loss: ‘I’ve Been Reading Lips For 20 Years’ “I’m a rock musician. I’m fucking deaf. I can’t hear what you’re saying.” - and more on how he performs and makes music. (2022, HuffPost)

After Disability Awareness, What’s Next? (2022, Forbes)

Working definition of Ableism updated in January 2022:

A system of assigning value to people's bodies and minds based on societally constructed ideas of normalcy, productivity, desirability, intelligence, excellence, and fitness. These constructed ideas are deeply rooted in eugenics, anti-Blackness, misogyny, colonialism, imperialism, and capitalism. This systemic oppression that leads to people and society determining people's value based on their culture, age, language, appearance, religion, birth or living place, "health/wellness", and/or their ability to satisfactorily re/produce, "excel" and "behave." You do not have to be disabled to experience ableism. (2022, Talila Lewis)

To Hold the Grief and the Growth: On Crip Ecologies

"Crip ecologies, crip time, crip ingenuity, crip spirit radically aim to question root systems that keep our imaginations limited and starved. How can we channel joy within our own skins before there is the stethoscope, the specialist’s jackhammered interrogation, before all the stigma we battle? I am not asking to look beyond it, because these constraints in our beings are here and ever-present. I am asking, as poets, as curious people who want liberation, how do we revel in the grief and also the growth we experience? In what ways does this unpack how we are taught to perceive place and nature?" (2022, Poetry Foundation)

Tina's art: "How I see the world" Art and photography from someone with Cerebral visual impairment. (2022, Perkins)

You Are Not Entitled To Our Deaths COVID, Abled Supremacy & Interdependence

"My people are dying and terrified. And you don’t seem to care. You don’t seem to care because you don’t see them–see us–as your people too. When you talk to me about racial justice or housing justice or healing justice or gender justice, who exactly are you talking about? Whose justice are you fighting for? Because it never seems to include disabled people or if it does, it is only in theory, not practice; only to make yourself look better. Or only when disabled people are in the room or when disabled people initiate the conversation. " (
"My people are dying and terrified. And you don’t seem to care. You don’t seem to care because you don’t see them–see us–as your people too. When you talk to me about racial justice or housing justice or healing justice or gender justice, who exactly are you talking about? Whose justice are you fighting for? Because it never seems to include disabled people or if it does, it is only in theory, not practice; only to make yourself look better. Or only when disabled people are in the room or when disabled people initiate the conversation. ", 2022, Mia Mingus)

Q&A With Lainey Feingold, Disability Rights Lawyer on structured negotiation and "negotiating instead of suing". (2022, Equal Entry)

What Counts as Seeing A conversation between Alice Wong and Ed Yong, about Ed Yong's books on biology. Includes reflections on ableism in scientific writing:

“I’ve read a lot of writing on the senses, both about humans and other animals, and it’s really striking to me that people gravitate towards big, sweeping statements about humans as a species that clearly don’t apply to all members of the species. One of the most common things you’ll read on this topic, from almost any source, is that humans are a visual species. We are visual creatures. That’s true on average, but millions of people are blind or have sight impairments. So if you’re a blind person, what does it mean to have someone repeatedly tell you humans are a visual species? Does that mean that you’re less than human?” (2022, Orion Magazine)

The Future Is Disabled a new book by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Prophecies, Love Notes and Mourning Songs. (2022, Arsenal Pulp) See an interview on Ms Magazine.

Society of Disabled Oracles “a living chorus and archive of disabled wisdom from the past, present and future. We have been waiting for you. This is a collection of ‘telegrams’ by disabled oracles to the world.” (2022)

Reframing Entrepreneurship And Disability To Shape A New Business Culture describes the way we make changes within organizations as 'intrapreneurship'. (2021, Forbes)

On Marta Russell’s Money Model of Disability Locating disability in its economic circumstances, rather than in terms of stigma: seeing the industries of charity and care that commodify disabled people. (2021, Blind Archive)

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Australia

Khadija Gbla is now out of the disability closet and feels more powerful than ever. “It took me 34 years to be able to have the space, the opportunity, the safety to give that to myself and say I am disabled.” (2023, ABC News)

Nobody I’ve been locked up with in a psychiatric hospital felt ‘proud’ of their illness. “But the sickest people I’ve ever known – myself included – have had almost no part in this opening up, as if we’re suffering from a different condition altogether.” (2023, the Guardian)

As a disabled woman, my self-portraits help me reclaim my body. (2023, ABC News)

Ableism and disablism – how to spot them and how we can all do better. (2023, The Conversation)

My talking, flameless stove How my talking induction stove gave me the confidence to cook. (2023, ABC News)

Women with disability already battle stereotypes. I can't afford to be an angry, brown woman, too. (2022, ABC News)

Re-Frame 2022 a TV show showcasing “stories from all around the country highlighting perspectives from people with disability” (2022, ABC)

Reflections between Australia and Indonesia on how #MeToo gave me a vocabulary to claim disability rights “my reaction to unsolicited help formed the crux of my dilemma. I felt torn between the need to keep myself safe, and the pressure to meet society’s expectations that I would welcome help.” (2022, Unbias the News)

Forming body image as a blind person “When I was younger, I trusted other people's perceptions of my appearance more than my own.” (2022, ABC News)

Special Issue on Writing Disability in Australia (2022, Australian Literary Studies)

The Disability Pandemic:

”I lived in two worlds during COVID. One that suddenly got more open and inclusive, where I was asked to talk at events, on television, to Senate committees. I pasted lipstick on, and calmed my frizzy hair, adjusting a badly fitting shirt, so I could tell the world that disabled people needed help. Then I would scrub it all off, limp to the kitchen and face the anxiety swarm about there being no food.” (2022, Meanjin)

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New Zealand

Risk: A visual poem by Ruby Solly exploring the intricacies of indigenous, disabled pride. (Feb, The D*List)

Prudence Walker on getting over our imposter syndrome. “The new disability rights commissioner's introduction to disability was confusing and medicalised; it wasn’t until she met others with similar experiences that she accepted who she was.” (2023, D*List)

Articulations: Henrietta Bollinger's “debut essay collection speaks to their experiences as a queer, disabled person, and as a twin.” (2023, Tender Press) See an interview with the author on D*List.

Dear mum, from your disabled child:

“Mum, I want you to be proud of me. Deeply, viscerally proud. But pride looks different for me than it does for others. Other people feel proud – inspired, even – when a disabled young person like me gets out of bed in the morning. When we get a certificate at school. But I want you to know that I feel proud most when I drink wine through a straw without feeling embarrassed. I feel proud when I’ve processed my internalised ableism enough to hang out with my crip friends on a Saturday night in public. And I would love it if you could celebrate those moments with me too!” (2023)

#DynamicDisability: How a hashtag changed our lives discovering language to describe fluctuating disabilities helped Melissa Irving find herself and her people. (2023, D*List)

Human not machine: how autistic writers are writing new space for themselves:

“Why are autistic people so attracted to these magical or other-worldly connections? Most of us experience loneliness and isolation – and if we are repeatedly rejected by humans then the idea of friendship with ghosts or aliens may almost seem less far-fetched.

“It’s also the fantasy we might be able to meet someone else on equal terms; both of us having to adapt to and learn each other’s way of communicating, rather than always having to be the ones who make the effort, exhausting ourselves to the point of burnout.” (2022, The Spinoff)

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Samoa

From Stage to Society Terubeimoa (Ruby) Nabetari Takes Center Stage in Driving Meaningful Social Change in Kiribati (2023, Disability Justice Project)

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Argentina

Get to know Sol Camila Lugo artist and autistic person, talking about her own life and the importance of getting a certification of disability. (Short video, in Spanish, 2023, Agencia Nacional de Discapacidad)

Borges Dealt With His Anxiety About Going Blind by Learning a New Language. Andrew Leland on His Own Weakening Vision, Braille, and Making a Commitment to Read with Visual Aids. (2023, Lithub)

Julia risso, podcaster and activist: “I hate the word inclusion. I don't want to be included anywhere, I'm already here.” (In Spanish, 2023, BBC News)

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Brazil

Invisibility, prejudice and ableism: we need to deconstruct to construct. (In Portuguese, 2023, Viver Sem Preconceitos)

Would you buy a friend for your child with disability? Isolation lived by disabled people can lean to loneliness and psychological suffering. (In Portuguese, 2023, Sler)

An anti-guideline on accessibility to challenge the silos and specificity disability gets put into. (In Portuguese, 2022, SISEM-SP)

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Peru

Why aren't there inclusive cities and societies? A video profile of Andrea Burga. (In Spanish, Jan, DW)

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