Disability Debrief

Ashton, by Kinanty Andini Dear Debriefers, In the past five years I've faced a lot of physical change (by which I mean decline and loss). I started using a wheelchair full-time and now need assistance breathing at night. These changes shut the door on much of the life I used to have before. That's getting older, right? Not according to Ashton Applewhite, a writer and activist challenging ageism.

A portrait of Disability Debrief, by Sonaksha Dear Debriefers, Somehow, this is the 200th edition of Disability Debrief. I sent out the first newsletter just to myself, and then shared the link with colleagues. Some of you have been here since then, others are getting your first Debrief today.

Learning, hands-on: A student reads a braille Quran at an Islamic boarding school, in Banten, Indonesia. February 2026. Photo by Agoes Rudianto/NurPhoto via Getty Images Dear Debriefers, Well it's definitely hot here in the south of England! I hope you're all well and staying cool. This edition takes us back to school with discussions of inclusive education (and the reasons it might not work). From there we see workplace barriers, reforming police forces, and much more in another global tour.

“Dear Disability Diary”, by Kinanty Andini Dear Debriefers, What images pop-up in your diary? Today's edition has a new open call for writing, and opens the Debrief mailbag to see reader responses to recent editions. Readers had quite a bit to say – and different views – on assisted dying (this section is marked clearly). Following that, readers explore questions about organisations that “represent” disabled people.

Breaking free, by Rachel Litchman Dear Debriefers, There is a presumed history of institutions closing in the United States through the 1980s. But the reality is that institutions never disappeared. I know because I lived in them. When I was thirteen years old, I had my first experience with psychiatric and residential institutionalisation. In these places, horrific abuse was the norm.

Din in my head: An explainer bee, dancing elephant, crawling ants, and the octopus around my neck. Illustrations by Fulltime Hedgehog. Priya Debriefers, Everyone else could fall asleep around me, picked up by the sleep-demon. But I stayed behind, awake, a child of five or six years old. And for the first time, I became conscious of the tizzy of uninterrupted internal thoughts, growing to the size of a continent.

In the picture. Aariana Rose Philip rolls up at the Met Gala, the first wheelchair user to do so in the Gala's history. New York, 4 May, 2026. Photo by Dia Dipasupil/MG26/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue. Dear Debriefers, Today we're on another tour of the world with a disability lens. We start at the Met Gala in New York. From there we go back to school and see the incentives that schools have not to be inclusive in their mainstream provision.

“The Weight of the House we Built”, by Kinanty Andini Dear Debriefers, For decades, the disability movement has largely organised around the idea that representative Organisations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) should be the primary vehicle for change. I’ve spent much of my career defending and strengthening that model.

“Weathering the Storm”, by Kinanty Andini Dear Debriefers, The last year has been tough for making an independent media project on international disability rights. There are severe funding cuts on disability work, a rising backlash against diversity issues, and it's steadily harder to get attention online. But, thanks to the support and generosity of its readers, the Debrief continued to grow.

Clothes as a Canvas, by Kinanty Andini Salam Debriefers, I grew up with a disability in Lahore, Pakistan. It meant facing the challenges of inaccessibility, stigma and the attitudes of people around me who understood very little about why I used a wheelchair. But that did not limit my interaction with the city itself, its vibrant culture, food and above all the evolution of Punjabi fashion around me. My disability took me on a journey of its own through fashion and styling.