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Peter Torres Fremlin

Gold medal in discrimination

The Olympics and recent disability news from 47 countries

Dear Debriefers,

Today's Debrief is your monthly guide to international disability news. We go to the Olympics to see discrimination, find threats to disabled people in far right politics, and witness the war in Gaza.

This edition goes from the first stairlift in England to how artificial intelligence isn't impressed by disability leadership. We have disability pride, disability wrath, and much more.

Thanks to all for so many kind responses to Fall with Me, the story of my childhood told through its falls. The liberating thing about writing on disability experience is that it creates new ways to connect with each other.

Before we dive into the Olympics, one note: the Debrief will be taking a publishing break in August. I take it as time to rest and regroup, and will be back in your September inbox.

Explore the full guide to 150+ hand-picked links: organized by subject or by country.

Reader support makes the Debrief possible. Thanks to Becky for a new contribution.

Gold Medal in Discrimination

The Paris 2024 Olympic Games say that their slogan is “Games wide open”. According to the organizers, “since day one, the Paris 2024 project has been all about openness”. There are some accessibility measures, 280,000 tickets reserved for people with disabilities, accessible shuttles, fast-track entry, audio description and other tech for people to follow the Games.

But the Games saw shocking exclusion even before they started. As the Olympic Flame toured France, some local government and health agencies issued instructions to hospitals to not allow psychiatric patients outside on those days. This move was contested as restricting the rights of hospitalised people and also in its implication that those with mental illness are inherently dangerous.

Going further, the feminist disability collective Les Dévalideuses gives a gold medal for discrimination to the Olympic and Paralympic Games. They see how the Games have served as a cover for “social cleansing” of the most vulnerable. Beautiful promises of universal accessibility look good but, according to Les Dévalideuses, have not been met. And the group further protests what it sees as ableist stereotypes reproduced by the Paralympic Games.

Indeed, as the Paralympics approach, there is increasingly intense discussion over its communications. Once again the Paralympics TikTok is getting attention because of its presentation of athletes through meme-based comedy. Shane Clifton is among those who welcome its “genius” because “our bodies are delightfully ridiculous”. Others however have mixed feelings or dislike it for attracting audiences for the wrong reasons and contrasting negatively with approach of the Olympics social media, which does not mock its athletes in the same way.

See previously on the Debrief where I discussed the Paralympic videos and its wider challenges of representation.

A question of survival

US politics has moved quickly in the weeks since I wrote about ageism and ableism in relation to Biden's candidacy. Biden has stepped out of the race. As disability satirists Squeaky Wheel announced the news, “it's ok to back out of plans if you don't have the spoons.”

But ageism and ableism are still playing a central role. Kamala Harris' refreshed campaigning style includes using ageism in attacks against Trump. These comments on Trump's age or appearance are gratuitous and betray the values of equality and respect that his opponents supposedly pride themselves on.

Among the ever-growing list of substantive reasons Trump disqualifies himself on are recently-revealed comments he made during the pandemic about those with disabilities or complex health needs: “maybe those kinds of people should just die”. Furthermore, the conservative project for a Trump presidency, Project 2025, poses a threat to disabled people because it proposes attacks on minority groups and limitations on government agencies. They could well be administrative pathways to realise the ideology inherent in Trump's remarks.

Meanwhile in Europe, the growing rise of the far right is also seen as a threat to disabled people. Back in France, Les Dévalideuses see fighting the far right as a question of survival. In Germany, a residential home for disabled people was vandalised with the awful message that “Euthanasia is the solution”. One commentator sees this as reminiscent of very dark times and calls for more understanding and education to counter the rise of the extreme right.

Here in the UK our recent election took us (slightly) leftwards. Disabled activists have “thrown the gauntlet down” for the new government to address the problems left by the previous government. One disabled mother asks if she is included in promises of change: “I know many say we have to be patient, and that change will come. But my kids face empty food cupboards on a weekly basis.”

The first stairlift in England

Ableism doesn't just affect how we see present-day politicians, but also our previous rulers. One these is one of the most iconic Kings of England, Henry VIII, a sixteenth-century monarch famous for his six wives. A recent doctoral thesis by Mikaela Warner explores the way he has been remembered:

“Henry VIII of England has been overlooked as a disabled figure and as a policy maker who deeply impacted disability history in England. Though Henry used the first stairlift in England, writers are hesitant to call the king disabled.”

Warner explores how memories of Henry through the centuries have alternately leaned into villainous tropes of ableism and fatphobia to a more recent rebranding into a “celebrity and consumable sex object”. The way we talk about leaders reproduces and reveals cultural values and, as Warner writes, this has important implications:

“To understand how English values and laws regard bodies that were forcibly exported across the globe, we must understand the upheavals of how disability was treated through one of England’s most notorious kings.”

Updates on the war in Gaza

The Israeli military campaign in Gaza continues to have devastating consequences. Jamal al Rozzi of the National Rehabilitation Society describes how disabled people are shellshocked, attacked, and left to die.

A coalition of Palestinian NGOs describes the situation of disabled people and estimates that ten thousand citizens have acquired disabilities in the recent violence. Noor Bimbashi, who works with Humanity & Inclusion, shares how life is nearly impossible for disabled people and a devastating message:

“Some children think that their legs might grow again. This is one of the saddest things that we hear on a regular basis.”

Particularly heartbreaking is the case of Muhammed Bhar, a man with Down Syndrome who died after being attacked by an Israeli army dog and then being left alone by soldiers, after his family had been ordered to leave.

Meanwhile, in the United States, there are new disability-related campaigns against Israeli violence. A letter to the President and Vice President makes demands on behalf of Americans with disabilities addressing the US role in the conflict. And a Disability Divest campaign has started to demand the “disability establishment end its relationships with war profiteers”.

Disability pride or disability wrath

July is celebrated as Disability Pride Month. In India, Sonaksha, who also draws on the Debrief, shares a beautiful illustrated narrative of their personal journey into disability justice: a soft landing place. (Image descriptions to come.) Over at Disability Justice Project, other Debrief contributors speak about what disability pride means to them: see more from Kinanty Andini and Alexander Ogheneruemu.

Pride is a complicated label, and over at Crip News, Kevin Gotkin joins calls for a month of Disability Wrath. Gotkin feels that “pride is a limited framework for disability organizing”:

“Pride might work if you don’t want to challenge ableism and reject white supremacy culture. For many, ‘Disability Wrath’ feels like a better way to describe what’s being lost and pushed aside.”

What AI thinks of disability leadership

Recent research from Kate Glazko and others wanted to understand the effects of using artificial intelligence tools to sort resumes and rank candidates in the workplace. They put into ChatGPT resumes that marked disability awards and compared them with those that didn't:

‘researchers found that ChatGPT consistently ranked resumes with disability-related honors and credentials — such as the “Tom Wilson Disability Leadership Award” — lower than the same resumes without those honors and credentials. But when researchers customized the tool with written instructions directing it not to be ableist, the tool reduced this bias for all but one of the disabilities tested.’

See previously on the Debrief discussion of AI and disability in the workplace.

You are here, I am here

Riding Tides, Rising voices is a Disability Justice Project documentary with gorgeous footage and creative animation. It shares the crucial fight for disability-inclusive climate justice in the Pacific.

“You are here, I am here, that's why the earth is revolving” Sikka is a new music video from Nepali band Blind Rocks! It's a song for inclusion created by disabled artists. See also more background.

For more disability media: Disability Horizons has an updated feature on Netflix shows featuring disability, and there's also discussion of how Bridgerton's season 3 captures disability and neurodiversity.

In case you missed them: recent Debriefs have gone into the heart of disability experience:

And while I'm away there's plenty more news to explore in the full guide – contents below. See you September,

Peter

Please share this with friends, as that's how people find the Debrief. On socials we're on Linkedin, twitter at @DisDebrief and I'm @desibility. And hit reply to say hello!

Guide to Recent News

This update has 153 curated links from 47 countries and regions, organized across 37 subjects.

You can explore it organized by subject or by country.

Subjects

Countries

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to the readers and organisations whose support makes this work possible, and to everyone who shares links, news and reports with me. Thanks also to Emile and Fabien for helping me understand news from France.

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