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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body bgcolor=white lang=en-FJ link=blue vlink=purple style='word-wrap:break-word;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;-ms-text-size-adjust: 100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%'><div class=WordSection1><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>From:</span></b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'> disability-debrief=ghost.io@m.ghost.io <disability-debrief=ghost.io@m.ghost.io> <b>On Behalf Of </b>Disability Debrief<br><b>Sent:</b> Thursday, 26 June 2025 3:45 am<br><b>To:</b> macanawai@connect.com.fj<br><b>Subject:</b> Busy fixing yesterday<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:0%'><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A;border:solid windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0cm'><img width=1 height=1 style='width:.0104in;height:.0104in' id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:~WRD0000.jpg" alt="Image removed by sender."></span><span class=preheader><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>Friendship, parenting and the tightrope of disability community</span></span><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width="100%" style='width:100.0%;background:white;border-collapse:collapse;border-spacing: 0'><tr><td style='padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm'><div align=center><table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width=600 style='width:450.0pt'><tr><td valign=top style='padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm'><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></td><td valign=top style='padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm'><div><div align=center><table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 style='max-width:450.0pt'><tr><td valign=top style='padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm'><table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width="100%" style='width:100.0%'><tr><td valign=top style='padding:0cm 0cm 6.0pt 0cm'><div align=center><table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width="100%" style='width:100.0%'><tr><td valign=top style='padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm'><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:27.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:black'><a href="https://www.disabilitydebrief.org/r/f34573e8?m=efe6902e-64cc-4615-9b6f-53bfa5c72df9" target="_blank"><span style='color:black;text-decoration:none'>Busy fixing yesterday</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></b></p></td></tr></table></div></td></tr><tr><td width="100%" valign=top style='width:100.0%;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm'><p class=post-excerpt align=center style='margin:0cm;text-align:center;line-height:16.8pt'><span style='font-size:14.5pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>Friendship, parenting and the tightrope of disability community<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr><td width="100%" valign=top style='width:100.0%;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm'><div align=center><table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width="100%" style='width:100.0%'><tr style='height:7.5pt'><td valign=top style='padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm;height:7.5pt;color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6)'><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>By Peter Torres Fremlin • <span class=post-meta-date>25 Jun 2025 </span><o:p></o:p></span></p></td><td valign=top style='padding:0cm 0cm 24.0pt 0cm;height:7.5pt;color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6)'><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Roboto'><a href="https://www.disabilitydebrief.org/r/48ac0ab5?m=efe6902e-64cc-4615-9b6f-53bfa5c72df9" target="_blank"><span style='color:#15212A'>View in browser</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr><tr style='height:7.5pt;color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6)'><td valign=top style='padding:0cm 0cm 24.0pt 0cm;height:7.5pt;color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6)'><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><u><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'><a href="https://www.disabilitydebrief.org/r/6c4dcb03?m=efe6902e-64cc-4615-9b6f-53bfa5c72df9" target="_blank"><span style='color:#15212A'>View in browser</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></u></p></td><td style='padding:0cm 0cm 24.0pt 0cm;height:7.5pt'></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></div></div></td><td valign=top style='padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm'><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:0%'><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width="100%" style='width:100.0%;background:white'><tr><td style='padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm'><div align=center><table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width=600 style='width:450.0pt'><tr><td valign=top style='padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm'><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></td><td valign=top style='padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm'><table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 style='max-width:450.0pt;background:white;border-spacing: 20px 0'><tr><td valign=top style='padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm'><table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width="100%" style='width:100.0%'><tr><td valign=top style='border:none;border-bottom:solid #E0E7EB 1.0pt;padding:0cm 0cm 15.0pt 0cm'><div style='margin-bottom:18.0pt'><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:18.0pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A;border:solid windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0cm'><img border=0 width=600 height=400 style='width:6.25in;height:4.1666in' id="Picture_x0020_2" src="cid:~WRD0000.jpg"></span><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:18.0pt'><strong><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>"Enough of bureaucratic barriers!" </span></strong><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>In Argentina, mass demonstrations against President Milei's chainsaw austerity included protests against cuts on disability and a counter-call for an emergency law on disability. National Congress on June 4, 2025. Photo by Catriel Gallucci Bordoni/NurPhoto via Getty Images.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>Dear Debriefers,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>Following disability news from around the world, I come across many insights or telling descriptions of our individual and collective experiences.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>It's been a while since I've shared my favourite quotations, so that's what this edition is dedicated to. As ever, it's full of the personal and the political: from friendship and health to the tightrope of disability community.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>There are perspectives on parenting, accessibility work, and the problems with awards. As well as, err, accessible hiding spots in horror films. <o:p></o:p></span></p><h2 style='mso-margin-top-alt:18.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:0cm;mso-line-height-alt:13.3pt;text-rendering: optimizeLegibility' id=about-this-edition><span style='font-size:24.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>About this edition<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><strong><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>My favourite quote is from Alice Wong. </span></strong><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>Alice is an amazing writer, connector and founder of Disability Visibility Project. She is prolific in sharing disability stories, and just joined those supporting the Debrief:<o:p></o:p></span></p><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #0222B1 1.5pt;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm;margin-left:0cm;margin-right:0cm'><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:24.0pt;margin-right:18.75pt;margin-bottom:24.0pt;margin-left:18.75pt;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A;letter-spacing:-.15pt'>“I will definitely make a small donation to support your work. People don’t realize how much work it takes to maintain a newsletter!”<o:p></o:p></span></p></blockquote><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><strong><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>Thanks to Alice and other readers whose generous </span></strong><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'><a href="https://www.disabilitydebrief.org/r/44685a0b?m=efe6902e-64cc-4615-9b6f-53bfa5c72df9" target="_blank"><strong><span style='font-family:Roboto;color:#0222B1'>support</span></strong></a><strong><span style='font-family:Roboto'> </span></strong>makes this edition possible. Gratitude for other new contributions to Andrew, Stefan, Steven and Vita, as well as to CBM Global for a renewed subscription.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><strong><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>Peter Torres Fremlin </span></strong><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>is editor of Disability Debrief and is from the UK.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><strong><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>If this was forwarded to you, </span></strong><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'><a href="https://www.disabilitydebrief.org/r/b419d9a3?m=efe6902e-64cc-4615-9b6f-53bfa5c72df9" target="_blank"><strong><span style='font-family:Roboto;color:#0222B1'>sign-up here.</span></strong></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><h2 style='mso-margin-top-alt:18.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:0cm;mso-line-height-alt:13.3pt;text-rendering: optimizeLegibility' id="%E2%80%9Cwere-always-busy-fixing-yesterday%E2%80%9D"><span style='font-size:24.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>“We're always busy fixing yesterday”<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>In Ireland, this <a href="https://www.disabilitydebrief.org/r/7a1feca6?m=efe6902e-64cc-4615-9b6f-53bfa5c72df9" target="_blank"><span style='color:#0222B1'>profile of Sinéad Burke</span></a> sees her argue for “greater ambition around the positioning and value of disabled people”:<o:p></o:p></span></p><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #0222B1 1.5pt;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm;margin-left:0cm;margin-right:0cm'><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:24.0pt;margin-right:18.75pt;margin-bottom:24.0pt;margin-left:18.75pt;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A;letter-spacing:-.15pt'>“In Ireland there are so many systemic issues that need to be solved for people with disabilities – the lack of independent living options, opportunities for employment and financial independence, access to school and education places – we’re always busy fixing yesterday. While this is incredibly necessary work, we have no mechanism in place to deal with tomorrow, five years’ time or 10 years’ time.”<o:p></o:p></span></p></blockquote><h2 style='mso-margin-top-alt:18.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:0cm;mso-line-height-alt:13.3pt;text-rendering: optimizeLegibility' id="%E2%80%9Cthey-would-never-mention-my-health%E2%80%9D"><span style='font-size:24.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>“They would never mention my health”<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>In the UK, Frances Ryan shares how, when she became chronically ill, she found herself feeling <a href="https://www.disabilitydebrief.org/r/120aa252?m=efe6902e-64cc-4615-9b6f-53bfa5c72df9" target="_blank"><span style='color:#0222B1'>shut off from even some of her oldest friends</span></a>. “A few went quiet or disappeared”:<o:p></o:p></span></p><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #0222B1 1.5pt;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm;margin-left:0cm;margin-right:0cm'><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:24.0pt;margin-right:18.75pt;margin-bottom:24.0pt;margin-left:18.75pt;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A;letter-spacing:-.15pt'>“If we did speak, I noticed they would never mention my health or the vast changes that had happened to my life. I understood their reticence; I barely knew what to say myself and I was the one actually living it. But at the same time, these conversations always felt faintly ludicrous, as if there were a five tonne elephant in the room and I was expected to join in the pretence it wasn’t standing on my foot.”<o:p></o:p></span></p></blockquote><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>It's a relief to see this put into words. Over the past years, as I <a href="https://www.disabilitydebrief.org/r/d842a260?m=efe6902e-64cc-4615-9b6f-53bfa5c72df9" target="_blank"><span style='color:#0222B1'>fractured my leg</span></a> and lost a lot of mobility I found it painful to feel a gap open up with some friends. One of the forms of helped I needed was talking with others about what I was going through, but I wasn't always able to ask for it, and some weren't able to give it when I did. In retrospect, I see that neither I nor they had the tools to navigate my new reality. <o:p></o:p></span></p><h2 style='mso-margin-top-alt:18.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:0cm;mso-line-height-alt:13.3pt;text-rendering: optimizeLegibility' id="%E2%80%9Cdigging-myself-up%E2%80%9D"><span style='font-size:24.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>“Digging myself up”<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>In New Zealand, Jo Randerson wrestles with getting an <a href="https://www.disabilitydebrief.org/r/bd1ac7a6?m=efe6902e-64cc-4615-9b6f-53bfa5c72df9" target="_blank"><span style='color:#0222B1'>ADHD diagnosis in her 40s</span></a>. She shares how it comes after a lifetime of trying to fit pieces of her identity together:<o:p></o:p></span></p><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #0222B1 1.5pt;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm;margin-left:0cm;margin-right:0cm'><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:24.0pt;margin-right:18.75pt;margin-bottom:24.0pt;margin-left:18.75pt;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A;letter-spacing:-.15pt'>‘My life has felt like I’m an archaeologist digging myself up, piece by piece, and slowly stacking my bones together into a skeleton that I recognise. Sometimes I learn how to place bones by seeing how someone else has done it – “Oh! That wrist connects to the elbow!” But sometimes I have pieces that I don’t know what to do with. “Should I put these two lumps on my head? Are they extra ears? Or toes?”’<o:p></o:p></span></p></blockquote><h2 style='mso-margin-top-alt:18.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:0cm;mso-line-height-alt:13.3pt;text-rendering: optimizeLegibility' id="%E2%80%9Cnot-representative-of-our-field%E2%80%9D"><span style='font-size:24.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>“Not representative of our field”<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>Forbes has launched an inaugural <a href="https://www.disabilitydebrief.org/r/60e854f8?m=efe6902e-64cc-4615-9b6f-53bfa5c72df9" target="_blank"><span style='color:#0222B1'>Accessibility 100 list</span></a> of organisations it judges to be “the biggest innovators and impact-makers in the field of accessibility for people with disabilities”.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>One of those on the list was New Disabled South, and their CEO, Dom Kelly, shares <a href="https://www.disabilitydebrief.org/r/f7c9d316?m=efe6902e-64cc-4615-9b6f-53bfa5c72df9" target="_blank"><span style='color:#0222B1'>his reaction</span></a>. As well as welcoming the recognition of their work, Kelly critiques the list as “not representative of our field by any stretch of the imagination”. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>In his view many “belong” on the list, but many shouldn't be there:<o:p></o:p></span></p><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #0222B1 1.5pt;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm;margin-left:0cm;margin-right:0cm'><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:24.0pt;margin-right:18.75pt;margin-bottom:24.0pt;margin-left:18.75pt;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A;letter-spacing:-.15pt'>“I’d love to see a future where corporations - who have decades of documented disability discrimination lawsuits, who bend the knee to abandon DEI, who allow the unchecked spread of ableism, racism, anti-Blackness, anti-Arab hate, Islamophobia, transphobia, antisemitism, and more on their platforms, who fund genocides and weapons of war, and who ultimately give themselves carte blanche when they receive honors like this - aren’t recognized. I’d love to see a future where organizations who are led by nondisabled people and who perpetuate harmful narratives about disabled folks do not get recognized. I’d love to see a future where disabled people are the ones commissioned by companies like Forbes to put lists like this together. Or maybe no lists at all?”<o:p></o:p></span></p></blockquote><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>I agree with the fundamental importance of reflecting critically on the ways disabled people and organisations are recognised. Recognition is great, but it is also a form of control and cooptation. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>I don't ask that everyone critique awards they get, and there are certainly risks to doing so. But it is part of our work to challenge the way disability is conceived socially and question the stories that are told about us by others. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>For an example of where I've tried to do this, <a href="https://www.disabilitydebrief.org/r/63a80be4?m=efe6902e-64cc-4615-9b6f-53bfa5c72df9" target="_blank"><span style='color:#0222B1'>see my reaction</span></a> to being on the Shaw Trust Disability Power 100.<o:p></o:p></span></p><h2 style='mso-margin-top-alt:18.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:0cm;mso-line-height-alt:13.3pt;text-rendering: optimizeLegibility' id="%E2%80%9Cwalking-a-tightrope%E2%80%9D"><span style='font-size:24.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>“Walking a tightrope”<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>In Malaysia, Beatrice Leong reflects on <a href="https://www.disabilitydebrief.org/r/967dc413?m=efe6902e-64cc-4615-9b6f-53bfa5c72df9" target="_blank"><span style='color:#0222B1'>power, advocacy and what's next</span></a> for the disability community. She too is looking for a voice and leadership “that bridges where we are and where we need to go”. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>Looking for transformation, Leong shares how collective leadership “has been overshadowed by mistrust and factionalism”, and divisions within the disability community:<o:p></o:p></span></p><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #0222B1 1.5pt;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm;margin-left:0cm;margin-right:0cm'><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:24.0pt;margin-right:18.75pt;margin-bottom:24.0pt;margin-left:18.75pt;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A;letter-spacing:-.15pt'>‘Disempowerment doesn’t just come from “outside” forces. It comes from within our community too. I have seen how quickly people shift from support to isolation based on whose “side” you’re on. I have experienced how I am praised when I am friendly with certain individuals or organisations, and how I am siloed the moment I challenge them. It feels like walking a tightrope—balancing on the thin line of who I can be friends with, whose side I am on, and which relationships are considered “acceptable” or “dangerous.”’<o:p></o:p></span></p></blockquote><h2 style='mso-margin-top-alt:18.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:0cm;mso-line-height-alt:13.3pt;text-rendering: optimizeLegibility' id=processing-pain-collectively><span style='font-size:24.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>Processing pain collectively<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>In Kenya, the Kenya Network of Women and Girls with Disabilities explored how to <a href="https://www.disabilitydebrief.org/r/01bc8ded?m=efe6902e-64cc-4615-9b6f-53bfa5c72df9" target="_blank"><span style='color:#0222B1'>process pain and traumas collectively</span></a>, and how they intersect with advocacy. They are thinking more intentionally about the question:<o:p></o:p></span></p><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #0222B1 1.5pt;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm;margin-left:0cm;margin-right:0cm'><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:24.0pt;margin-right:18.75pt;margin-bottom:24.0pt;margin-left:18.75pt;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A;letter-spacing:-.15pt'>“How do you show up at a collective level when you have so much pain to process at the individual level?”<o:p></o:p></span></p></blockquote><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>It's a question that reminds me of Bailey Grey's insights on the need for <a href="https://www.disabilitydebrief.org/r/652f41f6?m=efe6902e-64cc-4615-9b6f-53bfa5c72df9" target="_blank"><span style='color:#0222B1'>trauma-informed approaches</span></a> in disability organising.<o:p></o:p></span></p><h2 style='mso-margin-top-alt:18.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:0cm;mso-line-height-alt:13.3pt;text-rendering: optimizeLegibility' id="%E2%80%9Ca-single-disabled-adult-present%E2%80%9D"><span style='font-size:24.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>“A single disabled adult present”<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>In the UK, John Harris seeks to <a href="https://www.disabilitydebrief.org/r/0c67dcd5?m=efe6902e-64cc-4615-9b6f-53bfa5c72df9" target="_blank"><span style='color:#0222B1'>shift the conversation</span></a> on social care, looking at the failings of care for disabled people, and how it stops disabled people participating in society:<o:p></o:p></span></p><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #0222B1 1.5pt;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm;margin-left:0cm;margin-right:0cm'><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:24.0pt;margin-right:18.75pt;margin-bottom:24.0pt;margin-left:18.75pt;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A;letter-spacing:-.15pt'>“Consider a few simple questions. If you are not disabled and you regularly go to a yoga class, choir practice, a book group or just the pub, when was the last time you did so with even a single disabled adult present? As much as the crisis in special educational needs is huge and pressing, does it ever feel as if it also highlights a complete avoidance of issues to do with the grownups that children involved inevitably turn into? And particularly when it comes to people with learning disabilities, why is it that even self-consciously progressive people have almost no conception of who they are, what they need and how badly they tend to be treated?”<o:p></o:p></span></p></blockquote><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>Powerful questions, and certainly not just for Harris' non-disabled readers. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>I'm happy to say that the social events I go to in Colchester have quite a few disabled people present and able to be open about their disabilities. Quite a different situation in my work-life though – having an obvious disability while working in international aid did let people guess (correctly, in my case) that I was the disability specialist. <o:p></o:p></span></p><h2 style='mso-margin-top-alt:18.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:0cm;mso-line-height-alt:13.3pt;text-rendering: optimizeLegibility' id="%E2%80%9Cno-one-should-have-to-live-like-that%E2%80%9D"><span style='font-size:24.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>“No one should have to live like that”<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>In Greece, a <a href="https://www.disabilitydebrief.org/r/f109178a?m=efe6902e-64cc-4615-9b6f-53bfa5c72df9" target="_blank"><span style='color:#0222B1'>discussion among self-advocates</span></a> saw people with intellectual disabilities share their lives and reams. Maria Nefeli said:<o:p></o:p></span></p><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #0222B1 1.5pt;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm;margin-left:0cm;margin-right:0cm'><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:24.0pt;margin-right:18.75pt;margin-bottom:24.0pt;margin-left:18.75pt;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A;letter-spacing:-.15pt'>"When I lived in an institution, there was a blue light over my bed. That light was my only friend. No one should have to live like that."<o:p></o:p></span></p></blockquote><h2 style='mso-margin-top-alt:18.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:0cm;mso-line-height-alt:13.3pt;text-rendering: optimizeLegibility' id="%E2%80%9Cthe-art-of-consensus%E2%80%9D"><span style='font-size:24.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>“The art of consensus”<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>In Switzerland, Malick Reinhard writes on the <a href="https://www.disabilitydebrief.org/r/d4faae8d?m=efe6902e-64cc-4615-9b6f-53bfa5c72df9" target="_blank"><span style='color:#0222B1'>paradoxical relationship with home assistants</span></a>: <o:p></o:p></span></p><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #0222B1 1.5pt;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm;margin-left:0cm;margin-right:0cm'><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:24.0pt;margin-right:18.75pt;margin-bottom:24.0pt;margin-left:18.75pt;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A;letter-spacing:-.15pt'>“As you will have understood, being an employer of your care workers, while being in a situation of high dependency, is a constant game of chess. An iron fist in a velvet glove. Stay the course, without offending. Be diplomatic, without flinching. A very Swiss thing: you have to know how to master the art of consensus.”<o:p></o:p></span></p></blockquote><h2 style='mso-margin-top-alt:18.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:0cm;mso-line-height-alt:13.3pt;text-rendering: optimizeLegibility' id="%E2%80%9Cthe-cracks-in-the-systems%E2%80%9D"><span style='font-size:24.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>“The cracks in the systems”<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>Devon Persing writes on Assistiv Labs about the need to <a href="https://www.disabilitydebrief.org/r/86602905?m=efe6902e-64cc-4615-9b6f-53bfa5c72df9" target="_blank"><span style='color:#0222B1'>create accessibility systems</span></a> to fix (digital) accessibility issues. As well as arguing that accessibility can't be addressed by one-off initiatives, she shows how it exposes other challenges teams have:<o:p></o:p></span></p><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #0222B1 1.5pt;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm;margin-left:0cm;margin-right:0cm'><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:24.0pt;margin-right:18.75pt;margin-bottom:24.0pt;margin-left:18.75pt;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A;letter-spacing:-.15pt'>“Accessibility work often reveals strengths and weaknesses in teams’ existing processes and workflows. For example, teams that struggle with using automated accessibility tools can be ones that already struggle with automated tooling. Teams that struggle to talk about accessibility across roles can often struggle to communicate in general. Accessibility work usually finds the cracks in systems, so we often end up doing accessibility work and also work to shore up or change those systems.”<o:p></o:p></span></p></blockquote><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>I think the implications of this insight need to be given more attention by those working to make organisations more accessible or inclusive of disabled people. Some of the barriers we face are directly related to disability, but many of them are related to structures that need deeper reform.<o:p></o:p></span></p><h2 style='mso-margin-top-alt:18.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:0cm;mso-line-height-alt:13.3pt;text-rendering: optimizeLegibility' id="%E2%80%9Cdiverse-ways-people-describe-their-own-experience%E2%80%9D"><span style='font-size:24.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>“Diverse ways people describe their own experience”<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>I'm normally busy quoting other people, so I was flattered (and surprised) to the Debrief picked up in an academic paper. Judith Baart and colleagues wrote on the <a href="https://www.disabilitydebrief.org/r/81d2d8f5?m=efe6902e-64cc-4615-9b6f-53bfa5c72df9" target="_blank"><span style='color:#0222B1'>definition dilemma</span></a>, and how definitions of disability shape statistics on social participation. They start the article by quoting from my explanation of the Debrief's <a href="https://www.disabilitydebrief.org/r/def45b9f?m=efe6902e-64cc-4615-9b6f-53bfa5c72df9" target="_blank"><span style='color:#0222B1'>language choices around disability</span></a>:<o:p></o:p></span></p><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #0222B1 1.5pt;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm;margin-left:0cm;margin-right:0cm'><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:24.0pt;margin-right:18.75pt;margin-bottom:24.0pt;margin-left:18.75pt;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A;letter-spacing:-.15pt'>‘We say that 16% of the world’s population has a disability. The majority of them do not use the word “disability” to describe themselves. To understand disability requires us to make space for diverse perspectives and diverse ways people describe their own experiences.’<o:p></o:p></span></p></blockquote><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>I'm happy to see folk picking up and exploring this. I see it as one of the foundational challenges of working on “disability”: that most disabled people do not identify as such. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>In this case Baart and her colleagues explored how using different statistical measures of disability leads to different groups classified as disabled, as well as different results on level of disability. <o:p></o:p></span></p><h2 style='mso-margin-top-alt:18.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:0cm;mso-line-height-alt:13.3pt;text-rendering: optimizeLegibility' id="%E2%80%9Cmy-ability-to-parent%E2%80%9D"><span style='font-size:24.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>“My ability to parent”<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>In the UK, Amy Kavanagh writes about <a href="https://www.disabilitydebrief.org/r/1e23e255?m=efe6902e-64cc-4615-9b6f-53bfa5c72df9" target="_blank"><span style='color:#0222B1'>pregnancy and parenting</span></a> as a blind mum:<o:p></o:p></span></p><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #0222B1 1.5pt;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm;margin-left:0cm;margin-right:0cm'><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:24.0pt;margin-right:18.75pt;margin-bottom:24.0pt;margin-left:18.75pt;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A;letter-spacing:-.15pt'>“The truth is, my blindness does impact my ability to parent, but not because I can’t see. It impacts me when other mothers won’t sit next to us at playgroups. It impacts me when the librarians gossip, talking about us as I use my residual vision to read you the large print in ‘That’s Not My Dinosaur’. It impacts me when they try to turn us away from soft play because of Ava.”<o:p></o:p></span></p></blockquote><h2 style='mso-margin-top-alt:18.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:0cm;mso-line-height-alt:13.3pt;text-rendering: optimizeLegibility' id="%E2%80%9Cprepared-to-fight-for-their-children%E2%80%9D"><span style='font-size:24.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>“Prepared to fight for their children”<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>In the US, a piece in <a href="https://www.disabilitydebrief.org/r/dd211c5b?m=efe6902e-64cc-4615-9b6f-53bfa5c72df9" target="_blank"><span style='color:#0222B1'>memorial of Rud Turnbull</span></a> remembers what he told a parent discovering their toddler was likely to have a disability:<o:p></o:p></span></p><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #0222B1 1.5pt;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm;margin-left:0cm;margin-right:0cm'><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:24.0pt;margin-right:18.75pt;margin-bottom:24.0pt;margin-left:18.75pt;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A;letter-spacing:-.15pt'>“All parents need to be prepared to fight for their children, but parents of children with disabilities need to be even more prepared to fight for their rights.”<o:p></o:p></span></p></blockquote><h2 style='mso-margin-top-alt:18.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:0cm;mso-line-height-alt:13.3pt;text-rendering: optimizeLegibility' id="%E2%80%9Csecure-hiding-spots%E2%80%9D"><span style='font-size:24.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>“Secure hiding spots”<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>In New Zealand, Lotto Ramsay writes in D*List about <a href="https://www.disabilitydebrief.org/r/859282c5?m=efe6902e-64cc-4615-9b6f-53bfa5c72df9" target="_blank"><span style='color:#0222B1'>horror films</span></a> and their “obsession with disability”. Ramsay's position is that:<o:p></o:p></span></p><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #0222B1 1.5pt;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm;margin-left:0cm;margin-right:0cm'><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:24.0pt;margin-right:18.75pt;margin-bottom:24.0pt;margin-left:18.75pt;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A;letter-spacing:-.15pt'>“I want to feel horror. I don’t want to be the horror.”<o:p></o:p></span></p></blockquote><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>Rather, Ramsay wants to see horror films explore the creativity of living with disability and ableism:<o:p></o:p></span></p><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #0222B1 1.5pt;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm;margin-left:0cm;margin-right:0cm'><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:24.0pt;margin-right:18.75pt;margin-bottom:24.0pt;margin-left:18.75pt;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A;letter-spacing:-.15pt'>“In a slasher battle, you bet I’m going with a powerchair user. It’s a heavy efficient vehicle, people always pack them to the brim with everything one’s heart could desire, and I bet they’d also know where all the good bathrooms are (secure hiding spots).”<o:p></o:p></span></p></blockquote><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>And that's all for this week. Hope your powerchairs are well-packed,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>Peter<o:p></o:p></span></p><h2 style='mso-margin-top-alt:18.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:0cm;mso-line-height-alt:13.3pt;text-rendering: optimizeLegibility' id=outro><span style='font-size:24.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>Outro<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><strong><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>Let your friends know</span></strong><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>. 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Make a <a href="https://www.disabilitydebrief.org/r/f80aecbe?m=efe6902e-64cc-4615-9b6f-53bfa5c72df9" target="_blank"><span style='color:#0222B1'>one-off</span></a> or <a href="https://www.disabilitydebrief.org/r/acc3cbd2?m=efe6902e-64cc-4615-9b6f-53bfa5c72df9" target="_blank"><span style='color:#0222B1'>recurring</span></a> financial contribution to the Debrief.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><strong><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>Say hello</span></strong><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>. Just hit reply!<o:p></o:p></span></p><h2 style='mso-margin-top-alt:18.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:0cm;mso-line-height-alt:13.3pt;text-rendering: optimizeLegibility' id=acknowledgements><span style='font-size:24.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>Acknowledgements<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>The photograph is by Catriel Gallucci Bordoni/NurPhoto via Getty Images. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:18.0pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:19.2pt'><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#15212A'>And many thanks to everyone who shares links, news and reports – along with the readers and organisations whose <a href="https://www.disabilitydebrief.org/r/5d67bc2a?m=efe6902e-64cc-4615-9b6f-53bfa5c72df9" target="_blank"><span style='color:#0222B1'>support</span></a> makes this work possible.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr></table></td></tr><tr><td width="100%" valign=top style='width:100.0%;border:none;border-bottom:solid #E0E7EB 1.0pt;padding:24.0pt 0cm 18.0pt 0cm'><div align=center><table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width="100%" style='width:100.0%'><tr><td width="30%" valign=top style='width:30.0%;padding:0cm 3.0pt 3.0pt 3.0pt;display:inline-block;cursor:pointer'><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-align:center'><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"inherit",serif;color:#15212A'><a href="https://www.disabilitydebrief.org/r/2c139be1?m=efe6902e-64cc-4615-9b6f-53bfa5c72df9" target="_blank"><span style='color:#0222B1;border:solid windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0cm;text-decoration:none'><img border=0 width=42 height=42 style='width:.4375in;height:.4375in' id="Picture_x0020_3" src="cid:~WRD0000.jpg" alt="Image removed by sender. 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