Interview with Peter Fremlin
The Disability Debrief has become a go-to source for news in the disability inclusion community. We had the pleasure of interviewing its main author, Peter Fremlin, about his unique take on curating international news through a disability lense and amplifying voices from the community.
Can you tell us a bit about your background and what inspired you to start the Disability Debrief?
I’m originally from the UK and I’ve had a disability all my life. For over a decade I worked on disability inclusion in international development. I was a freelancer advising organisations on policies and programmes to get more disabled people into work. And as I was working, there were more and more initiatives on disability inclusion.
Disability Debrief was born out of this effort to keep up with the rapid growth of efforts to change the world for disabled people. It started as a way to curate news and resources about what folk were doing, and from there it grew.
What are the primary goals and objectives of your newsletter?
The Debrief still has its goal to curate news from around the world, but it now has a broader goal of putting a disability lens on international news. As well as offering a unique library of resources from over 150 countries, it commissions stories that you won’t read anywhere else about the lives of disabled people, told in our own words. And it’s a space for reflection and reporting on how we work on disability inclusion and how we can do it better. It’s a newsletter for the disability community and the disability curious.
How do you choose the topics and stories featured in each edition?
It often feels like they choose me! As a news publication I react to the big stories as other media does. Whether that’s disability in conflicts or the role of ableism in the US presidential election. Part of this is in response to the news that people are sharing and that’s available in the media, and some of this is deliberately seeking out reporting from contexts others aren’t reporting from, like Sudan, Myanmar, or Yemen.
And I’m proud that the Debrief now includes many more voices of contributors beyond my own. The collaborations and topics are sometimes based on years of exchange with someone or coming together just to put that together. The wider community of readers often suggests areas to explore or people I should connect with, and I take it from there. With this commissioned work I put particular emphasis on hearing from disabled people in the Global South, as we have even less news in disability in those contexts than in other areas.
How do you keep yourself informed and updated on the latest developments and best practices in disability inclusion?
I made it my full time job. The Debrief came out of me surfing social media and seeing the news – largely Twitter then. I’m not on Twitter so much now but I’m signed up to as many mailing lists as I can, other newsletters, and I’m in touch with a wide range of colleagues and friends. For everyone else, I recommend them reading the Debrief and then following links or references wherever their curiosity leads them.
The best moments in my work are when I get to work with someone to develop the way they tell their story. And when I hear how people read and react to what’s in the Debrief.
What challenges have you faced in advocating for the inclusion of persons with disabilities through your newsletter?
To be honest I don’t really see my role as an advocate. Many of my readers are advocates, in their professional or personal lives. I’m writing and researching and in part taking a deliberate step back from some of the advocacy positions so that we can reflect on that. So a challenge there has been to widen and diversify the ways we talk about disability and how we work on it.
In your experience, what are some of the most effective strategies for promoting disability inclusion through platforms like the debrief?
One of the big things I’ve learned is about the importance of telling stories about people. We often talk about disability inclusion in abstract ways – accessibility barriers, discrimination, awareness – but lose track of what this looks like in people’s lives. The more we can share lived experiences of disability the more we can reach and impact our audiences.
What topics in the field of disability inclusion are you particularly interested in at the moment?
The world is going through many crises and it’s important to keep up with how disabled people are entangled in the climate crises, conflicts, developments in technology and economic downturns.
And in terms of disability inclusion itself we’re at an interesting point. There’s a lot more commitment than 10-20 years ago, and so we need to get better at understanding how to turn those commitments into action and how to understand when they’re just promises staying on paper.
What advice would you give to other advocates or organizations looking to start their own publications on disability inclusion?
It’s not easy, but it’s incredibly fulfilling to find ways to share our disability stories. There’s a lot to be gained from leaning into how we want our own stories to be told, rather than watering things down or limiting ourselves based on what we think the mainstream will be interested in. Disabled lives and experiences are so diverse that there’s no shortage of areas to explore.
Of course, starting and maintaining a publication isn’t easy. Using a newsletter is a good way to be in direct contact with an audience and a platform that can be flexible for different levels of intensity. I’ve got a lot more to say on this so welcome folk to get in touch.
Are there any plans or aspirations for the future of your newsletter?
I’m excited and busy trying to stay on top of how it’s growing! I love having more writers and illustrators working with me and look forward to continuing to grow that network of disabled creators that I’m working with. I would like to be able to invest in developing the wider ecosystem of disability media, so other initiatives can grow. And of course, I’m always trying to tell more people about the newsletter so these stories can reach a wider audience.
I hope the Debrief continues to support policy makers in their work on disability and to give information, hope and a bit of humour to all of its readers. Going on this journey together changes the way we think about disability and gives us new ways to see the world.
How can readers or network members get involved or contribute to the Debrief’s mission?
If you don’t already get the Debrief in your inbox, then sign-up to get the newsletter weekly. And share it with your friends of course.
For those able to support financially, it is run on a pay-as-you-can basis so that it can remain freely available to all.
You can also see more about what writing for the Debrief looks like, and as I said, I’m particularly interested in new writers or illustrators from the Global South.
And I’m always happy to hear from people in different parts of the world!
What future trends or changes do you foresee in the field of disability inclusion?
It will be interesting to see how the momentum of the last few years develops. Will governments and others turn to the next fashionable issue, or did we achieve a foothold that they won’t turn back from?
And it’s going to be exciting and challenging to see how the new generation of advocates shape narratives and directions on disability inclusion. Younger folk aren’t aligning themselves with established disability organisations (often they don’t feel welcome there). They’re making new things instead.
What motivates you to continue this work, even when faced with obstacles?
Connecting with people, 100%.
In an ideal world we wouldn’t just battle to survive, we’d have space to thrive.
