After decades of advocacy, Nepal’s Deaf community is gaining access to information in its own language. Interpreted national news broadcasts now air twice daily, and sign language interpretation has recently been introduced in parliament. Advocates say the changes mark a major step toward inclusion, recognition, and equal participation in public life for Deaf Nepalis who have long been excluded from critical information and decision-making.

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In Malaysia, disability exclusion is rarely one dramatic denial. More often, writes Beatrice Leong, it is “a series of ordinary delays” — inaccessible schools, symbolic consultations, policies without enforcement, and a system that asks disabled people to wait patiently for dignity and belonging. Blending personal reflection with political analysis, Leong examines what happens when inclusion is promised repeatedly, but justice never fully arrives.

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A Deaf asylum seeker from Mongolia spent five months in U.S. immigration detention without access to a sign language interpreter, leaving him unable to communicate with officers or explain his fear of persecution. His case raises questions about whether disability rights laws are being followed inside ICE facilities, where access to communication can determine the outcome of an asylum claim. Lawyer and advocate Qudsiya Naqui says the “absolute disregard” for disability rights under the Trump administration is a “direct threat” to democracy and rule of law.

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Before Myanmar’s 2021 military coup, disability advocates were helping shape national policy for the first time in decades. Laws expanded access to education, transportation, and public life. Today, much of that progress has collapsed. A new UN report describes a “hidden crisis,” documenting targeted violence, deadly attacks, and the exclusion of people with disabilities from warnings, aid, and services. As conflict creates new disabilities and organizations are forced underground, advocates work quietly to preserve rights that once seemed within reach.

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Fourteen-year-old Saifi Qudra relies on others to move safely through his day. Like many blind children in Rwanda, he has never had a white cane. His father, Mussah Habineza, escorts him everywhere. “He wants to walk like other children,” Habineza says, “He wants to be free.” Across Rwanda, the absence of white canes limits children’s mobility, confidence, and opportunity. For families, it also shapes daily routines, futures, and the boundaries of independence.

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As climate change and conflict intensify across Pakistan, emergency systems continue to exclude people with disabilities. Warning messages, evacuation routes, and shelters are often inaccessible, leaving many without critical information when floods or violence erupt. “Evacuation routes are built for people who can run,” Deaf author and policy advocate Kashaf Alvi says, “and information is broadcast in ways that a significant population cannot access.”

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