Join the Global Directory of Disabled News Media Professionals
TGDN Network re-posts the “Reframing Disability” Newsletter in collaboration with Priti Salian, the author behind the newsletter.
Dear Reframers,
I’m glad to be in touch after a month’s break. I had hoped the publishing pause would give me time to breathe and get ahead on work, but life had other plans. I had a fall, fractured my shoulder, and I’m still not able to use my dominant hand.
Even so, this directory has been on my mind. So I made (a slow and painful) effort to work on this short but important edition to share something I care deeply about: the Global Directory of Disabled Journalists.
The idea is simple but necessary: to connect editors, news organisations, and media projects with disabled journalists around the world for paid work, collaborations, and commissions. The directory will live on Reframing Disability’s website and be shared widely, with the hope that it helps reduce some of the structural barriers disabled journalists face, while making it easier for editors to commission more diverse and inclusive journalism.
Through this newsletter, individuals from 73 countries are united in reshaping how the media views and includes disabled people.
Why this directory needs to exist
Newsrooms regularly say they want to commission and hire diverse voices, but when it comes to disability, the excuse is familiar: “We don’t know any disabled journalists.”
Yes, disabled journalists exist and are working across beats.
Some say they are approached only for “disability stories” and overlooked for other assignments, and some others have their capability questioned and not approached at all.
The result is a media landscape where disability is underreported, misreported, or framed without lived expertise, and where disabled journalists are locked out of consistent, paid opportunities.
This directory exists to remove that barrier and give disabled journalists visibility.
Like the idea?
What can you do?
If you are a disabled student or working journalist, editor, photojournalist, documentary filmmaker, photographer, illustrator – anyone who can contribute to journalism/newsrooms, please submit your details using this form, ideally by mid-February. Entries will be added manually to the directory, in the order they are received, starting after 15 February 2026. The form will remain open indefinitely, though updates to the directory will happen periodically rather than in real time.
To build and maintain this directory, I will need to hire someone. If you find value in this work, please consider supporting it with a contribution of any amount, or through a custom monthly subscription via this link. If you prefer PayPal, you can contribute at pritisalian@gmail.com. You can also reply to this email if you’d like to pay via UPI, make a bank transfer, or need an invoice.
For contributors in India, a one-time payment of ₹5,000 would be especially helpful. Twenty such contributions would allow me to hire someone part-time for four months.
International contributors, a one-time payment of £50 or $60 would support in the same way.
Recently, Disability Debrief – a newsletter by Peter Torres Fremlin – I look up to and often share, renewed their generous annual subscription of £500, an amount I used last year for translating several editions of Reframing Disability into Indian Sign Language. Thank you again, Debrief, your support means a lot!
Thanks for reading. Please share this edition widely — its impact depends on its reach to as many disabled journalists as possible. Press reply if you have any questions or thoughts.
I’m available on LinkedIn and Instagram and Reframing Disability has an Instagram account too.
Until soon.
Warmly,
Priti
You can find the “Reframing Disability” Newsletter on Substack.
