diff --git a/changelog.d/20250214_094554_markiewicz_load_subjects.md b/changelog.d/20250214_094554_markiewicz_load_subjects.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9ab3929a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/20250214_094554_markiewicz_load_subjects.md
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+<!--
+A new scriv changelog fragment.
+
+Uncomment the section that is right (remove the HTML comment wrapper).
+-->
+
+<!--
+### Added
+
+- A bullet item for the Added category.
+
+-->
+<!--
+### Changed
+
+- A bullet item for the Changed category.
+
+-->
+
+### Fixed
+
+- Subject detection in `participants.tsv` and `phenotype/` directories
+  has been restored, enabling checks that were deactivated by the missing
+  data. ([#162])
+
+[#162]: https://github.com/bids-standard/bids-validator/pull/162
+
+<!--
+### Deprecated
+
+- A bullet item for the Deprecated category.
+
+-->
+<!--
+### Removed
+
+- A bullet item for the Removed category.
+
+-->
+<!--
+### Security
+
+- A bullet item for the Security category.
+
+-->
+<!--
+### Infrastructure
+
+- A bullet item for the Infrastructure category.
+
+-->
diff --git a/src/schema/context.ts b/src/schema/context.ts
index 7280970d..fbff2dc5 100644
--- a/src/schema/context.ts
+++ b/src/schema/context.ts
@@ -63,11 +63,8 @@ export class BIDSContextDataset implements Dataset {
           ?.filter((ext) => ext.endsWith('/'))
         : [],
     )
-    this.subjects = args.subjects || {
-      sub_dirs: this.tree.directories.map((dir) => dir.name).filter((dir) =>
-        dir.startsWith('sub-')
-      ),
-    }
+    // @ts-ignore
+    this.subjects = args.subjects || null
   }
 
   get dataset_description(): Record<string, unknown> {