Trapped behind the glass: crip theory and disability identity

Abstract

Many disability scholars and activists have embraced crip theory, a critical discourse that positions disability as a subset of the queer narrative. In doing so, I argue, they have embraced a theoretical framework that does not bridge the gap between the academy and the actual lives of disabled people. Instead, crip theory silences actual disabled experience and fractures the community, harming instead of helping. I propose that we must move beyond the limiting framework of crip theory and find a new discourse that originates in the disabled community itself.

Keywords:

• Disability
• crip theory
• higher education
• critical theory
• capabilities theory

Notes

1. The Crips are a notorious African American gang that originated from the south central area of Los Angeles, California during the late 1960s. Their rival gang, the Bloods, formed in the 1970s in response to the violence perpetrated by the Crips. In the 1980s, the gang warfare between these two groups became so extreme that the government initiated a crackdown, which led to branches of the gangs relocating to other cities throughout the nation. I was born in one such city, Albuquerque, during the height of the crack-cocaine epidemic. For insights into the realities of gang warfare and the rise of the Crips, see Williams (2007) and Brown, Vigil, and Taylor (2012).