"disability isn't a social construct because I'd still be dis-" Hey maybe before you poo-poo the entire foundation of critical disability studies learn the difference between "socially constructed" and "not real". You can't pride yourself on being "pro Disabled" and not have any actual interest in Disabled theory or liberation.
As a disabled person: a world with no modern tech, no modern medicine, no electricity, and no single-use plastics is a world that cannot keep a great many disabled people alive
Disabled people have always been a part of humanity, and we always will be
And if an imagined future doesn't involve keeping us alive, I want no part of it
sexgender theory in the service of trans liberation
hey everyone! I finally got around to setting up a site where I can publish long form theory and analysis on sexgender.
My first essay is up now, titled "I've Got A Social Contagion"
In this essay I explore the accusation that transsexuality is spreading due to a "social contagion" in six parts:
Part 1: Infecting Our Youth
What this construct has to do with youth liberation
Part 2: Greedily Imbibing the Poison of Mental Infection
What's the history of the "social contagion" in psychology, before it was applied to trans people?
Part 3: Weakening Our Societies and Destroying All that is Good and Noble
How the metaphor of "contagion" relates to disability, eugenics, and genocide.
Part 4: Unfortunates and Injurious Influences
Critique of the tendency of defenses of trans life to rely on naturalizing sexgender.
Part 5: Individual and Collective Agency
Recommending some promising theory that explores how trans identity emerges through a materialist analysis
Part 6: On the Streets, On the Internet, Communicating with Each Other
My personal view on how to proceed from here.
"Your so-called boss may own the clock that taunts you from the wall. But friends," // "the future is for crips—"
musings on severance & disability | full citation list below the cut
Sources by image:
Rhys Dreeszen Bowman and Leah T. Dudak, "Cripping Conferences: An Autoethnographic Exploration of Disability in Academia", 2025. https://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2025/cripping-conferences/
Severance, 1x01 and 1x02.
Severance, 2x03.
Beatrice Adler-Bolton and Artie Vierkant, Health Communism, 2022.
Severance, 2x07.
Bassam Sidiki, "Severances: Memory as Disability in Late Capitalism", 2022. https://www.chicagoreview.org/severances-memory-as-disability-in-late-capitalism/
Alison Kafer, Feminist Queer Crip, 2013, p. 54.
Severance, 1x02.
Bassam Sidiki, ibid.
Severance, 1x06, 1x01, 2x01, 1x05.
Eli Clare, Brilliant Imperfection, 2017, p. 160.
Severance, 1x08, 1x06, 2x02.
Alison Kafer, "Crip Temporalities in Pandemic Times" in the plenary panel for the 2021 Society of Disability Studies, 2021. https://read.dukeupress.edu/south-atlantic-quarterly/article-abstract/120/2/415/173312/After-Crip-Crip-Afters
Severance, 1x02.
Bassam Sidiki, ibid.
Severance, 1x04, 1x02.
Ellen Samuels, "Six Ways of Looking at Crip Time", 2017. https://dsq-sds.org/index.php/dsq/article/view/5824/4684
Severance, 1x03, 1x04.
Severance, 2x03.
Beatrice Adler-Bolton and Artie Vierkant, ibid.
Severance 2x05, 2x06.
Rhys Dreezen Bowman and Leah T. Dudak, ibid.
Severance, 2x06, 2x07, 2x09.
Ellen Samuels, ibid.
Severance, 2x09.
Severance, 2x02, 2x03, 2x09.
Micha Frazer-Carroll, Review of "Health Communism" by Beatrice Adler-Bolton and Artie Vierkant, 2024. doi.org/10.1080/02690055.2024.2316428
Beatrice Adler-Bolton and Artie Vierkant, Health Communism, p. 61.
Caption of post is in reference to Ricken's quote as cited in Severance 1x08 "Your so-called boss may own the clock that taunts you from the wall. But, my friends, the hour is yours." as well as Alison Kafer's widely cited opening chapter, "Time for Disability Studies and a Future for Crips" (x).
Shoutout to the Severance Wiki Transcripts for the bulk of the dialogue snippets used here (all snippets with time stamps).
It’s not an attack on your accommodations or your experience, it’s just a fact.
Some people need more support and accommodations than others. Some need more equipment or more medical interventions, or more whatever.
Being less disabled than someone is not a bad thing, and it doesn’t invalidate your disabled identity or make your needs any less valid. It does however mean that you are privileged in a sort of way. And people with any kind of privilege have the duty of advocating for less advantaged people and uplifting the voices that so often get ignored because of prejudice.
Advice from a disability studies and training bod. When disabled people ask for access, it is not a power move.
I’m doing something at an event soon, on disability stuff. The organiser has been contacted by a deaf person asking what the access at the event is like. Organiser has somehow decided that this person just wants to check out the accessibility accommodations and pass judgement if they’re not good enough.
Just. No.
Asking for access is approaching someone with more power than you. In their hands, they hold the power to deny you entry to something that could be very important to you. They hold the power to deny you the right to participate in society. They hold the power to embarrass and shame you and point out how different you are.
Or they have the power to let you in.
If you’re organising something, always treat access requests in good faith. Ask what people need to access your event. Whether it’s a book group, a classroom, a festival, a meeting. You hold the power.
Access is about who belongs.
“Access is not simply about getting in the door, but about the kinds of bodies, minds, and relations that are assumed and welcomed in social space.”
- Tanya Titchkosky, The Question of Access: Disability, Space, Meaning
Does anyone have recommendations for books on disability theory (or more personal memoirs written by disabled folks)? I have been picking up a few for an essay I’m writing but the lists of recommended books I can find all heavily feature ones written by parents of disabled children and I’m getting a bit frustrated. Thank you!!
