Disabled people use the word ‘crip’ in a similar way to how LGBT people use the word ‘queer’. It’s a shortened form of the word ‘cripple’. While the word ‘cripple’ is generally considered derogatory, ‘crip’ has been reclaimed and used by disabled people in several different ways. Some disabled people call themselves crips. People with all kinds of different impairments or disabilities use this term, not just people with physical disabilities. There’s an area of academic study called crip theory. Crip is also sometimes used as a verb. Cripping something can mean bringing a disability justice perspective to it or revealing and critiquing ableist assumptions.


defined by Lysette Chaproniere


Lysette Chaproniere - she/her

Lysette Chaproniere

Lysette Chaproniere has a PhD in philosophy from the University of Glasgow. In her thesis, she explored the relationship between disability and human enhancement technology, that is, the sorts of technologies we might use to significantly increase our physical, cognitive and other abilities, or lengthen the human lifespan. After her PhD, she worked as part of a research group that produced a policy paper on the use of virtual reality in education, where she was involved in researching the challenges and opportunities of VR for disabled students.

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Person-first Language

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Anti-capitalism