Crip (disability term)

rdf:langString Crip (disability term)

rdf:langString Crip, slang for cripple, is a term in the process of being reclaimed by disabled people. Wright State University suggests that the current community definition of crip includes people who experience any form of disability, such as one or more impairments with physical, mental, learning, and sensory, though the term primarily targets physical and mobility impairment. People might identify as a crip for many reasons. Some of these reasons are to show pride, to talk about disability rights, or avoid ranking types of disability. The term cripple came into common usage around 950AD. While cripple appeared to describe someone with a physical disability, it eventually became a slur focused on people deemed ugly due to a physical disability. The use of crip, as a slur, was not limited to people. Emily Hutcheon and Gregor Wolbring stated that crip could be used for 'an action/event/object/person' that did not meet its intended purpose. By the 1920s crip was being used as slang for 'easy'. With the rise of the disability rights movement in the 1960s came the idea of disability pride; a movement to shed the feelings of shame that society had forced on people with disabilities. Part of the process of disability pride was reclaiming words used to shame the disability community. Thus, crip's new meaning developed as an 'insider' term within the disability rights movement. Crip theory began in communities and is an academic theory that intersects with experiences like race, class or gender. Other crip theories are crip time, which has roots in both the disability community and academic theory (through crip futurity).