Crip Negativity

by J. Logan Smilges

Imagining anti-ableist liberation beyond the rubrics of access and inclusion

In the thirty years since the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law, the lives of disabled people have not improved nearly as much as activists and politicians had hoped. In Crip Negativity, J. Logan Smilges shows us what’s gone wrong and what we can do to fix it.

Leveling a strong critique of the category of disability and liberal disability politics, Smilges asks and imagines what horizons might exist for the liberation of those oppressed by ableism—beyond access and inclusion. Inspired by models of negativity in queer studies, Black studies, and crip theory, Smilges proposes that bad crip feelings might help all of us to care gently for one another, even as we demand more from the world than we currently believe to be possible.

Ideas First is a thought-in-process series of breakthrough digital publications. Written between fresh ideas and finished books, Forerunners draws on scholarly work initiated in notable blogs, social media, conference plenaries, journal articles, and the synergy of academic exchange. This is gray literature where intense thinking, change, and speculation take place in scholarship.

Genres: Disability, Nonfiction, Theory, Disability Studies, Philosophy, Queer

103 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 30, 2023

Reviews

[el · Rating 5 out of 5]

“It’s here in the dark that we can breathe deepest, not because the air is particularly clean, but because there’s no reason to be embarrassed if we cough, choke, or slobber on ourselves. It’s here in the dark that we find one another … [and] upon our fingers’ first contact, we break down completely. Because now we can, at last. Because it feels so good to feel this bad with one arm under your neck, another around your waist, and my knees cupped behind your legs: awkward and crippled and together” (81).

***

well! it’s not often that theory makes me sob!

[Jiho Burrows · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well this started off strong I found it got theoretically lost. Smilges suggest a variety of different concepts that entail practical actions such as their concept of the Life strike. However, I found the vast majority of these to be emblematic of hyper institutional leftist liberal theory than anything pragmatically leftist. The examples the author gives of a life strike appear to be nothing different than the decadent hobbies of upper class liberals. It is unclear why Smilges makes such a suggestion is they show early in the book that just because someone has a disability does not give them sufficient justification to do certain actions. Nonetheless, I found the majority of a book conclusions to be contrary to that. Granted my view is also concerned from having a disability, but I find that authors within academia often fail to recognize that their concepts are the products of the very systems they wish to abolish. As such, I found the book to lack any concrete solutions for people with disabilities external to the academy.

[Tess Carichner · Rating 5 out of 5]

so thankful to have met logan! amazing speaker and writer!

[Brice Montgomery · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crip Negativity is as exciting as it is esoteric, and for every possible critique a reader could bring, there is much more to admire.

I’m a little wary of scholarship that is so contingent on the sort of intersectional/coalitional model that J. Logan Smilges relies on—the tacit assumption that different kinds of minoritization are so closely aligned. It may be an unfair critique because the concept of "negativity" originates in other scholarship, but I'm not sure this book honors that origin as much as it could. So much oppression is definitional, and I can’t help but wonder if some of the comparisons here between race, sexuality, gender, and disability actually make the subject a little too discursively slippery. In particular, the metaphor of “access thievery” feels a bit co-opted and dangerously prickly, even though I agree with its intention and application.

That said, the ambition within this little book is truly impressive, and I think Smilges builds a really compelling case for crip negativity. The occasional haphazardness in their arguments actually feels facilitative—it’s better to have a book that generates discussion through productive friction than a book that people read, intellectually affirm, and immediately forget about. I’ll be thinking about this one for quite some time, and I’m curious to see how the author expands this scholarship in the future.

[isaac dwyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A manifesto that starts theoretically strong, but then, lamentably, the wheels fall off the wagon—it’s fatal flaw being, perhaps, its length. This is already a slim volume, but the core idea is better suited to an even shorter essay—at most ten pages. Trying to make more hay out of a powerful idea means it gets weighed down by the writing conventions of the self-referential ivory tower of critical theory, much to its detriment.

[Cam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of really interesting ideas on crip experience and resistance that I have felt via my own lived experience but haven’t seen language put to. Very well researched, and pulls together a lot of resources that I had varying degrees of pre-existing familiarity with. The researched aspects do read like a grad school paper, but the publishers goal is to share new and early work, so that makes sense. The more personal essay sections are great, the perspectives offered are super interesting and affirming. I’d love to see the concept of crip negativity developed even more in the future.

[Zuzana · Rating 4 out of 5]

některé části super, jiné trochu moc abstraktní na mě

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insightful. Everyone who has lived with a long term disability can relate. Many, many helpful ways to reframe conversations, and regain the freedom to rest.

[Warre Thevelin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Soms erg moeilijk, maar razend interessant! Essentieel om aandacht te besteden aan wat er zich afspeelt in disability/crip studies! Lezen!

[Brooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

First chapter lost me, but the others brought me back. The second chapter on access thievery resonated with me the most.

[Becca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love it when theory is brain-expanding, heart-expanding, and well-written.

[marie-anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

extremely insightful and important!! fresh crip theories yum yum yum