Crip / Queer Theorist

“Global Trajectories of Disability Justice”

April 24, 2026
April 17, 2026
This presentation will critique the universally lauded 2020 documentary Crip Camp, particularly by examining how it reproduces disability discourses that are very U.S.-centric. By focusing primarily on American narratives, the film risks overlooking the rich and diverse histories of disability activism globally. McRuer’s analysis will take a “crip elsewhere” stance, approaching disability and disability justice from different locations.

This presentation will critique the universally lauded 2020 documentary Crip Camp, particularly by examining how it reproduces disability discourses that are very U.S.-centric. By focusing primarily on American narratives, the film risks overlooking the rich and diverse histories of disability activism globally. McRuer’s analysis will take a “crip elsewhere” stance, approaching disability and disability justice from different locations. This perspective is crucial for understanding the broader implications of disability rights beyond American borders. Crip Camp resolves into incorporation (for some) into the system as it is, reinforcing its message through multiple images of heterosexuality and reproduction. This incorporation highlights the tension between individual agency and systemic oppression within the disabilities movement. McRuer will deploy, through a counter-reading of the 2016 Bolivian documentary La lucha [The Fight], a theory of “crip camps yet to come” that mobilizes a more global crip solidarity.. This approach will envision a future where diverse experiences of disability are celebrated and prioritized in the global narrative.

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