Crip Solidarity

Abstract

Despite solidarity being a central term in discussions about political struggle and allyship, the concept is rarely connected to disability in the scholarly literature. Historically, solidarity has often been theorised with respect to ideas of contribution through work, whereas disabled people have been presumed to be unable to contribute to the common good. Hence, there is a need to crip our understanding of the concept. Drawing on feminist and disability theory, I argue that a recognition of a shared vulnerability that implies mutual dependencies can be figured as the foundation of solidarity. This can serve as the basis for political alliances between different groups struggling together for societies where we carry our shared vulnerability as equals. This way of understanding solidarity has implications far beyond the field of disability studies, not least as an antidote to the ubiquity of austerity and workfare, targeting disenfranchised groups as well as the working class more generally.