VIRTUAL New Schools of Thought

Abstract

This paper/presentation explores disability justice as it is enacted through creative interpretive pedagogical practices, by first positioning crip desire as a valid motivating force. This positioning uses trans-ableism as a provocative theoretical turn to challenge complacency and pre-existing models for disability perception. The following discussion then explores concepts of care, liberatory access, intersectionality and the body, and intimacy.
I situate disability as desirable and truly sexy: an active agent which ignites and informs theory, art, learning, and action. This consideration moves me to consider applications of this positionality, particularly in relation to performative and visual practices and in/for locating disability arts and disability artistic practice at the forefront of innovative artistic creation and exhibition curation. I will draw examples from my Creative Research Inclusive Practices (CRIP) Lab, OCAD University research, performances by crip community artists, and my own curatorial collaborations with emerging disability artists.