Paper short abstract:

Queer-/feminist STS is urgently missing reflections on cripping. Applying access to technologies as a lens, we uncover shared issues, discuss theoretical connections and conclude with solidaric strategies of cripping STS.

Paper long abstract:

A core commitment of queer-/feminist STS is to scrutinize hegemonic norms and deconstruct power relations pertaining to science and technology. This urgently needed shift in critical discourse has pushed the agenda forward across diverse social identities. However, attention to disability within this scholarly discourse has remained rather marginal.

Both queering and cripping are practices of spinning, subverting and critiquing normative representations while generating alternative ways of knowing and being (Light, 2011; Sandahl, 2003). As queer and disabled lived experiences converge in multiple ways, they hold potential to forge solidaric alliances (Clare, 2015) and coalition among different marginalized identities (Schalk, 2013).

Access is a concern in which the commonalities of queer and disabled experiences become particularly evident. As most technologies are not made with queer/crip people in mind, the lack of access to using them (as desired) is not merely frustrating, but reinforces oppression and exclusion. While access is predominantly conceptualized as a functional criterion in the design, development and evaluation of technologies, disability studies indicate that access is a multi-faceted, situated and co-constructed experience (Kafer, 2013). Hence, we require to understand how access is prohibited not just on a technical and functional level, but also on a level addressing mismatches regarding lived, embodied experiences.

Using access as a lens we (1) discuss overlaps in queer and crip lived experiences as potentials for solidarity between those groups, (2) reflect on opportunities for allyship between queer-/feminist STS and crip/critical disability studies and (3) present (methodological) strategies for cripping STS in practice.