How is knowledge designed to be shared with people? Can it be sold, or only borrowed, traded, stolen, and earned? Is it freely given? Is it sorely gained?
Selling Cripistemologies
At A Glance
- Durational performance art
- Interactive
Selling Cripistemologies
Taking on the Role of the Disabled ORacle
Disability dreaming challenges ableist frameworks that inhibit us, and capitalism encourages isolation and discourages sharing knowledge. In this piece, I table with my subjugated and situated disability knowledges in the forms of scrap paper, zines, verbally, and in other modes of communication. This performance art critiques the actual value of money versus knowledge, and encourages other ways to share cripistemologies. In this dream, I envision a world where cripistemologies are valued not only for surviving capitalism but also in their own right.
There are complicated ironies to be discussed, like how disability justice is anti-capitalist but now minted on a quarter. This irony of a physical item circulating around the United States of America might also be the first time someone hears about “DISABILITY JUSTICE”. However, the quarter is archival evidence that Stacey Park Milbern, a disability justice co-founder existed in a way that cannot be easily erased. She is the second person on US currency who was a wheelchair user, the first to have the wheelchair actually depicted, and the first woman using a wheelchair on US currency.
Capsule Cripistemologies Citations
Utilizing the Relational Citation Style embedded in the EB Garamond Font created by Deborah Khodanovich, I attempt to share and track the cripistemologies shared via the oracle vending. It is here that all of those ongoing citations live in one place. This is a page in endless progress.
Selling Cripistemologies was debuted at the Disability and Immigration Taskforce Conference in Summer 2026. Selling Cripistemologies had its first full performance at the International Museum of Surgical Science on 9/23/2026 during Narratives of the Flesh II: Embodied Grief. Selling Cripistemologies will have its third, time-limited, performance for Voices Embodied: Prognostication on 11/3/26.
Works
*recommend1 Dick, Kirby, dir. Sick: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist. Performed by Bob Flanagan and Sheree Rose. Bfi, 2012. 1 hour and 30 minutes. Recommended by Amelia-Marie Altstadt because how cool is this!
*common 2 Chiropractors are not medical doctors, so while some disabled people really love chiropractors, others have been really harmed by them.
*co-author3 Myself and my partner found this out together, when I noticed and mentioned to them that they stopped breathing for a full 45 seconds. Their mother also has sleep apnea. Then they finally got an appointment and doing a sleep study is easier than ever, as a lot of people can do it at home now.
Swap doing dishes with another house (it’s easier when they’re not yours)^common4
*co-author5 Me, to you, right now.
Ask people for support early and often, and let yourself be surprised by who says yes.^co-author6
Someone who does the right things is worth more than someone who says the right things. 8
*common9 Hospitals love to hide charges. Itemized bills reveal them.
*common10 This is a common refrain amongst people who read, because of course all forms of reading are reading.
*recommend 11 Piepzna-Samarasinha, Leah. “Disability Justice Is Gore and Shit and Bile.” Substack newsletter. Postcards from the End of the World, 5 Apr. 2024, https://llps.substack.com/p/disability-justice-is-gore-and-shit. Recommended by Amelia-Marie Altstadt, because it gets at the vulnerability integral in even agreed upon, outside of systems care, and reminds us that the perverted roots of Disability Justice cannot be sanitized.
*second12 Bathrobes for after showers, and soak up any of the small areas with washcloths.
22-28 come from DAY DITI Conference
Capsule Cripistemologies Available
Recommended treatment for cystic fibrosis: flogging (see Bob Flanagan^recommend1)
Avoid chiropractors^common2
Have someone sleep in your room to see if you’re not breathing at night (sleep apnea is sneaky)^co-author3
Swap doing dishes with another house (it’s easier when they’re not yours)^common4
Get. The. Paper. Plates. It’s okay, I promise.^direct5
Ask people for support early and often, and let yourself be surprised by who says yes.^co-author6
Someone who does the right things is worth more than someone who says the right things. 8
Ask for itemized bills at the hospital.^common9
Audiobooks are reading.^common10
“care negotiation is edge play”^recommend11
“Use a bathrobe post shower to site comfortably to dry off. For residual water use a small wash cloth because it’s lightweight!” ^second12
Read disabled poets like Eli Clare and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha to feel less alone. ^recommend13
“a disability office is always there to protect institutions, not you. they’re not your friends, even if they’ve been trained in some disability justice concepts.”^source14
Frozen peas are more flexible ice packs that match the parts of your body you’re icing.^common^direct15
Triple or quadruple socks for unstable ankles and high lace those boots^direct16
Using cheap tights or nylons under your clothes to keep warm.^second17
Deadlifts can help alleviate back pain (make sure you progressively load!)^direct18
Pelvic floor therapists are incredible, lifechanging, medical providers. ^co-author19
Some ramps really suck. ^common20
Walking sticks make great canes.^unknown21
Autism is a spectrum.^direct22
Always bring duct tape. ^direct23
Celebrate rest and naps. ^direct24
We’re never as far apart as we think we are– community. ^direct25
Each part a whole (with a drawing of a brain in pen).^direct26
El proceso de aceptar que no se controla todo y que yo no soy eterna ni permanente me aterra y libera saber como soltar mi carga me es la clave para empezar a vivir.^direct27
El proceso de conocerla discapacidad me abre los ojo a conocer la vida de diferente forma abre nee oportunidades de apadiza.^direct28
Emociones que no puedo processor armónicamente.^direct29