Interdepence is used to explain how rather than viewing a person as either independent or dependent we must understand independence/dependence in the context of an individuals relationship with others. Interdepence maintains that often rather than strictly following the model of a disabled person being fully dependent on an idealized non-disabled benevolent actor by viewing independence/dependence in the context of a relationship we can see how often relationships act out of solidarity and less along these binary lines.

Interdependence

Crip theory challenges the binary associations of viewing non-disabled individuals as independent and disabled people as dependent, and the societal frameworks that place value on indepence. Mingus in the piece "Forced intimacy: An ableist norm" argues that Crip Theory challenges this binary by having a greater focus on interdependence.

University of Wisconsin - Madison

1. Compulsory Able-bodiedness and able-mindedness
2. Disability as fluid
3. Interdependence
4. Crip Time

Central Ideas to Crip Theory

Abrams, E. J., Floyd, C. E., & Abes, E. S. (2024). Prioritizing Crip Futures: Applying Crip Theory to Create Accessible Academic Experiences in Higher Education. Disability Studies Quarterly, 43(4). https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v43i4.8270

Prioritizing Crip Futures: Applying Crip Theory to Create Accessible Academic Experiences in Higher Education

Mingus, M. (2017, August 6). Forced intimacy: An ableist norm. Leaving Evidence. https://leavingevidence.wordpress.com/2017/08/06/forced-intimacy-an-ableist-norm/

Forced intimacy: An ableist norm. 

Compulsory Able-Bodiedness and Able-Mindedness was coined by Allison Kafer and Robert McRuer to serve as a related concept to compulsory heterosexuality, coined by Adrienne Rich. Compulsory Able-Bodiedness and Able-Mindedness is the idea that societal rhetoric and expectations, rooted in ableism, classify able-bodied and able-minded individuals as "normal". This classification leads to society enforcing adhering to normal body functions on people, and to disabled people feeling obligated to expend energy and stretch their capabilities so they can be perceived as more "normal."

Compulsory Able-Bodiedness and Able-Mindedness

Disability as fluid refers to the phenomenon, that is especially acute in individuals with dynamic disabilities, where disability, and whether one is perceived as disabled, is constantly in flux based on whether an individual has disclosed disability, experience of symptoms, and whether they are being perceived as disabled by those around them. Disability as fluid refuses compulsory able-bodied and able-mindedness by destabilizing an abled/disabled binary, and acknowledging that shifting needs and capabilities does not undermine a lived experience of disability.

Disability as Fluid

Interdependence as Challenging Binary Associations

Crip Time is a term coined by Ellen Samuels, Allison Kafer, and Margaret Price to explain how disabled or crip bodymind embodiments often have different experiences with time. In particular Samuels, Kafer, and Price pose crip time as an alternative framing of time to counter how disabled individuals often have to place great strains on their bodyminds to meet nondisabled timetables - meet deadlines, be seen as at a similar stage of life to nondisabled peers, work similar 9-5 positions. These timelines fail to understand why disabled bodies' experiences may not be able to nicely fit these expectations. Crip time offers a temporal framing that makes the clock fit the disabled bodymind rather than making the disabled bodymind fit the clock.

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