“Cripping” Graphic Medicine

The article offers a theoretical framework and proposes practices for a “cripped” graphic medicine. It begins by contextualizing a “cripped” graphic medicine in the age of Covid-19, then shares definitions of “cripping” and some approaches to and examples of “cripping” graphic medicine. The article discusses the complex relationship(s) between graphic medicine and disability studies. Also discussed is Smith and Alaniz’s Uncanny Bodies: Superhero Comics and Disability and its role in illustrating how disability studies can be used to “crip” graphic medicine. Further examples for “cripping” graphic medicine are offered from the “‘Cripping’ the Comic Con” symposium. The final section discusses and explores the authors’ positionalities as Mad Queer Crips, whose cripistemologies influence and situate collaborative approaches toward “cripping” graphic medicine—including the writing of this article.