Step into the irreverent world of disabled cartoonist Crippen aka Dave Lupton, who has been in the vanguard of disability arts movement for more years than he cares to mention. His work has appeared in mainstream press, on TV and film and is now probably the best Disabled cartoonist in the world!

Crippen adopts Lily Allen's Gay Rights anthem for us Crips

16 November 2009

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What with our recent rant about Charities and the Lily Allen song that's being adopted by Gay Rights activists in Manchester, I thought we crips should get in on the act ... sorry about the language but it is in the lyrics of the song (bet I still get a comment from disgusted of Tonbridge Wells though!).   Comments Incidentally, we're still having a problem with the comments section of this blog and you have to scroll down quite a way before you find it! Please do leave a comment as I'd...

Comments: 15

Crippen looks at the proposal to introduce ID cards for disabled people

8 November 2009

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Identity cards for Disabled people with hidden impairments are being tried out in Nottinghamshire. If successful, the idea is to launch the scheme nationwide. There are some obvious advantages for those of us with hidden impairments who have to jump through a different hoop with each gatekeeper that we come up against; but I have a 'thin end of the wedge' feeling about this latest venture. The current anti-terrorist legislation has allowed this government to 'chip' our passports so that they...

Comments: 9

Crippen asks Bob Williams-Findlay to share his experiences with the former Spastics Society

2 November 2009

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Following on from Bob Williams-Findlay’s comment last week about his experiences with the Spastics Society (now Scope), I invited him to write something for this week’s blog. “It is very difficult to explain my mixed emotions regarding the Spastics Society, now renamed Scope. In many ways I feel I achieved what I did despite being subjected to psychological abuse whilst in one of their segregated schools. There is little doubt that, up to the last two years at the Society-run...

Comments: 7

Crippen looks at what charities are really doing for us

26 October 2009

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Contrary to public understanding, we Crips spend more time overcoming the negative effects we get from the various charities that claim to represent us, than we do benefiting from the services that they are supposed to provide. “But where would you be without them?” I hear some of you ask. Well, for a start we wouldn’t be seen as a pathetic, needy, homogeneous group of people, to be treated with either pity or contempt. We wouldn’t be made to jump through the many hoops...

Comments: 15

Crippen asks ‘what is happening to the Disability Arts Movement?’

17 October 2009

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Has anyone else noticed that we’re in danger of slipping back to where we all started from?! I’ve always seen the Disability Arts Movement as being in the vanguard of the Disabled People’s Movement. As Disabled artists we’ve focused upon our oppression and expressed this through our art. Together we’ve used the Social Model to identify and then confront the many barriers within society that conspire to disable us; the key word being ‘together’. However,...

Comments: 4

Crippen asks ‘where are the young Disabled people?’

1 October 2009

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Being of the generation that can say ‘I saw Hendrix play at the Isle of Wight Pop Festival’ (what do you mean, who?!) means that I’ve also seen a lot of water go under the disability bridge. I wasn’t part of the original move by the Fiscally Impaired Against Segregation (FIAS) in 1970, when they identified disability as the exclusion of people with physical impairments from the mainstream of society. Nor was I involved with the birth of the Social Model during the same...

Comments: 15

Crippen's slant on Disabled Pride

23 September 2009

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I recently posted this cartoon on Facebook and received emails from all over the world in support of the message that it contained. It’s not a new concept and I’ve lost count of the cartoons I’ve produced over the past couple of decades with the same message. But it still seems to hit the spot! It seems that many of us Crips still feel oppressed and controlled by the many groups and organisations ‘for’ Disabled people that still exist, and who still insist that they are representing...

Comments: 1

Crippen reminds you of a DAN action in Birmingham

13 September 2009

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The Disabled People's Direct Action Network (DAN) is once again taking action against Birmingham City Council (BCC) tomorrow (Monday 14th September) as partly a reaction to the death of a disabled person in the city, but also because, despite his promises, Peter Hay (Director of Health and Social Care) has not followed through with promises he made back in March 09.    BCC promised to work with DAN towards establishing genuine independent living for disabled people in Birmingham after...

Comments: 5

Crippen continues the theme about the current lack of funding …

10 September 2009

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Ok, I take the point from Richard Downes (last blog comments) that by only blaming the 2012 Olympics for the current lack of funding is being a bit simplistic, but I still hold to the belief that this huge white elephant is doing more damage in this area than all of the effects of the current recession combined. So here’s another cartoon along the same theme (sorry Richard!). As part of Richard’s response however, he’s come up with an interesting idea. How about setting up our own...

Comments: 2

Crippen looks at the current disability arts funding crisis (again!)

4 September 2009

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I’m hearing from groups and organisations of Disabled people who are continuing to have problems with fund raising. Some of this funding relates to events, performances and exhibitions that are being planned, whilst other funding is actually needed to keep these organisations running. We’ve already lost two of the biggest Disability Arts Forums due to a lack of available funding and it now looks as though many other smaller groups and organisations are considering closing down. The problem...

Comments: 10

Crippen looks at the portrayal of Disabled people as being the problem

31 August 2009

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The following excerpts were taken from an online newsletter, written by Disabled people for Disabled people. If even we can’t get it right, what are the chances of the mainstream press understanding the issues around barriers and the Social Model understanding of disability?! ‘A teenager has triumphed in his A-levels after refusing to let his cerebral palsy hold him back at school … ’ I would suggest that it’s not his cerebral palsy holding him back at school but the barriers that...

Comments: 10

Crippen provides some political links

25 August 2009

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There’s usually a lot happening within the world of Cripdom; Disabled people around the world continue to struggle against the apartheid that still exists, despite new laws that have been passed to identify and remove the many barriers within our respective societies that disable us. Thanks to the internet this news can now be shared around the various disability networks that we have - although this never seems to reach the national or international press (why are we not suprised?!)....

Comments: 0

Crippen looks at MMR and Autism

19 August 2009

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I've recently been commissioned to produce some illustrations to accompany a talk on Autism. It seems that the various groups associated with Autism are now including most of the associated neurodiverse conditions within their remit, such as Asperger's Syndrome, Dyslexia, Dyscalculia (numeracy dyslexia), etc. Some groups are also moving towards an understanding of the Social Model of disability and are interacting with groups and organisations of Disabled people in this respect. Several people...

Comments: 1

Crippen gives a heads up about the appearance of Liz Crow on the Trafalgar Square plinth

4 August 2009

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Our Disabled sister and fellow artist Liz Crow appeared on the Anthony Gormley plinth in Trafalgar Square on Saturday 8th August at 2200 hrs. And as promised, she presented a dignified but powerful statement against extreme right wing politics in its worse manifestation. Initially clad in a cream coloured blanket that covered her from head to foot, Liz sat quietly in her wheelchair for the first 10 minutes before pulling it away to reveal herself wearing the uniform of the war time Nazi party....

Comments: 9

Crippen's introduction to the world of Asperger's Syndrome

1 August 2009

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I've started to create cartoons based upon people who have Autism and Asperger's Syndrome. This has mainly been due to the contacts that I've been making through Facebook and the new networks of Disabled people that I'm 'meeting' through this facility. It's a difficult area to work in I'm discovering, as the various people involved in this area of impairment tend to have different points of view regarding their position in the Disabled people's movement ... or not! Obviously, those contacts I'm...

Comments: 5