Crip Times

It’s the season finale of Crip Times! Buckle up for lots of LOLs and too many puns. This week, Kayla, Kristina, and Andrew are joined by Ryan O’Connell, creator, writer, and star of Netflix’s Special. He’s done other stuff too but ughhh, who cares?

We talk about cerebral palsy, the power of authentic disability representation, pushing the envelope of gay and disabled sexuality on screen, pandemic challenges specific to disabled people, and the ‘well-meaning’ ableism that can show up when we’re just trying to live our lives.

We move into a conversation about storytelling as activism, and the challenges of learning and growing in your disability politics in a very public way. How do you tell authentic stories, without catering to an abled audience? How do we deal with internalized ableism, and the feeling of ‘needing to do more’? How do we push back against societal messaging that one marginalized story is enough?

For a full transcript of this episode, as well as helpful links and key quotes, visit the Bodies in

Translation Website:

On this episode, Kayla and Kristina are joined by Jenna Reid for a conversation that feels like a bolt of energy to our weary pandemic souls. Jenna speaks about Mad Movements, their histories, their teachings, and how embracing Madness can support the goal of abolition. We discuss the role of Madness in bringing an ethic of care to academia, the (in)accessibility of online activism, and the politics of working from bed.

Jenna speaks about her art practice, emphasizing the need to embrace slowness into not just our society, but also our own lives - what might a rejection of productivity bring to our activism and community building?

We end the conversation speaking about how to honour our rage, and how to find joy and love in the face of social injustice.

For a full transcript of this episode, as well as helpful links and key quotes, visit the Bodies in

Translation Website: 

Have you ever thought of alt-text as poetry? What about lounging as a form of protest? This week, Kayla and Kristina are joined by Shannon Finnegan, a multidisciplinary artist making work about accessibility and disability culture. The conversation begins with Shannon sharing the importance of centering other disabled artists and thinkers in their work, and how interdependence can be an aesthetic approach.

We speak about the presence (or absence) of alt text in institutions and our personal practices, with a focus on Shannon’s “Alt Text as Poetry” project, how embracing their own access needs for the first time led to prioritizing the disability experience in their work, and how the work of access is everyone’s responsibility. We speak about disability art as a rejection of hostile architecture, through some of Shannon’s activist artwork: “Anti Stairs Club Lounge.”

We move into how rest, care, and humour show up both in our process and practice. We end our conversation with a desire for more spaces for Crip communities to form, and as always, we spoke about JOY! 

For a full transcript of this episode, as well as helpful links and key quotes, visit the Bodies in

Translation Website: 

Welcome back to Crip Times! We hope you were able to find some moments of rest over the few weeks since you last heard from us.

This week, Yousef and Kristina talk to Gloria Swain about making art as an older, Mad, Black, female artist and activist, the barriers in society and the sector. Gloria speaks about how her art and curatorial practices are part of the healing process for her. We talk about dancing as an integral part of art and healing processes (we love Gloria’s dancing on her Instagram page!)

We speak about Gloria’s artistic legacy, changes we want to see in the future of the Canadian art sector, and how we may go about making those changes. Gloria speaks about how the support she’s received in the art sector has impacted her practice. We wrap up this episode speaking about what Gloria is working on right now, how you can find her, and Gloria shares some words of wisdom we can all find peace in. 

For a full transcript of this episode, as well as helpful links and key quotes, visit the Bodies in Translation Website: 

“It was interdependent magic. Like it really felt like magic.”

Happy solstice! They’re the four best friends anyone could have.

On the last Crip Times episode of 2020, all three hosts (Kayla, Kristina, Yousef) are joined by Jess Watkin, an artist, activist, academic, dramaturg, and most importantly, friend of the pod. 

We’ll be back with new episodes of Crip Times on January 11 until then, thank you for allowing us to share these episodes with you, they really feel like magic. 

For a full transcript of this episode, as well as helpful links and key quotes, visit the Bodies in

Translation Website: 

This week, Kayla and Yousef are joined by Jeff Thomas, a Governor General Award-winning Indigenous photographer. Jeff provides us with some background on his photographic work which began in the 1970s as a response to the representation of Indigenous people through historical photography, and how it has grown and changed since becoming disabled.

In his work Indians on Tour, Jeff explains how he plays with Indigenous presence where it wouldn’t otherwise be visible, by photographing miniature figurines all over the world.

For a full transcript of this episode, as well as helpful links and key quotes, visit the Bodies in Translation Website: 

This week, Yousef and Kristina are joined by Cindy Baker, a contemporary artist whose work engages with queer, gender, race, disability, fat, and art discourses. We recorded this episode in the summer, but we think you’ll find it really speaks to the end-of-2020 burnout that many of us are collectively experiencing. 

Cindy describes herself as feeling ‘wobbly’—how relatable. She tells us about her work “Crash Pad,” how she resists the notion of productivity, and how the pandemic has brought to light some things that disabled folks have been advocating for for years. The conversation ends with a reminder that self-indulgence is something that can only ever be positive. 

As a content warning, the episode contains a brief mention of Cindy being abducted as a child from minute 38:00 to 41:00. 

For a full transcript of this episode, as well as helpful links and key quotes, visit the Bodies in Translation Website: 

Everybody gets dressed—but how can fashion be a tool of social justice?

This week, Kayla and Kristina sit down with Dr. Ben Barry, Chair of Fashion at Ryerson University. We talk about how we can imagine fashion beyond ‘the ideal body,’ how Ben and others are working to diversify fashion education, and how we can crip fashion, meaning create desirable clothes made by and for disabled people. We speak about how a co-created relaxed fashion show came together through education and Instagram prowess, how Ben’s current research project, Cripping Masculinity, has adapted during COVID-19, and how access to fashion is access to life: to employment, community, desire, and safety. Ben talks about who he looks to in fashion justice leadership. We wrap up this conversation by noting how joy is found both when we take off our shoes, and when our institutions make systemic change. 

Curl up with your favourite quarantine attire, and prepare to ask yourself some deep questions about how and why we all wear what we do. 

For a full transcript of this episode, as well as helpful links and key quotes, visit the Bodies in Translation Website: 

Episode Overview 

This week, Kristina and Kayla are joined by Renee Dumaresque, a PhD Student, writer, artist, and community organizer. 

The episode starts with a conversation around how we’ve been dealing with the isolation of the pandemic (shocker), the ways that interdependence has been deepened these past months, and how boredom can plant seeds of creativity. Renee offers us reflections on chaos and fragmentation, as well as some observations about COVID-19 headlines and ‘hysteria,’ and how they are using found poetry to offer commentary or counter-narrative. 

Renee tells us about Crip Rave Collective, how they’re working to make night life spaces more accessible, and how we can all get more thoughtful with our accountability practices.We hear a bit about Renee’s foray into film festivals, our adventures with imposter syndrome, and real vulnerability versus performed vulnerability. 

Last but not least: Are dog parks the key to being the least judgmental versions of ourselves?

On the first episode of Crip Times, hosts Yousef, Kayla, and Kristina speak with artist, activist, academic, and all around brilliant human, Syrus Marcus Ware. 

This conversation discusses the movements and actions that have occurred in Toronto and across Turtles Island over the summer of 2020. The building of collective knowledge surrounding social justice and abolition. The four discuss the role of Deaf, Mad, and Disabled folks in activism, their value and necessity in activist spaces. The conversation moves to intergenerational movement building, the role of traditional knowledge in our imagined and possible futures, and the role of children in activist spaces. They discuss activist scholarship and how traditional academic spaces can be used as sites of activism. 

The episode wraps up with a conversation on joy and desired futures.

To find show notes and a full transcript of this episode, visit the Bodies in Translation Website here: https://bodiesintranslation.ca/crip-times-a-podcast-series/