Crip Spacetime: Access, Failure, and Accountability in Academic Life book talk

Join UIC’s Disability Cultural Center, the Department of Disability and Human Development and the UIC Institute for the Humanities for a conversation with Margaret Price about her new book, “Crip Spacetime: Access, Failure, and Accountability in Academic Life” (Duke University Press).

This event is in-person, but also available online. Register for the Zoom link.

In “Crip Spacetime,” Price intervenes in the competitive, productivity-focused realm of academia by sharing the everyday experiences of disabled academics. Drawing on more than 300 interviews and survey responses, Price demonstrates that individual accommodations — the primary way universities address accessibility — actually impede access rather than enhance it. She argues that the pains and injustices encountered by academia’s disabled workers result in their living and working in realities different from nondisabled colleagues: a unique experience of space, time and being that Price theorizes as “crip spacetime.” She explores how disability factors into the exclusionary practices found in universities, with multiple marginalized academics facing the greatest harms. Highlighting the knowledge that disabled academics already possess about how to achieve sustainable forms of access, Price boldly calls for the university to move away from individualized models of accommodation and toward a new system of collective accountability and care.

Audience note: This event is open to everyone.

Covid safety information: UIC does not require masking, but we are still masking in our events as an accessibility measure for chronically ill / immunocompromised people and those living interdependently with them. Please wear a mask if it is accessible for you. We’ll have extras on hand. People may be sipping/eating and then replacing their masks. Zoom is another Covid-cautious option.

Access information: CART (live captions) and ASL interpretation will be provided. The Institute for the Humanities is a physically accessible space on the first floor, equipped with two accessible, all-gender restrooms. To create a low-fragrance environment, please refrain from wearing scents to our events. Please get in touch with any access requests or questions at dcc@uic.edu or 312-355-7050.

Getting to the Institute for the Humanities: You can enter the Institute for the Humanities from the exterior of the Behavioral Sciences Building using its dedicated door on Harrison Street, or through the interior of the building by passing through the Computer Lab BSB 125.