Kalekie świadectwa. Niepełnosprawność i protesty w Polsce w 2018 i 2020 roku
Crip Testimonies: Disability and Protests in Poland in 2018 and 2020

Summary/Abstract: Author uses the category of Robert McRuer’s “crip resistance” to think of two waves of disability related protests, which took place in Poland. In 2018 disabled people and their caregivers occupied the Parliament for 40 days to demand higher social security benefits and many people, including those without disabilities, took to the streets to support the protest. In 2020, the Polish Constitutional Tribunal prohibited abortion based on disability status, which caused anger among huge parts of Polish population, including women with disabilities. This article looks at disabled people’s statements made in 2018 in support of the interabled group occupying the Parliament and compares them with disabled women’s voices regarding recent introduction of the ban on abortion based on disability status. I call these five statements made by disabled people “crip testimonies” and analyze how Polish experiences of disability do not fit neatly within Western conceptions of disability developed within disability studies, most prominently, the social and the medical model of disability. In other words, this article pays attention to what is unique about Polish experiences of disability and makes a case for thinking about disability through people’s testimonies, not theories.

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