Population Health Colloquium: Disability Independence

J. Logan Smilges discusses the Intersection of Trans, Queer, and Disability Communities

On February 6th, J. Logan Smilges gave a talk for the College of Health’s Population Health Colloquium Series on Disability Independence called “Bad Health, Bad Feelings, Bad People,” where they offered the audience to think expansively about how the embodied and enminded reality of being disabled can precipitate alternative modes of being together. 

Smilges is an Assistant Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of British Columbia, where they study the entanglement of queer, trans, and disability rhetorics. They received their dual-PhD in Rhetoric and Women’s Studies, and their MA in English from Pennsylvania State University. They earned their BA in English Literature and Young-Adult Education at Capital University. 

Smildges began by introducing one of their books, Crip Negativity, where they level a critique of the category of disability and liberal disability politics, asking what horizons might exist for the liberation of disabled people beyond access and inclusion. They discussed ableism, a discrimination and social prejudice against people with physical or mental disabilities, which characterizes them as people who are inferior to non-disabled people.

Smilges moved on to explain integrative access, which is designed for accommodation, but fails to account for how ability operates a structured norm. For example, access thievery shows up in the Netflix series, "Special," where a gay man who has cerebral palsy hires a sex worker in order to lose his virginity. Smilges connects this theme with access to erotic labor. They also emphasized the connection between access thievery, or stealing the access needed to flourish, and the opportunity for solidarity between anti-ableist and anti-capitalist movements.

The presentation closed with an opportunity for the audience to ask questions through a Q&A session, and closing remarks from Professor Eduardo Gomez. To learn more, watch the full recording of Smildges' talk!