Disability / (Dis)ability / Dis/ability

Disability is a broad term covering a wide range of physical, cognitive, sensory, and psychiatric conditions. Writers who spell it (Dis)ability or Dis/ability are pointing to the social model of disability, the idea that people are disabled mainly by barriers in the built and social environment rather than by their own bodies. The alternate spellings visually break the word to question the assumption that ability is fixed or natural. Disability justice, a framework developed largely by queer and trans disabled people of color, argues that LGBTQ+ and disability movements share deeply overlapping concerns. Disabled LGBTQ+ people can face compounded marginalization, and cross-movement solidarity is central to this work. Some also reclaim "crip" in a spirit similar to how "queer" was reclaimed.