This paper explores the organising and activism of women* with disabilities in the context of feminist and disability rights movements in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. Through events, discussions and collaborative book projects, groups like the Krüppelfrauengruppen (women crip groups) claimed that the living conditions of women with disabilities differed significantly not only from those of men with disabilities but also from those of non-disabled women.
Drawing on materials from Vienna’s feminist archive Stichwort, the German Archiv Behindertenbewegung, and activists’ autobiographical material such as Ursula Eggli’s Herz im Korsett (Heart in a corset), the presentation offers insights into 1) strategies, goals, and cross-border exchanges among groups and 2) into activists’ self-perceptions and -representations, specifically how they navigated their identities between feminist and anti-ableist struggles.
The paper is a work-in-progress and part of my ongoing postdoc project examining disability rights activism, self-perceptions, and knowledge practices of people with disabilities in Central Europe between the 1970s and 1990s from an intersectional perspective.
