About Us.
Crip Syrup was coined and founded collaboratively and interdependently in May 2021 by friends, the badass Disabled AF rich hotness that are Joshua A. Halstead [he/they] and Sulaiman Khan [he/him/his/Disabled] (and work on this platform will be shared) in Crip Time (a term created by, for, and used by the Disabled community). Crip Time is valuing the importance of restful activism, the bending of time (and time travel), and the wisdom of knowing that interdependence is more significant than independence, which our Disabled global family understands and embraces the most.
Ignited by the song “Juice” by Lizzo, Crip Syrup was born out of frustration Joshua and Sulaiman saw around the Ableist narratives of Disability. It is direct response to this and is here to destabilise the accepted narratives of Disabled people through an Anti-Ableist and Disability Justice lens, with equity and intersectionality.
“If I didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people's fantasies for me and eaten alive.” — Audre Lorde.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Headshot of Joshua looking badass wearing their badass, retro, stylish yellow-framed glasses. DESCRIPTION ENDS.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Vertical side-view photo from Sulaiman’s left side. With tattoos on each wrist (a fountain symbol on one representing creativity and abstract compass/arrows on the other representing adventure) and a newly shaved head, Sulaiman (a South Asian, Disabled man) is wearing his slim dungarees shorts in white with rainbow side stripe on the side of each thigh, and his orange sunglasses his dear Dutch friend Mark got him. He is wearing his silver Nkonsonkonson (Family) Adinkra pendant. He wears it to represent “family” as to Sulaiman, whether blood or bond, family is everything. Also, Sulaiman is wearing his silver Deikrom Signet Ring on his pinky finger of his Disabled left hand via Vitae London, whose products support education in Sub-Saharan Africa; and the ring has the word “Jened” engraved on the top in honour of Camp Jened as featured in documentary film Crip Camp. To Sulaiman, this represents (and reminds him) to always fully live his (Crip, joyous, badass, sexy) South Asian, Disabled AF wheelchair-using life and the ongoing strength, courage, and wisdom of his Disabled global family. He sits in his power wheelchair in his garden, and he’s enjoying the great sunny summer weather. DESCRIPTION ENDS.
Who is Joshua?
Joshua A. Halstead [he/they] is an epistemic activist working at the intersection of critical disability studies, design pedagogy, and community organizing. A recognized contributor to disability design discourse, they seek to unsettle and rupture normative systems of thought by centering marginalized perspectives. Halstead has been an invited lecturer in academic and industry settings—from Stanford to Google—and is co-author of the forthcoming book Extra Bold: A Feminist, Inclusive, Anti-Racist, Non-Binary Field Guide for Graphic Designers. Their current project, Cripjoy, is a transnational, majority-BIPOC community of practice focused on reworlding mental health through an intersectional, anti-ableist, and anti-sanist lens.
Who is Sulaiman?
Disabled/Wild/Hot AF Adventurer and Continual WIP. Creating relationships, stories, and magic.
The igniter of hearts creatively, a South Asian disabled wheelchair user adventurer, Sulaiman [he/him/Disabled] loves to create relationships, stories, and magic. Through his intersectional and Disability Justice lens, Sulaiman is the award-winning Founder and Chief Purpose Officer of ThisAbility Limited, a Disability-led justice business. ThisAbility helps socially conscious organisations focused on sustainability, technology, or design to increase revenues by engaging the estimated $8 Trillion Disabled market. Daringly integrating Disability for business growth.
Also, Sulaiman is the Co-Founder at Cripjoy, a transnational, majority-BIPOC community of practice reworlding mental health through an intersectional, anti-ableist, and anti-sanist lens. Moreover, as an activist, his intent is to envision new futures for eco-justice that centre—all too often marginalised—Disabled lives. Critical “Cripship” Studies, a neologism he recently coined, marks one such domain where scholarly and community knowledge merge to set an agenda for survival strategies in the wake of climate change.
With over 35-years’ lived-experience of disability and over 10-years’ experience in the creative industries, because of his innate sense of solidarity and desire for justice, he works tirelessly to ignite, invest in, and amplify Disabled creativity across the world for a Just tomorrow for disabled people. And Sulaiman is an active (non-optical) intersectional accomplice-in-progress and a continual work-in-progress too, relentlessly and unapologetically.