A Decolonial Crip Linguistics.

This article explores the intersection of disability studies (DS) and linguistics from a Global South, decolonial perspective, proposing a "crip linguistics" that challenges dominant ableist and normative models of language competence. It critiques traditional linguistics for privileging individual, rational, and grammatical norms that marginalize disabled and nonnormative communicative practices, advocating instead for an understanding of communication as "anomalous embodiment" involving distributed, relational, and ethical engagements across diverse social and material ecologies. Drawing on examples such as International Sign and autistic communication, the article illustrates how nonnormative, embodied, and fractured enunciations generate rich, meaningful interactions that require new analytical tools and moral dispositions like patience and humility. It further argues that disability in the Global South is shaped by colonial histories and ongoing global inequalities, emphasizing communal care and vulnerability rather than individual rights as central to disability experiences. Ultimately, the article calls for a decolonial crip linguistics that moves beyond norms and rationality toward multiplicity, nonnormativity, and relational ethics to foster more inclusive and transformative understandings of language and communication.