Description
Cripping Village – Dreaming Disability Justice in Queer Masculine Communities
Facilitated by Breandán Drewes
Cripping Village is a peer-led workshop series (4 sessions / extension possible) for queer men* who are chronically ill, disabled (physical and/or mental), neurodivergent, and/or psychiatric/medical care users/survivors. The series creates space to share lived experience, build connections, and exchange community knowledge beyond medicalized or pathologizing narratives.
Queer spaces are often framed as inclusive, yet in practice they don’t always account for different access needs—especially around mobility, energy levels, sensory environments, and mental health. At the same time, many care structures still fail to provide accessible, affirming, and non-pathologizing support for queer people. This leaves many people isolated and without supportive community care.
Cripping Village is a proposal for a space where participants can come together to reflect on lived experiences, connect with one another, and experiment with mutual support and care beyond traditional biomedical understandings.
Across the sessions, the group may explore topics such as loneliness and belonging in queer communities, experiences with care providers and community organisations, mental health politics, (in)accessibility in spaces, building support networks and care webs, mutual aid in times of crisis, and intimacy in its many forms (sexuality, romance, and friendship).
* Creating truly accessible spaces is challenging—especially outside of well-funded institutions—and we don’t want to pretend otherwise. At the same time, this is exactly why we are doing this at we are village: to try, to learn, and to build practices of access with the community.
Breandán Drewes is a social worker, sex educator, and activist for the rights of disabled and queer people in Berlin. He is also actively engaged in Berlin’s Crip community. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from ASH Berlin and completed additional training as a sex educator at BiKo Berlin.
General Information
Accessibility: to make it possible for as many interested people as possible to take part, we are happy to consider specific access needs or concerns and—where possible—support them. A low-barrier toilet is available, and a mobile ramp can be provided for step-reduced access to the rooms. In the space there are different types of seating (wooden chairs and upholstered armchairs).
Language:
This event will take place in German and/or English depending on the group’s needs. Unfortunately, we are not able to provide sign language interpretation at this time due to the costs involved and the difficulty of securing interpreters on short notice. If volunteers and/or participants are able to support with interpretation, we would be grateful—please get in touch via events@wearevillage.org so we can coordinate.
Cost: free event with registration
** This event is part of the we are village program queer generations with the support of the Lotto Stiftung Berlin. Learn more about the program here.
