About Crippen

Dave Lupton has been creating disability related cartoons based upon the Social Model understanding of Disability for almost 40 years.

As a  white, male wheelchair user he is conscious of the need to represent those disabled people with differing impairments, ethnicity and cultural backgrounds in his cartoons. He is in regular contact with a diverse representation of disabled people across the world, which is reflected in his work as a cartoonist and writer.

Crippen cartoons appear across the world, being used by groups and organisations of disabled people in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, USA, Canada, Ukraine, Hong Kong and many more.

The name Crippen arose following a road traffic accident which left Dave using a wheelchair. The ‘Crip’ part is obviously based upon the term ‘cripple’ whilst the ‘pen’ is self explanatory.  There is also a sting in the tail as Crippen is synonymous with the infamous Dr Crippen who allegedly disposed of his wife’s body in a bath of acid … the acid being Crippen’s acerbic wit!

It was recently pointed out that Crippen cartoons are unique in as much that they offer an insight into the UK disabled people’s movement from the late 1970’s up to the present time.

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