About

Welcome to Crip Life™ – the UK’s freshest online magazine that is dismantling disabling barriers one article at a time!

The Crip Life™ mission

Our mission at Crip Life™ is to raise awareness and educate what life is really like for people living with a disability and/or health condition, provide advice and support to disabled people and their families and create a disability community where people can share their thoughts, experiences and achievements.

In essence, we want to banish the physical and social barriers that stop people with disabilities from living the life they want to lead.

This will be delivered by creating interesting, informative and exclusive disability-related content that will be exciting, newsworthy and engaging. We are not afraid to push the boundaries and publish content that may be controversial or difficult to read.

Why Crip Life™?

You are probably wondering why we chose the name “Crip Life™” for our online publication. We understand the word “crip” or “cripple” is usually associated as being a negative or offensive word to describe disabled people.

However, in more modern times, the word “crip” and “cripple” is appearing in more popular culture, such as the documentary film Crip Camp, BBC short stories Crip Tales and book titles like CRIPPLE – A 21st Century Parable by Nick Maynard. Therefore, disabled communities are starting to use these terms to empower change and positivity.

There is also Crip Theory, which is defined as an intersectional identity politic stemming from critical disability studies, as well as queer studies (McRuer, 2006). It is a multifaceted approach to understanding culture in a manner that centres the experiences and movements of disabled people.

You can find out more in our article – Why (on earth) call it Crip Life™?

Meet the team

Emma Purcell

Emma Purcell is our Co-founder, Editor, Writer and Social Media Manager. Her role is to commission, edit and write content for our site and create and post social media content.

She previously worked as editor and writer for online magazine Disability Horizons from 2012 to 2023. She published and edited more than 300 articles, focusing on a range of disability-related topics including lifestyle, entertainment, employment, education, technology, sport and wellbeing.

During her time at Disability Horizons, Emma has also been lucky enough to interview many disabled celebrities from the world of TV, film, music, sport and activism. These have included Ade Adepitan, Alex Brooker, Ruth Madeley, Sophie Morgan, Shaun Ryder, Lauren Steadman, Libby Clegg and many more.

Emma also runs her own blog, Rock For Disability, where she shares her experiences of living with disabilities and her love of rock music. She is also an Ambassador for disability social enterprise AccessAble.

Emma graduated with a BA (Hons) in journalism in 2016 from the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham, Surrey.

Emma has cerebral palsy and is registered blind. However, this has never stopped her from being independent and living her life to the full. She has a passion for music and loves attending gigs and festivals. She also enjoys acting and performs at theatre groups.

She is also campaigning for more audio description on TV shows, films and streaming services. Please sign and share her petition.

You can follow Emma on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Joanna Baker-Rogers

Joanna Baker-Rogers is our Co-founder, Writer and Advertising Manager. Joanna’s primary role is creating marketing strategy and securing advertising. She also writes content for Crip Life™.

Joanna changed careers in 2019, after working as an Environmental Scientist, to pursue her passion for championing inclusion with a focus on disability.

She has set up a company, Busy Life™, that’s dedicated to doing just that, with a focus on parasport. The multi-award-winning Busy Life has support from elite Parasport athletes including Hannah Cockroft MBE and Kym Crosby and has collaborated with Boccia England and Parasports World.

Most recently, from 2021 to 2023, Joanna worked as the Partnership and Advertising Manager for Disability Horizons. She secured business from a variety of clients including Starling Bank, Transport for London, the Federation of Small Businesses, and the Southbank Centre.

Joanna has a master’s degree and a doctorate in autism. She also has a few labels of her own, including a speech impediment. Joanna is an advocate of overcoming social barriers for people with disabilities and particularly for anyone who doesn’t speak as fluently as most people do.

Her mantra is:

“It doesn’t matter if you stammer!”

Joanna lives in South Yorkshire with her son, daughter, miniature Dachshund Barnaby, French Bulldog Stella and cat Izzy.

Visit the Busy Life™ website and follow on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin.