This article presents neuroqueer knitting as a cripistemological practice in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which the author realized that knitting was part of how they moved through trauma. Tracing the process of making a blanket during part of the pandemic, a time in which they were also relocating, the author argues that knitting offers a knowledge-making practice aligned with their autistic ways of being in the world. Treating this blanket as theoretical material, the author uses it to challenge ableist ideas of autistic people as lacking the capacity to narrate their experiences. Instead, this blanket is used to reflect alternative modes of knowing that document the author’s continued existence and survival in moments of trauma and upheaval.
Articles by Rebecca-Eli M. Long
Rebecca-Eli M. Long is a disabled scholar, activist, and artist who works to disrupt ableist structural violence across geographic and disciplinary contexts. An avid knitter, Rebecca-Eli is interested in how creative forms of knowledge-making can contribute to social justice. They are a PhD candidate in anthropology and gerontology at Purdue University. Their dissertation research uses knitting to find new ways of authoring autistic experiences that highlight moments of autistic joy, meaning-making, and connection.