Carry on Crippen!

Cartoonist Dave Lupton, aka Crippen, has a new e-book which is full of stereotype-busting sexy sauciness. Simon Parritt’s been giving it the eye

Satirical and political cartoons have a long tradition and it is gratifying to see disability has become part of that.

However, in his own words, by being “naughty but nice” this selection wavers more towards a mildly saucy seaside postcard than political satire.

Dave Lupton, or Crippen as he is known, has been penning cartoons about disabled people for a while but this is the first collection on sex and disability. Most people should find some of the cartoons amusing, if not uproariously funny. They work better when dealing with the false assumptions made about our sexuality, or lack of it. It isn’t even that “they think” we shouldn’t, it’s that it doesn’t cross their minds, just as we can’t be gay and disabled, which is another strong theme here.

I question the wisdom of combining Crippen’s text with his cartoons, or perhaps the style of the text. I do have some reservations about what he writes, as it seems to stress how outraged people are a lot of the time and thus detracts from the visual message. Write or draw, but maybe not both together in this case. Cartoonists’ silence in words liberates them to be bolder and braver in their visuals, to exaggerate or distort in order to make a point that both amuses and challenges the viewer’s assumptions.

That having been said, I still found this a collection that may go some way to shift attitudes towards disability and sexuality. When we ourselves can laugh at the absurdities of living and loving as disabled people and have others laugh with us, not recoil at us, that is surely a sign of change. Maybe this book is a small sign of that change.

• Sex and Sexability is available from www.dave liptoncartoons.co.uk/crippen/products.html