I thought I coined a phrase–criperati. I may have made it up, but there’s been others that also did. Google coughed up a couple two days after I started looking for antecedents.
I see the use of criperti as recognition that the disability community is stratified even though we like to think we’re completely egalitarian. It’s tongue-in-cheek, of course, and I think it means the royalty of the disability rights and culture movement. In any case, it’s easy shorthand to describe some of the people at the incredible gathering of the opening reception of the stunning new exhibit, Patient No More at the Ed Roberts Campus in Berkeley. The exhibit documents with photos, interviews, and interactive displays the 1977 sit-in of the San Francisco Federal building to force the enactment of section 504. As I see it, the criperati are well known, dare I say famous, disabled activists and leaders.
On the web I found one example of criperatti, that used the term as a negative. Then there were two concerning the lack of disabled performers. All three were, it’s no surprise, from the UK.