From journalism to literature to film, disability has long been a useful tool for lazy media makers to inject positive or negative emotion into an otherwise stale text. Looking for some tears? Add a disabled character! Craving some inspiration? Disabled character! Need to justify the villainous actions of an antagonist? You know it’s a disabled character.

The use of disability to win Oscars has been written about ad nauseam, but what about all the other films that represent disability? Invalid Culture is a podcast that explores films from the cultural margins where (often nondisabled) creators, freed from worries about awards and ticket sales, turn to disability to spice up their texts. Invalid Culture is a podcast that dives deep into the abyss of strange and confusing texts “about” disability. With a crip theory bent, we excavate unfiltered cultural constructions of disability, d/Deafness, madness and more.