Bad Listeners

J. Logan Smilges’s essay “Bad Listeners” argues that traditional ideas about “good listening” in feminist and rhetorical theory can exclude neurodivergent and disabled people. Smilges challenges the assumption that ethical, caring, or politically responsible people should always be able and willing to listen. This leads to an important reframing of “bad listening” as an issue of access. Sometimes people cannot listen in the expected way, at the expected time, or in the expected setting. For neurodivergent people, listening may need to happen differently: later, in another format, or in shorter and safer ways. The essay uses the concept of “crip time” to argue that communication should adapt to people’s bodily and mental needs rather than forcing everyone into rigid norms. "Bad Listeners" offers an important challenge to listening studies, reminding of the attentional politics and ethical challenges listening carries.

Bad Listeners

J. Logan Smilges

Published by Errant Bodies Press, Berlin /

Listening Biennial, 2026

ISBN: 978-3-9827721-2-7

24 pages, softcover

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