Crip Camp: It’ll Remind You What It Means to be Human
The story of a camp that turns into a movement runs the risk of oversimplifying an issues or trying too hard to inspire.
Crip Camp begins with a bunch of kids having fun at summer camp, doing typical stuff like singing and playing guitar, making out, and a lot of dancing. What makes these events significant is that this group of kids all identify with a disability.
What unfolds is the story of a group of young people who empower each other’s right to exist and to be free and happy. And from there, they end up taking on the US government to demand change.
To say it was powerful would be an understatement. In 2 hours, it provided me more access to the experience of thriving with a disability than I’ve gotten my entire life. It seemed to be a movie for the ignorant, the uneducated, and it found a good target in me. It’s hard to describe Crip Camp without sounding cheesy or trite, so I’ll say this:
My day began with me having a breakdown — a breaking point in stress that resulted in me crying over everything and nothing.
I felt like a zombie, half in touch with reality, and so I decided to watch a documentary, which ended up being Crip Camp. Within 20 minutes, I was reawakened by its radical honesty.
It was… revolutionary for me. To not just see so many disabled people on one screen but to also have them as the protagonists. It was extremely humanizing, which is in and of itself inherently problematic on my end and tells of my own disconnect with this community.
I appreciated that the movie made a point to include the joy, humor, and uplifting moments of their lives, along with the tragedy and injustice.
Spoiler alert (but it’s also history, so…): the movie concludes with the passing of the ADA in 1990. And with the gravity of that accomplishment, I’m also struck by how despite this historic achievement, I’m still sitting on my couch, 30 years later, shocked to be watching a movie about disabled people.
I’m so ignorant, I question if disabled is the right word. The same way I feel weird using the phrase “able-bodied,” because it feels inherently discriminatory to me. As though it puts them at odds with the concept of being able.
I found learning about the passing of the ADA to be as enlightening as hearing about their sexual ventures. Because it reminds me of those universal elements of being human: wanting to have sex, be touched, show affection.
To be able to see a married couple joke around, friends dancing together — seeing these simple joys aided me in bridging my experience with theirs, and that gap, that disconnect, was lessened.
Watching the sit-in in DC, the hunger strike, the testimony, I was reminded of the strength of a collective heart beating together, of the force that is empowerment, support, and unconditional love.
Now more than ever, we need that collective heart. ❤
