Crip Camp is a fantastic documentary about the disabled community fighting for their civil rights in the United States. Starting at a summer camp in Upstate New York, the experiences they had over the summer sparked ideas and ended up making a tight-knit community that moved together as one loud voice.
In the Catskill Mountains, not far from Woodstock, Camp Jened opened in the 1950s. It’s a special place because it was on the few for handicapped kids. A haven for kids with any disability, Camp Jened was run by hippies. There they could be themselves, free of being stared at and whispered about. The story in Crip Camp starts with the campers of 1971.
The first half of the documentary uses archival footage from that summer. Thankfully, People’s Video Theatre, a young group of documentarians was aware of Camp Jared so we have not only first-hand stories from the people that are still alive, but some of the actual life-altering moments were recorded. Camp counselors and campers came from all over the country and for a few weeks, they were parent-free and able to interact with their peers. Many of the kids were the only handicapped people in their hometown so meeting others who were going through the same thing was a big deal. Plus they were all about the same age, and the people running the camp weren’t much older than they were. For many, it was the first time they realized they weren’t alone and the private thoughts about their lives could actually be shared.
Everyone was included at Camp Jared. In every activity, the counselors would figure out a way for you to play and contribute to an event. No one was forced to sit on the sidelines and watch while others had fun. Kids were able to experience things they never thought they’d be able to. Not only that, everyone had a voice.
The campers got to socialize and talk to each other candidly about what their life was like, what they loved, what they loathed and how they felt about what they went through. School, parents, privacy. Everything was on the table, which was rare for them. When you feel like an other, it’s easy to remain quiet, to stay in the box you’ve been put in.
Camp only lasts a few weeks and then it’s back to the real world. The documentary follows suit. Camp Jered remained open for six more years but the kids we meet in 1971 largely stayed in touch. And as the years past, they took their private concerns to the mainstream.
The second half of Crip Camp is anchored by Judith Heumann. A 23-year-old counselor who had survived polio, she was a natural leader and a major force in keeping all the kids engaged at the camp. The skills she started to use at Camp Jered ended up powering what would eventually become the Americans With Disability Act.
Judith and others who were handicapped were constantly struggling to achieve an independent life. Physical barriers-the way buildings, sidewalks, public transportation–were constructed, made it nearly impossible for someone who was in a wheelchair or otherwise mobility restricted from living places. It also restricted access to jobs despite your qualifications. If you can’t live where the jobs are and you can’t access a place of employment, it locks down your upward mobility. Judy and her friends from Camp Jered started to fight for their independence and the independence of every disabled person to come.
The fight is incredible to watch and it’s the most powerful part of the documentary. Starting with the Nixon administration and going through all the way to George H.W. Bush in 1990, the federal government dragged it’s feet and threw up every obstacle they could to grant basic civil rights to a minority group that has been historically marginalized, stigmatized, ignored, neglected and abused. The main excuse: it would be too expensive to implement any of the changes. Does that sound familiar to anyone today?
For the better part of twenty years, Judith and her grassroots coalition went to legislators and the courts to make the lives of millions of Americans better. Remember, disability comes in countless forms. Some are born with them, some are granted in through accidents and war. People from all walks of life were drawn together including journalists, teamsters, Vietnam war veterans, and the Black Panthers.
There are some shocking moments of hurtling adversity. This all happens at a time when the world was a different place–there were few sidewalks that were built with accessible curbs for example. When Judy and her small team of delegates went to Washington D.C. for a meeting at the Capital they had organized with top government officials, there was no wheelchair-accessible transportation available. Teamsters helped out by bringing moving vans with lifts on the back to pick up and move everyone at once. They were driven around the windowless trucks and wherever there was an obstacle, the teamsters put down plywood for them to get over it.
When their reasonable and compassionate requests are blatantly ignored, the group does a sit-in at the town hall in San Francisco. The electricity, phones, and water are all shut off to try and force them out. People with multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy were forced to sleep on the floor. The deaf ended up setting up a network to use sign language to speak to others outside of the building since communications were cut off. A few people even went on a nearly month-long hunger strike.
And they prevailed. Representation was reached, a growing minority could now be heard. Fear of being a second class citizen could start to erode. I owe a debt of gratitude to these courageous pioneers who fought so hard for people they never knew and weren’t even born yet. I was able to go to public school because of the changes they made. I was able to go to college because of the ADA that was signed in 1990. I knew very little about this struggle, especially the legislative battles of the 70s and 80s. The ADA is probably what most people know as it’s the most recent and contains the most prominent changes. Those are largely taken for granted now and easy to miss because they seem so ubiquitous. Who looks twice at a lower counter at a bank or an elevator in a school now?
Crip Camp is a brilliant documentary that tells powerful personal stories that need to heard.