Originally published May 9, 2020
Maybe I’m not the best person to review this film. As a disabled person and history buff, I know much of the material this film covers already. I wrote a 20-page historiography of the Americans with Disabilities Act in college. I know about the involvement of the Black Panthers and the LGBTQ+ community in the 504 sit-ins.
I am not Crip Camp’s intended audience.
The new Netflix documentary is instead geared toward people with little to no knowledge of or involvement with the disability rights movement. Crip Camp introduces viewers to people like Judy Heumann and co-director James Lebrecht; Heumann organized the 504 sit-ins in 1977. Lebrecht has spina bifida and knew Heumann from their shared time at Camp Jened, a camp for teenagers with disabilities in the 1970s.
The film begins by introducing viewers to the camp and its inhabitants. It demonstrates that life at Camp Jened was much like life at any other summer camp, just with the added accommodations for people with disabilities (although the film shows the camp leaders were more than successful in doing so).
The footage of Camp Jened exists because its campers had crabs. One of the campers later had VD misdiagnosed as appendicitis. People with disabilities have sex! Shocking, I know.
But that context is perhaps Crip Camp’s most significant point: given the chance, people with disabilities can and will lead lives just as fulfilling as able-bodied people. For that select group of teens in the early 1970s, Camp Jened was that chance.
Crip Camp excels at establishing a seldom covered part of American history. It shows viewers who leaders such as Judy Heumann were and where they stand in the history of the disability rights movement without sounding dry or humorless. The film is even gripping on occasion; the outcome of the 504 sit-ins should be obvious, but the film recounts those events in such a way that leaves viewers guessing how the protesters will clear each logistical hurdle.
I suppose I let this review get away from me, but suffice it to say that Crip Camp is funny, joyous and a hell of a watch. If you haven’t gotten around to it yet, you absolutely should, only to learn about such a vital part of American history.
Final score: 7.7/10