It’s not often that a film comes out on Netflix that accurately portrays lived experience of disability. Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution is a powerful documentary that recounts the ties of a Catskills summer camp to the birth of the American disability rights movement in the 1970s. Emotional, raw, hilarious, and incredibly entertaining, this informative doc takes viewers on a captivating journey following the stories of real people with disabilities, discovering their strengths and fighting for rights.
Told from perspectives of multiple activists with disabilities including Judith Heumann, James Lebrecht, Steve Hoffman, Denise Sherer Jacobson and others, we cannot recommend Crip Camp enough!
Without giving too much away, here are 11 memorable quotes from the film:
1. “I wanted to be part of the world but I didn’t see anyone like me in it.” – Jimmy Lebrecht
2. “I think Nancy is talking about what everybody wants. To be alone sometimes in their life. Like, to think alone. And to be alone. And I think Nancy is saying that she’s been denied the right of privacy. I think that’s one of the major rights.” – Steve Hoffman
3. “What we saw at that camp was that our lives could be better. The fact of the matter is that you don’t have anything to strive for if you don’t know that it exists.” – Jimmy Lebrecht
4. “I had to try to adapt. I had to fit into this world that wasn’t built for me.” – Jimmy Lebrecht
5. “I think one of the real problems is that, when you grow up being disabled, it’s the fact that you’re not considered either a man or a woman and even the beginning of any kind of a relationship, you know, beginning at all because you’re just thought of as a disabled person. You know, person being, second or asexual.” – Judith Heumann
6. “I don’t think I felt, really, shame about my disability. What I felt more was exclusion.” – Judith Heumann
7. “My doctor came in, and he gave me a pelvic exam and said, ‘You know.. I think you might have gonorrhea.’ And for one brief moment, I was so proud of myself.” – Denise Sherer Jacobson
8. “I wanna see a feisty group of disabled people around the world…if you don’t respect yourself and if you don’t demand what you believe in for yourself, you’re not gonna get it.” – Judith Heumann
9. “The world doesn’t want us around and wants us dead. We live with that reality, so there’s always gonna be, uh, ‘Am I gonna survive? Am I gonna push back? Am I gonna fight to be here?’ that’s always true. So, if you wanna call that anger, I call it kind of drive. You know, you have to be willing to thrive or you’re not going to make it.” – Corbett O’Toole
10. “If I have to feel thankful about an accessible bathroom, when am I ever gonna be equal in the community?” – Judith Heumann
11. “The ADA was a wonderful achievement. But it was only the tip of the iceberg. You can pass a law but until you can change society’s attitudes, that law won’t mean much.” – Denise Sherer Jacobson
Have you seen Crip Camp? What are your thoughts? Do you have a favorite quote? Let us know!
Paris2024 Paralympic’s media coverage of: events athlete interviews and
stories awards ceremonies Was outstanding. Enjoyed it all. Thank you.
So much to admire and learn to see disabled persons strength and value and lifestyles.
Often wonder the difficulty these athletes face with traveling to Olympic cities as well as at home in their own communities. Exhausting!? Could accessnow print a story to educate us on this subject now that Paris24 is over. Is access now working with nonprofits in US cities (surely special Olympics, school districts, ymca ywca??) to help disabled children learn the way to go with help & gain travel access. Thankyou AccessNow Clare
So good to see my friend of Blessed Memory, Dr. Stephen Joseph Hoffman Ed.D.
I miss him very much. This December will be 6 years since we lost him, if I remember correctly.
I now have watched this film twice. It hits hard because my mom was always involved with students with disabilities, which influenced me in my work in teaching, as a camp counselor, in alt. Ed. settings. One year I worked at an institutionalized hospital that had finally hired an educational component of which I was a part of. I was in charge of the swim program. In turn my HS summer swim coached started an adaptive aquatics program at the university pool he directed. This became one of the overall starts of adaptive aquatics.
I’m trying to determine how much of those hard won sit-ins and crawls and won legislation were hurt by the last admin.
I saw Crip Camp for the first time yesterday. I have a brother who had cerebral palsy. When he was young he was happy and enjoyed life. As he got older he saw what abled body people had and told me “I know I probably won’t get married or have any children”. This made me feel sad and broke my heart to hear it from his mouth. As his older sister, I have always supported anything he wanted to do but as he gets older his driver is worse. He told me 5 years ago “I don’t want to live to see 50 years old”. He is now 55 years old and is easy going making it easier for careworkers to help him but I can see his will to strive in this world is getting weaker. I try to include him in everything and never want him to be left out. My mother growing up always use to hide the truth from him regarding a death in the family or some other bad news. I always made it my mission to treat him like the adult he is and be honest with him.
After seeing this film I am grateful to all the fighters for disabled person rights.