Crip Camp and Lewis' "We are Certain of Our Own Insanity"

This week there was an interesting juxtaposition between concerns about how society treats disabled persons, How psychiatry treated the LGBTQ+ community and how legislatures treat women. In the documentary Crip Camp, we saw a group of students turn activists after attending a camp designed to for people with disabilities. It is an inspiring film and showed the power of a small group of people with shared interests and a passion to make life better for themselves and others like them. While the movie showed hope and progress, it also highlighted how government and schools managed children with disabilities by restricting them and making it harder for them to be as self sufficient as possible. Similarly, the Lewis reading discusses the way psychiatry used indiscriminate diagnoses as "a technique of social control of disapproved behavior" (Lewis 2016). As I thought about how there was a common theme in how society dealt with individuals who live outside of what was considered the norm.

i found this to be particularly relevant even in the Pro Choice Movement. The reality of our society is that women are still struggling to find there place at the table and restricting access to abortion is a means of control. This was galvanizing to me and likely to others, It would be useful to remember this when trying to garner support for a cause, especially one like Pro Choice.