Week 5: Crip Camp

Watching Crip Camp and discussing the disability rights movement in class this week was very informative in learning how a movement grows and develops, and how accomplishments are achieved. One way that Crip Camp somewhat changed my thinking regarding my movement of choice for this class (the animal rights movement) is that it inspired me to look into legal activism, since much of the movie centered around the Section 504 advocacy. Of course I knew that legal action, like passing laws and amendments, can be hugely important wins for any cause, but I never really thought about it much in relation to the animal rights movement. In my view, so much of the animal rights movement is about making change on the individual level -- pushing people to see animals as worthy of respect, and thus making the choice not to kill or hurt them. But after doing a little research and thinking about it, it's clear how important laws and government action is for animal rights. For instance, the Animal Welfare Act of 1966 was and still is hugely important in establishing standards of care for animals in laboratories. The Animal Welfare Act is a great example of something that might not be flashy and exciting (and is considered far too little by most animal activists) but is extremely important.