Week 5 - Crip Camp

The edgy title for this documentary was rather fitting since this documentary featured radical spirits of people who were enthusiastic about their ability to advocate for themselves and provoke change despite the societal projections onto people with disabilities as helpless and burdensome. The people who were involved with Camp Jenad, also known as the documentary basis for Crip Camp created a safe space for people with disabilities in New York.

One of the more notable points in my opinion from the documentary was how different advocacy groups actually came together to support each other. I really think that that kind of comradery should be encouraged more today. I think discourse today is so far from unity but it was nice that those displays made it into the documentary. Another point that was eye opening was how those featured in the documentary that had disabilities verbalized this desire for privacy, and really prompted me to reflect and digest on how severely overlooked that need is for those with disabilities. The infantilization of people with disabilities is a common occurrence till this day which was further discussed on screen but I am glad that we as the audience were able to hear it from them that that facet of their personhood is dismissed because I think society has had the tendency to dismiss the fullness of their lives, meaning people with disabilities. I found this out from other readings that the infantilization of those with disabilities is a perpetuation of ableism. And with that I also realized that some people may not have malintent when they do this but it is important to be mindful of how we could be reducing someone to a part of themselves rather than respecting the fullness of the person which I think the general public needs to be reminded of that due to how narratives about disabilities can easily prompt unconscious and casual practices of ableism.