A Review of Netflix's "Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution"

This winter,  Netflix released an original documentary delving into life at Camp Jened, a summer camp for physically disabled teenagers in New York during the 1970's and makes a beautiful segue into the disability rights movement. As someone who went to Southampton Fresh Air Home, a camp just like Camp Jened on Long Island, NY as a teenager, this gave me a sense of deep nostalgia that cannot be fully described.

The former campers of Camp Jened (many of whom went on to become prominent disability rights activists) reflected on their experience at Camp Jened as a utopia in which they got to feel like normal, average teenagers (paraphrase) At SFAH, it gave me the same feeling.

Through talking about experiences at camp and independent living centers in Berkeley, CA, as well as talking about the disability rights movement, Netflix makes an effort to put disability culture into the mainstream media, which we have rarely seen before. Everything that the disability community has been through is summarized in this beautiful film.

Antell, Rachel, et al. Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution. Netflix, 11 Mar. 2020.