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Missing Class/Post 4/21 - Crip Camp Reflection

Magnolia's picture

Crip Camp was really interesting to me becuase it talked a lot about something very familiar to me, summer camps. I saw a lot of places where they talked about camp Jened creating a kind of atmosphere that allowed kids to truly be thereselves that I've personally witnessd and experienced in summer camps I've attended.

A quote from the film that really stuck with me was, “At home, you wouldn’t be picked to be on the team, but at camp JenEd, you had to go up to bat!” What I took from this is that campers at Jened were not only allowed an easier and less judgmental way to survive, but they were challenged in a way that was "normal" for a kid their age--challenged in a way that was not detrimental to their emotional or physical well being. At home, they would have to overcome challenges such as entering accessible buildings, trying to prove they were able-bodied enough to attend public schools, etc... but at camp JenEd they were given a place for their minds and bodies to be challenged in a way that would not stifle the person they were, but rather, it would help them to grow into the unique individuals they knew themselves to be at heart by giving them judgement-free childhood and teenage-year experiences.

Another example was when the camp director dug holes to make the kids trip because they were clumsy. This prank, done with no harmful intent in mind, equalized each child to a "normal" childhood experience, and differentiates itself from the bullying many were used to because the campers were in an environment that was overwhelmingly in support of who each person was at heart, and the end success of each child into their own, interdependent adult. Maybe because of the nature of these challenges being positive and encouraging, rather than harmful and discouraging, is why so many of them turned into such strong, fearless, and confident leaders of the disability rights movement.