Review: Crip Camp—A Story of Empowerment, Hope, and Resilience

by Anita L. Pasquale, LICSW

     The COVID-19 pandemic has had a unique effect on many of the things that our society does, including our entertainment. Being forced to spend more time at home, streaming services have taken center stage, and selecting documentaries was a trend in 2020.  One such documentary is the little known, but revolutionary, story of Camp Jened that is told in Crip Camp:  A Disability Revolution. This is a wonderful story that was appreciated so much that it won the 2020 Sundance Audience Award for U.S. Documentary and was nominated for the 2021 Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. 

     Just down the road from Woodstock, Camp Jened was located in the Catskill Mountains of New York, operating from 1951 to 1974.  This “camp for handicapped kids” (a term not used any longer) was unique because it gave the campers an experience that was out of the ordinary from that which they had within their day-to-day life. Viewers are introduced to a group of campers who attended the camp during the summers in the early part of the 1970s and learned skills from their time at the camp that would change them, and the way that the lives and rights of disabled Americans are lived today.

     The availability of resources for those who were disabled was drastically different from what it is today. Several campers describe their experiences with these challenges living in a society that was not built to allow them access to it.  Parents of children born with disabilities were often shamed, and many were advised by physicians to place their children in institutions.

     The founder of the camp described that people with disabilities weren’t the problem, but rather that the problem was with everyone else having problems with their disabilities. With this idea in mind, he created a utopia where campers could come and take part in activities that they normally would be excluded from, like baseball, swimming, and dances.  He hired counselors by posting simple advertisements, requiring no special training, and created an environment of respect, where expectations were that if you were able, independent living skills were practiced. There was an atmosphere of peer support, and those who were more able helped those less able.

     The campers were treated like teens at any other sleepaway camp, and the hormones were just as evident. The sexual nature of the campers was also discussed and is quite touching at times, with further insights into how depersonalization of individuals with disabilities was, and one could argue is, prominent within our culture.  The sexual revolution was occurring simultaneously for the country, and as a result, these campers were able to experience it within the confines of this camp. 

     As things moved forward, many of the campers moved to California and supported Proposition 504, which was a provision in a law that stated that any institution that received federal funding was not allowed to engage in any form of discrimination against any group. This included people with disabilities. The proposition included making the environments more accessible. It’s hard to imagine, but schools and hospitals were in staunch opposition to these proposed changes. However, after more than 20 days of protest at the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare building, with a small delegation going to Washington, D.C., the proposition was approved, granting massive reform in laws after major media attention. At the center of this fight and organizing the protest were the very same core group of campers who used the same skills that taught them how to be independent and resourceful. 

     After winning this small battle for accessible environments, some of the campers go on to fight further to keep these rights. The group worked to discuss accessibility on a national level for all disabled Americans, resulting in these same campers being at the center of the final push for getting the rights in front of the Supreme Court and eventually signed into law in 1990 as the Americans with Disabilities Act.

     The empowerment, hope, and resilience that is demonstrated by this story is essential for social workers to know, because it is the story that we see in many clients. Given the chance for self-determination, people will rise to the occasion, but the systems must first permit it. 

Anita L. Pasquale, LICSW, obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Westminster College and while working within the mental health field earned her Master of Social Workm degree from the University of Pittsburgh prior to earning her advanced licensure in social work. Ms. Pasquale felt a calling to work with Veterans with mental illness and began her career working within the Veterans Health Administration as the first Suicide Prevention and Local Recovery Coordinator at the VA Pittsburgh Medical Health System prior to moving into more leadership roles, and now works at the Beckley VA Medical Center as the Chief of the Mental Health Clinical Community in Beckley, WV.