Patti Smolian The problem is, because the disabled landscape on film and TV remains heavily skewed towards white men, and disabilities remain aesthetically relatable to the able-bodied, "Crip Camp . MS. NEWNHAM: Yeah. I mean, I know it's not fair that I have a hard time getting around in the real world, but that we actually have legal recourse? Transcript: Oscar Spotlight: "Crip Camp" By Washington Post Live March 31, 2021 at 6:31 p.m. EDT Article This article is free to access. One of the campers there happened to be Judy Heumann, of course, who is now very well known as a disability rights activist. 8 Practical Tips to Maximize Efficiency in Real Estate Investing In Crip Camp, the narrative is of overcoming the suffering caused by a society that refuses to include us in everyday life. And, you know, as the pandemic happened and then, you know, we saw the upswell of the Black Lives Matter movement this summer, it seemed like sort of striking that this story from 1977 was kind of meeting our moment of today in such a powerful way, that we really felt like that was true, that you can see that the seeds of this kind of community across difference that is created at the camp, and then how that very philosophy and kind of, you know, way of being became the kind of secret weapon, or really power that provoked and built up a change down the road. Boy, I have to tell you, as a 15-year-old, it was like freedom. Why cant the real world be this accessible to them? But, basically, with the one street, we were able to shut the city down. I'm Ann Hornaday, The. Barack and Michelle Obama served as executive producers under their Higher Ground Productions banner. Tell us how it all began and what your memories are from that time. Early on in Netflix's new documentary Crip Camp, Jim Lebrecht, the film's co-director, reflects wistfully on the first summer he spent at Camp Jened, as a 15-year-old in 1971: "The wild . Califanos eventual embrace of 504 is the result of an irony thats both exhilarating and queasy-making: A dogged reporter for the San Francisco ABC affiliate named Evan White got his stories about the local demonstration on national air only because of a TV technician strike that left the scabs at the network short of material. Sara Luterman is a freelance journalist who covers disability policy and politics. No one came out on top, because the point was finally that automation would eventually render humans superfluous the logical end point of corporate capitalism. . But Camp Jened was an unusual camp for young people with a wide range of disabilities. And, you know, you will see more authentic films and theater projects like "Crip Camp" if our industries really embraced us and applied the same diversity and inclusion efforts that they have for other people. Today it will just be me talking at you for a while, which is awkward for me but what is a podcast if not awkward? MS. HORNADAY: Fascinating. Crip Camp, which was an opening-night selection at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, is part of Barack and Michelle Obama's slate of Netflix programming via their production company Higher Ground . Alas, to the real world, they barely exist. Because if you did that, sure enough we would have test screenings and we would see audience kind of slipping into that way of seeing disability. Jim, could you give us a little history of Camp Jened and the ethos behind what, as one of the campers described, what became a utopia? Camp Jened, in upstate New York, was the epicenter of a disability rights movement that led to the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Which was different from life back at home? This documentary proves we can tell human stories about disabled people and our lives. On the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, here's a look at how the ADA changed our physical landscape.Subscribe: https://bit.ly/36dnr0k. Nicole, Jim, thank you both for joining us and congratulations on the nomination. 14 hard-standing pitches for motor home. And the structure that we thought of was like this camp experience of liberation was like a stone thrown in a pond. Why educator David Tarvin "thinks in Prezi" Feb. 13, 2023. It really all started with this theory that Jim had, which was that the camp was connected to this change that happened. It then follows camp participants who became trailblazers in a wider struggle. Crip Camp was the first time a camp was run with the kids with disabilities in charge. Self-expression was unprecedented: Merely getting to the point where they could make themselves seen and understood required a psychological revolution. I mean, I had been colleagues with Jim for 15 years, and friends, and over that time Jim had really opened up a sort of portal for me into disability, and a way of looking at disability that I hadn't before known. We would like to show you a description here but the site won't allow us. Crip Camps release in March 2020 marked the launch of the Crip Camp Impact Campaign. I'm so grateful that we actually figured out some way to have Larry's voice there. I wish I had been there. Its a shame that this Netflix movie cant be seen with a large, boisterous audience (once were virus-free, I mean), because the first third makes you want to dance and light up a joint. I dont remember the first time I met Judy Heumann, but Ive only ever known her as an omnipresent elder statesman of the disability rights movement. In his more than 30-year career with the NewsHour, Brown has served as co-anchor, studio moderator, and field reporter on a wide range of national and international issues, with work taking him around the country and to many parts of the globe. They had been sheltered, sometimes thought a burden, and all too often disability had been their sole identity. But it was a product of its time. Jason Statham and Aubrey Plaza do not seem like a match made in action-comedy-chemistry heaven, but it somehow works. MS. HORNADAY: Well, you know, that gets to something that really struck home with me watching it, which is that this is the largest--and I don't want to even use the word "minority group," but this is the largest group in the country, and we're all--most of us are going to be a member of that group in some fashion, in terms of natural limitations. I mean, when we first started out, we did not know that that black-and-white video footage from Camp Jened existed. Nicole, how critical do you think intersectionality was to the success of the disability rights movement? Because this is definitely an inspiring story, but I even think somebody in the film uses the term "inspiration porn." So, we have this executive producer, Howard Gertler, and he read in the trades that the Obamas were starting a production company in partnership with Netflix. Everyone at Jened seems to be in clover a word I employ because the film sets the mood with Tommy James and the Shondells Crimson and Clover. The Grateful Dead are all over the soundtrack too, alive once more in the scraggly hair, beards, and tie-dyed clothes. From a 1970s-inspired tie-dye t-shirt to a durable canvas tote bag to a pocket reusable straw, there is something for everybody. All Rights Reserved. She also was featured in the 2020 documentary film, "Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution," which highlighted Camp Jened, a summer camp Heumann attended that helped spark the disability rights . It's the latest film from the Obamas'. I think that, you know, people with disabilities have seen suddenly things that folks have been being told for years, where it was impossible for a class, a college class, for example, or a meeting, or working from home, to be done. Podcast Transcript for Episode 46: Crip Camp January 25, 2021 Read the Podcast Transcript for Episode 46: Crip Camp Read the transcript below: Andrew Sweatman 0:08 Hello, hello and welcome to art house garage, the snob free film Podcast, where we make art house indie classic and foreign cinema accessible to the masses. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us. MS. HORNADAY: And I would imagine, too, another thing I really admire about this, and I would assume, but you tell me, that one of the challenges is tone. MS. NEWNHAM: They were really interested in sort of like--President Obama himself was really interested in the process of how did the actual legislation come about, you know. I had a sense of freedom there and acceptance and joy that I rarely ever had outside of that camp. The second half of the film chronicles the tenacity that was needed to win battles in one administration, then re-win them in the next, for almost two decades until the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Can you tell us a little bit about that journey? [1] 2023 Vox Media, LLC. And you saw the ripples outward. Jened was their freewheeling Utopia, a place with summertime sports, smoking and make-out sessions awaiting everyone, and campers experienced liberation and full inclusion as human beings. Crip Camp opened the Sundance Film Festival two months ago, and it was supposed to arrive in theaters today. And even that idea of kind of like becoming and telling your own story, all of those things are embodied in our project. Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution is a 2020 American documentary film directed, written and co-produced by Nicole Newnham and James LeBrecht. Jeffrey Brown, Anne Azzi Davenport With nearly 10,000 participants, Crip Camp 2020 showed the power of committing to accessibility for all. Outgoing, boisterous with friends and in 1971, about to start his first year of high school. So, we made an effort to get our fundraising trailer in front of Priya Swaminathan, who had just been hired to run Higher Ground. MR. LeBRECHT: Well, I mean, you know, the title itself is something that we, you know, we chose "Crip Camp." Disability rights aren't normally featured in high school history books and often don't get written down at all. The film, from the production company of Barack and Michelle Obama, is vying for an Oscar this Sunday. Poster for the film, Crip Camp. That activism would culminate in the landmark 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act, prohibiting discrimination based on disability and bringing changes to many aspects of American life. "Crip Camp" draws extensively on terrific contemporaneous black-and-white footage shot by a collective called the People's Video Theater, for which participants were invited to . "[14] Justin Chang writing for Los Angeles Times said that "[the film] delivers an appreciably blunt message". is that the neolibs threw almost as many monkey wrenches into the disability-rights machine than big-business conservatives. I would come in to mix a film with Jim--you know, he is a brilliant sound mixer in the Bay Area and all the documentary filmmakers here cherish the time when we get to bring our films in to his studio--and he would be playing, you know, an album by a disabled rapper, and he would be talking to me about his struggle to get access to, say, the filmmakers lodge at the Sundance Festival, which used to be up, you know, several flights of stairs. Crip Camp serves not only as an excellent introduction to disability history for those who are unfamiliar, but as a humanizing glimpse into the lives of civil rights leaders I thought I already knew. And the idea was to try very hard to kind of go back and find those seminal moments that connected through these characters that you meet as a band of friends in summer camp. MS. HORNADAY: So, Jim, put us in the room. It's a summer camp for, you know, the handicapped, run by hippies. Crip Camp. When we were there, there was no outside world. You can find her work in Vox, The Nation, and the Washington Post, among other outlets. Some enunciate clearly, others struggle to be understood. In the opening scenes of Crip Camp, a documentary available on Netflix, school buses pull into the entrance of Jened, a summer camp in the New York Catskills.When the doors open, campers emerge . The website's critics consensus reads: "As entertaining as it is inspiring, Crip Camp uses one group's remarkable story to highlight hope for the future and the power of community. . Hes dangerous, hes terrifying, hes an extra in, How to Watch the 2023 Oscars Celebrate All 23 Categories Live Again. And also, just like lots of really thought-provoking questions about kind of, you know, the camp itself and what was the philosophy of the camp. We were questioning everything, all these different liberation movements, and, you know, why not us? And when my wife, Sarah, who is one of our producers, and I were driving around, and I go, "Let's go up one more block because there's a crip spot on the right side up ahead." No one has known what shes thinking because no one has listened closely enough. One way something called the "spirit of Steve," which was this sort of punk attitude of Steve Hoffman, one of the characters in the film. TRANSCRIPT: Crip Camp (2020), the Disability Rights Movement, and who you should listen to instead of me *musical intro* Stephanie Fornasier: Welcome to Psychocinematic's bonus episode for international day of people with disability! The goal of this curriculum is to extend the knowledge and understanding of disability and of disabled people offered in the film Crip Camp. Youve got some Janning to do! Deadhead Al Levy looks and sounds like the shaggy brainiacs who changed my life in college. And one of them is the inspiring thing and the other is the tragic thing. If you want to marvel at human ingenuity, perseverance and triumph while youre in quarantine, Crip Camp has you covered, whether you have a disability or not. I mean, it really does chronicle your development, from a little boy to the gifted sound designer that you are today. We found that one of them, Howard Gutstadt, just lived across the bay, in San Francisco. The disability history of Crip Camp is used as a starting point from which to learn about and see oneself as part of disability history, community, culture, and activism in the present day. First Name, Last Name and Email address are required fields. Steve Honigsbaum Crip Camp. MS. HORNADAY: It works beautifully. "They didn't think I was going to live more than a couple of hours," we hear him say. newsletter for analysis you wont find anywhereelse. With a Netflix release imminent and backing from Obama & Co. the hope for filmmakers . Its U.S. representative from California Phillip Burton, who goes after Eidenberg and drags him back definitely a roof-raising moment if you were to see this in a theater. Do you think people's consciousnesses have been lifted a little bit over the last year? Their own film, says Newnham, aims to open a window for a new audience. Crip Camp Impact Campaign That is a handicapped parking spot. And through those stories, we can show both how far weve come and where we must go next. I would be fascinated to hear that. "[7] James LeBrecht had worked with Nicole Newnham for 15 years as a co-director. It's a badge of courage, sir. The film traces the birth of the US disability rights movement to a unique summer camp, Camp Jened, managed by people with disabilities like Judy Heumann and members of the '60s countercultural . Some are blind and/or deaf. hide caption. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. No, thats not strictly true thats my empowerment-speak. A new documentary on Netflix called "Crip Camp" looks at an historic summer camp for the disabled community that launched a generation of activists. What I believe is that the entertainment industry needs to really embrace us as part of their diversity and inclusion efforts and apply the same mentorships and opportunities for people within the community to establish and cultivate their careers. You were there at that protest. You didn't feel like you were a burden. You know, the most striking example of that in a film, which is actually literal, is that the Black Panthers delivered food to the organizers who were sitting in this Federal building, you know, for about a month, every single day, three hot meals a day. Edit. From the outset, Crip Camp cuts through any anti-boomer cynicism you might have. Of course, you made "The Rape of Europa" about the theft and destruction of European works of art during World War II. Many Jened campers went on to become leaders in the disability rights movement. Heumann evidently hit the ground rolling. The impact campaigns goal was to use the film as leverage to create change for people with disabilities. And we both remember this day where we got this email, and he said, "Yeah, we have this footage, and we have got 5 1/2 hours of it.". When Judy Heumann one of the main subjects of the Oscar-nominated documentary Crip Camp was five years old in the early 1950s, her mother tried to register . This is buried history. And it was this kind of gentle questioning that kind of pushed us to figure out, you know, some way to do it, and we ended up being able to use this old audio recording and splice together. And at that point we had a name of an organization. But then you have all of this fabulous footage from other events. No one at Camp Jened couldve imagined that those summers in the woods together would be the beginnings of a revolution. [11] The film was set to be released in a limited release that same day, but the theatrical release was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And the other thing was just like really laying a complexity of emotion in every scene, you know, and not allowing any scene to be kind of one pure emotion. A groundbreaking summer camp galvanizes a group of teens with disabilities to help build a movement, forging a new path toward greater equality. Subscribe to Here's the Deal, our politics newsletter. Welcome to Washington Post Live, and welcome to our Oscar Spotlight series. Trailer: Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution. Jeffrey Brown Was that ever awkward for you? A handful of campers like Steve Hofmann are followed throughout the film, spotlighted in crowd scenes and demonstrations. One speaks up: Steve Hofmann, whos on Nancys wavelength and explains that shes frustrated by the lack of privacy which isnt at all what I expected, which is the point. It then closed in 1977 due to financial difficulties, only to reopen again in a new location in Rock Hill, NY. Americans crawling out of wheelchairs and up the steps of the U.S. Capitol. Yes. Crip Camp, a newly Oscar-nominated Netflix documentary, examines the origins of a human rights movement. "So at 4:30 in the afternoon, we formed this huge circle. Can summer camp change the world? MS. NEWNHAM: You know, this issue that you raise, it was probably the most important thing for us to get right in the film, and we kind of ended up talking about how there were like these two tractor ruts that people's brains go into around disability. So, I figured, OK, we're going to have to spend the night. It features interviews with former campers and counselors. But this documentary proves we can tell more human stories about disabled people and our lives. Due to the realities of disability and disabled life, many of us die young. Transcript Camp Jened, in upstate New York, was the epicenter of a disability rights movement that led to the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Watch all you want. And I think that we felt that that was a really valuable lesson for the particular time that we find ourselves in. Judy Heumann: 'Crip Camp' didn't win Oscar, but it's still a win for people with disabilities Because of 'Crip Camp,' people want to learn more about the disability movement, and it is enabling . Thread us through that journey for you. And rather than me take on the project I said to Jim, "Why don't we direct this together, so the story can be told from your point of view," and we set about trying to figure out how. This text may not be in its final form and . And he pitched me the idea of a film about his summer camp. Camp Jened, the ramshackle summer camp run by hippies that is the heart of our documentary Crip Camp, exploded those confines.In its freewheeling, radical atmosphere of equity, a community was born, a community of campers of different disabilities and backgrounds, and their disabled and .