Crip camp : Directing your anger to a productive cause
By: Just A Slytherin Hissing
Tags: Documentary, Crip Camp, Netflix, American Disability Act, Anger Management

Have you ever been so angry, that you buckled up and got working to find a long lasting solution to what tipped you off? Yeah, me neither.

I’m accustomed to reading Tim Ferris’s email titled “5-bullet Friday”. Yesterday, there were three things which really stole my short lived attention and kept me hooked. One of them was a documentary titled Crip Camp on Netflix.

The documentary with its self explanatory title is about a group of differently abled individuals who took it upon themselves, to bring about legislature to create a fair playing ground for themselves. If you felt any sort of pity after watching the trailer above, I must tell you, that after watching the documentary I felt quite the opposite.

It’s a story of bravery, courage and most of all a story of a bunch of really angry people who wielded an emotion labelled unhealthy to further a productive cause.

The 70’s was a truly educational experience for most Americans, if this Asian may say so. Civil rights groups, homosexual groups and “stop the Vietnam war” groups, (Trial of the Chicago 7 would give you some context if you’re not much of a reader), the clamour against watergate were really the epicenter of all revolutions. It is at such a time that a lesser known marginalised group took to the streets to ask for simple things such as architectural changes to access buildings and public transport. The rehabilitation act after being twice vetoed by Nixon the not so great was eventually signed in 1973. But the struggle of Judith Heumann as shown in the documentary with a set of followers who truly believed that this leader will deliver the flock to greener pastures, did not end there. Judy herself who was denied a teaching license because the board believed that she will be unable to save herself and her students in case of fire, did not allow any of these setbacks truly define who she or her community is. The documentary shows her journey along with a couple of her friends from Camp Jened as they fight a long and hard battle to get section 503 of the 1973 rehabilitation act enforced. This was the foundation for the Americans with Disabilities Act enacted in 1990 which was light years away from the basic rights that section 503 enforced.

As a complete human being, the documentary was an eye opener for me. I am an ordinary complainer who complain about many things. Had I had to live through a concentration camp or in the USA through the 1970’s, this spoilt brat truly wouldn’t have made it. Victor Frankl and Judy Heumann are therefore people way out of my league.

Anger is an emotion I feel often, and I direct it at absolutely no productive use.

Since of late, this aspect of me has changed. Whenever something angers me, it thrusts me to action, be it a pet who scratched my car, or certain democrats sprouting not so sensible economics to please a crowd. I realised, that it came from being fully aware of how I felt, and paying attention to the system I was a part of. How I choose to respond to a situation, will have ripple effects because I am only a single piece in a puzzle. When I am angry, I am fully present in that moment, and aware in every sense of the word. This meant, that I was no longer controlled by my thoughts, but I was the the moulder of my own thoughts and actions. Sorry Facebook, maybe even with all this data, you still haven’t figured out what to send my way to keep me scrolling, since I tend to do quite the opposite.

Channel that anger and get to work! But before you do that, check out these cool peeps on the Netflix documentary.