From the ACLU, this is At Liberty, a podcast about the civil rights and civil liberties questions of our time.

I'm Molly Kaplan, your host for this episode.

July 26 marked the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, or the ADA.

The ADA is a federal law that requires businesses, employers, public facilities, schools,

and transportation agencies to make accommodations for disabled people.

When President George H.W. Bush signed the ADA into law in 1990,

it was one of the most comprehensive pieces of civil rights legislation

in American history. But the Disability Rights Movement didn't begin or end with the ADA.

In spite of the law's existence, Americans with disabilities still face discrimination and

other barriers to equal rights and opportunities. Today, even though nearly 50% of Americans live with at least

one disability, few know the history of the fight for disability rights. With Crip Camp, a new

documentary on Netflix, filmmakers Jim LaBreck and Nicole Neum fill in some of that history

through the personal and political stories that started the rise of a

movement. They join us to talk about the film and the movement it portrays. Jim, Nicole, welcome to at

Liberty. Thank you. Hi. Crip Camp tells the story of a very special summer camp named Camp Janette.

It's a summer camp that was for disabled teams where,

Jim, you were actually a camper. I wonder if you could give us some context about why Camp

Janette was so special. And also what life was like for teenagers with disabilities in the

70s or sort of writ large, what that background was. Well, those two questions are absolutely

very much intertwined. I think that I was 15 during the time that we're at the camp in the film.

This is before there were curb cuts. This is before there was any kind of handicapped parking.

This is before any kind of protections for civil rights. And in fact, for myself, I was very,

...