Sinéad Burke, CEO of Tilting the Lens, talks to the “Crip Camp” director about his historic nomination.
Dressed in Gucci, Director Jim LeBrecht Makes a Powerful Statement About Representation on the Red Carpet
To listen to Sinéad Burke read this profile, press the play button below:
For a Disabled person, the entire world is a stage. You are a protagonist in a narrative that someone else has authored. Clothes are costumes that weren’t designed for you but are altered to fit, and the audience is delighted by, curious about, and sometimes fearful of your presence.
At least, that’s how it used to be. At tonight’s Academy Awards, Jim LeBrecht and Nicole Newnham are nominated for Best Documentary for their Netflix film, Crip Camp. It’s a story that provokes a Disabled gaze, unraveling our community’s journey to disability rights and justice. The documentary follows a group of present-day disability activists who had all been to the same summer camp, Camp Jened, in the 1970s. LeBrecht is the first physically Disabled person to be nominated in this category.
Produced by Higher Ground, the production company led by President Barack and Michelle Obama, the Crip Camp team were keen to leverage the film to amplify conversations and build impact in disability communities around the world. It’s how I became introduced to them. I spent last year partnering with Rowena Neville as advisors for Crip Camp’s International Impact Campaign. We engaged with the U.S. State Department and global corporations to help support grassroots movements.
In our earliest meetings, we found respite from planning and community-building by imagining, ‘What if Crip Camp receives an Oscar nomination…what would we wear?’ It was a conversation we treated as seriously as those about policy and accessibility, because clothes are important, particularly when you are Disabled. For me, clothes can be armor, a protective mechanism that I use to shield myself from being the object of strangers’ attention. But, I also use clothes to translate who I am, and to mediate my personality to the masses. Clothes touch our skin, we have an intimate connection to what we wear, and in most parts of the world, we have a legal obligation to get dressed.
This story originally appeared on: Vogue - Author:Sinéad Burke
