See Barack Obama’s Surprise Visit to ‘Crip Camp’ Virtual Workshop

Barack Obama made a surprise appearance during one of the “Crip Camp” socially distanced workshops, with the former president sharing video from the virtual visit Sunday, a day that all marks the 30th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA 30).

Michelle and Barack Obama served as executive producers on the Netflix documentary Crip Camp about upstate New York’s Camp Jened, a summer getaway for kids and teens with disabilities.

After the documentary premiered on Netflix in March, the streaming service and the Crip Camp Impact Campaign began hosting a weekly “Crip Camp: The Official Virtual Experience,” which gathers around a Zoom every Sunday for online workshops and guest speakers. In June, Obama himself made a surprise call into the virtual hangout and Crip Camp Impact Director Andraea LaVant.

“I was hoping to see if there was going to be any S’mores. I guess virtually, that’s hard to do,” Obama joked.

The former president then talked about producing the Crip Camp documentary. “It was so moving to us to see all these young people, teenagers at Camp Jened who left camp believing they could lead a worldwide movement finding their voice and awakening their power,” Obama added. He also spoke to attendees of the Crip Camp and discussed the importance of the grassroots movements like the one that helped carry the ADA.

The Crip Camp: Official Virtual Experience, which runs through August, aims to grow a new generation of activists fighting for civil rights, specifically those in the disability community.