Jean is a highschooler in the 1970s who lives in the southern states of America. Semi-autobiographical, Jean deals with living with cerebral palsy in a time and place where the disability rights movement is not highly developed. Attending Camp Courage or "crip camp", Jean and her friend Sara rebel against well-meaning but patronizing camp counselors who have no idea what it is like to live with a handicap. Questions of stigma and personal values are raised by the book and it asks uncompromising questions of its audience as to what living with a disability really means and what identifying as a disabled person entails. The narrative casts a harsh light on mobility issues and the day-to-day complications that have to be negotiated by people who live with disability. It also serves to debunk the the feel-good stories about "cripples who are cured". Realistic and uncompromising, but still suitable for a young adult audience.
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