Podcast
Episode 41
Alice Wong Takes a Trip to the White House
February 12, 2025
What has been the role of remote access before and during the COVID-19 pandemic for the disability community? In this mini-episode, Kelsie looks at two articles documenting Alice Wong’s 2015 trip to the White House via a robot. These documents highlight an innovative remote access technology and the importance of remote access before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Episode 40
Contra* Podcasting in Community with Qudsiya Naqui
February 5, 2025
This episode, we hear from Qudsiya Naqui, a blind South Asian lawyer and podcast creator. Qudsiya shares how remote access has transformed her daily work and inspired her to start her own podcast, Down to the Struts, welcoming her into the broader disability community.
Episode 39
UCLA Hybrid Access Strike
January 29, 2025
What has been the role of remote access before and during the COVID-19 pandemic for the disability community? In this mini-episode, Kelsie looks at documents associated with the UCLA Hybrid Access Strike and reflects on solidarity.
Episode 38
Contra* Remote Access History with Corbett O’Toole
January 22, 2025
What did remote access look like 20 years ago? 30 years ago? How has the disability community been innovating with phones, emails and the internet since these were emerging technologies? This episode features a conversation with Corbett O’Toole, a white, queer, disabled elder, artist and author, who discusses the significance of remote access technologies over the past few decades – from her role in the polio community to the early disability rights movement to disability justice today.
Episode 37
The Toomey Gazette
January 15, 2025
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we spoke with a number of scholars and activists about mutual aid and pandemic times. This season we’re sharing some of those conversations. We’re also taking a closer look at some of the documents in the remote access archive in mini-episodes, like the one you're listening to today!
Episode 36
Contra* Remote Access with Hector Ramirez
January 8, 2025
What has been the role of remote access before and during the COVID-19 pandemic for the disability community? Aimi’s conversation with Hector Ramirez, a disabled, queer and Two-Spirit, and biracial disability rights advocate focuses on how remote access has transformed during the pandemic, and the implications of the pandemic on their disability community and culture.
Episode 35
Season 4 Trailer
January 1, 2025
Welcome to Season 4 of Contra*! On this season of Contra*, we’re sharing oral history interviews from the Remote Access Archives. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we spoke with a number of scholars and activists about mutual aid and pandemic times. This season, we'll be sharing some of these conversations.
Episode 34
Contra* History (2) with Elizabeth Guffey and Bess Williamson
November 14, 2024
What is the history of disability-accessible design? And how does this history get written? In this episode of Contra*, I talk to historians Elizabeth Guffey and Bess Williamson about their books on this topic.
Episode 33
Solidarity Chat 10: Embry Wood Owen
October 30, 2024
Aimi speaks to Embry Wood Owen about disabled mutual aid organizing and the politics of public space during COVID-19.
Episode 32
Solidarity Chat 9: Max Liboiron
October 30, 2024
Aimi speaks to Dr. Max Liboiron about administrative activism and the legacies of disabled and Indigenous mutual aid.
Episode 31
Contra* Accessibility's History with Elizabeth Guffey and Bess Williamson
October 30, 2024
What is the history of disability-accessible design? And how does this history get written? In this episode of Contra*, I talk to historians Elizabeth Guffey and Bess Williamson about their books on this topic.
Episode 30
Solidarity Chat 8: Dasom Nah
October 30, 2024
Aimi talks to Dasom Nah of the Disability Justice Culture Club about disability and mutual aid organizing.
Episode 29
Solidarity Chat 7: Jay Salazar
October 30, 2024
Aimi talks to Jay Salazar of the Disability Justice Culture Club about disability and mutual aid organizing.
Episode 28
Mourning, Mobilization, and Mutual Aid
October 30, 2024
Brief notes on anti-Black violence, mourning the passing of Stacey Park Milbern, and mutual aid. The people most harmed by the COVID-19 pandemic are often Black, Indigenous, and disabled. Many members of our communities have been lost because of ableism and racism. We remember them by trying to create a better world.
Episode 27
Solidarity Chat 6: Sulaiman Khan
October 30, 2024
Aimi talks to Sulaiman Khan of This Ability about ableism and COVID-19.
Episode 26
Solidarity Chat 5: Ayah Nuriddin
October 30, 2024
Aimi speaks to Ayah Nirrudin about eugenics, anti-Blackness, and COVID-19.
Episode 25
Contra* Maintenance with Leah Samples
October 30, 2024
How are accessible spaces and designs maintained, and how can paying attention to maintenance challenge our ideas about design as always driven by innovation? In this episode of Contra*, I talk to Critical Design Lab member Leah Samples about her work on mapping the infrastructures of accessibility and designing protocols for the maintenance of technologies such as elevators.
Episode 24
Solidarity Chat 4: Michelle Murphy
October 30, 2024
Aimi speaks to Dr. Michelle Murphy about eugenics and the economization of life in the time of COVID-19.
Episode 23
Solidarity Chat 3: Jay Dolmage
October 30, 2024
Aimi speaks to Dr. Jay Dolmage about disability, eugenics, and COVID-19.
Episode 22
Solidarity Chat 2: Alice Wong
October 30, 2024
Aimi talks to Alice Wong about ableism, disability culture, and COVID-19.
Contra* is a podcast about disability, design justice, and the lifeworld.
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