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. 

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. 

For an episode transcript, visit criticaldesignlab.com.

Themes: 

• Disability advocacy and justice

• Anti-colonialism and the disability community 

• Remote participation and conferences 

• Queer feminism and the disability community

• COVID-19 pandemic and long COVID 

• Nomad community and internet access 

Links: 

• Corbett’s website

• Corbett’s scholarship in UC Berkeley’s Bancroft Library

• Corbett’s scholarship in the SF Public Library History Archives 

• Remote Access Archive