Podcast - Critical Design Lab

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.

Episode 21

Solidarity Chat 1: Arrianna Planey

October 30, 2024

Aimi speaks with Dr. Arrianna Planey about COVID-19, health disparities, and critical health analysis.

Episode 20

Contra* Technology with Liz Ellcessor

October 30, 2024

How can disability culture inform our ways of thinking about communication technologies and digital spaces? In this episode of Contra*, I talk to media scholar Liz Ellcessor about the politics of technological design.

Episode 19

Contra* Making (2) with Corbett O'Toole

October 30, 2024

How can we think about disabled people as makers, and not just as users? In this episode of Contra*, I continue the conversation with Corbett O'Toole about disabled people as designers, tinkerers, and experimenters with environments of daily life.

Episode 18

Contra* Making with Corbett O'Toole

October 30, 2024

How can we think about disabled people as makers, and not just as users? In the first of two Contra* episodes with my friend and colleague Corbett O'Toole, we discuss disabled people as design experts, focusing on transit systems and public spaces.