The Disability History Association Podcast

Podcast Episode 47 – Race, Reproduction, and American Medical Science

Miriam Rich discusses her upcoming book, Monstrous Conceptions: Race, Reproduction, and Medical Science in America, 1830-1930. [https://dishist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/BSMI-Catalogue-cover-1-605x1024.jpg]Episode Image: Cover of A Descriptive Catalogue of the Monstrosities in the Cabinet of the Boston Society for Medical Improvement, published 1848. On the light brown background are the cursive red words “Jackson (J.B.S.),” a sticker with a library call number, and a blue stamp that reads “Surgeon Gen’l’s Office Library.” Image URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_descriptive_catalogue_of_the_monstrosities_in_the_cabinet_of_the_Boston_Society_for_Medical_Improvement_(IA_06730070R.nlm.nih.gov).pdf [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_descriptive_catalogue_of_the_monstrosities_in_the_cabinet_of_the_Boston_Society_for_Medical_Improvement_(IA_06730070R.nlm.nih.gov).pdf]. Download mp3 file here. [https://dishist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Miriam-Rich-Podcast.mp3] Download pdf transcript here. [https://dishist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DHA-Rich_Final-Transcript.pdf] ABOUT OUR GUEST Miriam Rich [https://www.miriamrich.com/], PhD is a historian and the James Wade Rockwell Assistant Professor in Philosophy of Medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch. Her scholarship explores the history of reproduction, concepts of disability and race, and health inequities in the United States. Rich’s first book, Monstrous Conceptions, is under contract with Columbia University Press. Her interdisciplinary writing appears in The Bulletin of the History of Medicine, The American Journal of Bioethics, Isis, The Lancet, Gender & History, New Genetics and Society, and Revista Ciência & Saúde Coletiva.

Podcast Episode 46 – Blindness and Incurability in Early Indian Medicine

Tulika Singh discusses her work on depictions of embodiment and disorder in early Indian medical texts. [https://dishist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-07-at-2.19.02 PM-1024x977.png] Episode Image: This image, which has an ink inscription at the bottom stating “Perforating the Eye with a Lancet in the Left Hand,” is a pencil drawing on white paper depicting the execution of one of the procedures for couching treatment of cataracts, as observed by the surgeon Peter Breton in Calcutta in 1826. The setting for the surgery is outside, and the individuals depicted are a patient, an oculist, and an assistant, all adult males dressed in traditional Indian attire. The patient is sitting close to the ground; the oculist, wearing spectacles, is sitting in front of the patient on a slightly higher footstool, using a lancet with the left hand for the patient’s right eye, with the right hand placed on the patient’s head; and the assistant is holding the patient’s head from the back. Episode Image is from Peter Breton, Esq., “On the Native Mode of Couching,” in Transactions of the Medical and Physical Society of Calcutta, Volume 2 (Calcutta: Thacker and Co. Library, 1826). Print image URL: https://archive.org/details/s8id13658440/page/n387/mode/2up [https://archive.org/details/s8id13658440/page/n387/mode/2up]. Download mp3 file here. [https://dishist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Tulika-Singh-Rough-Cut-w-jingle.mp3] Download pdf transcript here. [https://dishist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/FINAL-Tulika-Singh-Audio-Transcript.pdf] ABOUT OUR GUEST Tulika Singh [https://www.ualberta.ca/en/history-classics-religion/people/graduate-students.html] is a PhD Candidate in the Department of History, Classics, and Religion at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. Tulika’s research interests include social, cultural, medical, and disability history with specialization in premodern India. She is writing her dissertation on concepts of bodies and disabilities in early India, in which she engages with the intersectionality of physical impairments and disabilities with caste/class, sex/gender, age, and religion based identities. Her research thus far has led to two peer-reviewed articles, including an upcoming one with Heidelberg Asian Studies Publishing. In recognition of Tulika’s ongoing research in disability history, UAlberta awarded her the Field Law Leilani Muir Graduate Research Fellowship (twice) and the Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship. In addition to academic research and service, Tulika works as a disability support worker to promote and advocate for disability awareness and justice in community.

Podcast Episode 45 – Advocacy, Science, and Prestige in Postwar Clinical Professions

Andrew J. Hogan discusses his new book, Disability Dialogues: Advocacy, Science, and Prestige in Postwar Clinical Professions. [https://dishist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/image.png]Episode Image: Cover of Disability Dialogues: Advocacy, Science, and Prestige in Postwar Clinical Professions by Andrew J. Hogan. The background is light green, with a blue line underlining the title. Download mp3 file here. [https://dishist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Andrew-Hogan-DHA-Interview.mp3] Download pdf transcript here. [https://dishist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Andrew-Hogan-DHA-Interview.pdf] ABOUT OUR GUEST Andrew J. Hogan, PhD is the Fr. Henry W. Casper, SJ Professor in History and a Professor in the Departments of History and Medical Humanities at Creighton University. Hogan’s current research examines the history of disability and racial/ethnic minority recruitment and inclusion efforts in US health professions since 1960. Other publications by Hogan include Life Histories of Genetic Disease: Patterns and Prevention in Postwar Medical Genetics (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016) and peer-reviewed articles in journals including the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, Isis, Social Science & Medicine, and the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Podcast Episode 44 – The Project on Women and Disability (PWD) and Women’s Health Activism in the Late Twentieth Century

Nora O’Neill, an MD/PhD student at Yale University, discusses her research on feminist disability activism in 1980s/1990s Boston. [https://dishist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Screenshot-2024-04-01-at-11.49.15 AM.png]Episode Image: A close-up photograph of a white t-shirt with a pink logo. In the center is the female sex symbol, a cross topped by a circle, which makes up the wheel of the wheelchair symbol that sits on top. The caption reads “Disabled Female and Proud.” This was a t-shirt found in the PWD’s archives and was likely worn by its members. Download mp3 file here [https://dishist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Nora-ONeill-Rough-Cut.mp3]. Download pdf transcript here. [https://dishist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Nora-ONeill-Transcript-DHA-Podcast-Episode-March-2024.pdf] ABOUT OUR GUEST Nora O’Neill [https://hshm.yale.edu/people/nora-oneill] is an MD/PhD student at Yale University in the History of Science and Medicine Program. Prior to Yale she received her undergraduate degree in the History of Science at Harvard and completed an honors thesis on activism by women with disabilities in 1980s Boston, the project she discusses in this episode. Nora’s current research blends historical and sociological methods and explores the impact of patient activism on medical education in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. She hopes to combine clinical care with teaching and research in the history of medicine in her future career as a physician-historian.

Podcast Episode 43 – Disability Rights and the Fight to End Subminimum Wages

Doug Crandell discusses his latest book, Twenty-Two Cents an Hour: Disability Rights and the Fight to End Subminimum Wages. [https://dishist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Crandell-Cover-JPG.jpg]Episode Image: Cover of Twenty-Two Centers an Hour: Disability Rights and the Fight to End Subminimum Wages by Doug Crandell. The cover is white with twenty-two pennies laid out in four columns. The title is printed among the rows of pennies. Download mp3 file here. [https://dishist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Crandell_Episode.mp3] Download pdf transcript here. [https://dishist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Crandell_Transcript.docx.pdf] ABOUT OUR GUEST Doug has worked for decades in employment and disability supports. He’s an advocate for a sibling with disabilities. In Twenty-Two Cents an Hour, he focuses on how the Disability Industrial Complex is often impenetrable, mired in deficit-thinking, and controlled by the lobbying of trade groups that do little for people with disabilities. Doug has published eight books with publishers including Penguin-Random House, Chicago Review Press, Virgin Books, and Cornell University Press. His essays on labor, mental health, and disability appear regularly in the SUN magazine [https://www.thesunmagazine.org/contributors/doug-crandell]. He directs the training and technical assistance center known as www.advancingemployment.com [https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http%3a%2f%2fwww.advancingemployment.com&c=E,1,X9E4LJC_XzZ7lZElHDShO6O6eHhx_2Rcq7wh4JsspKrEJVhi3SHDnzEnSQ2ofkpWadoNcurzB-3qOaeZJvcBIFlx2P-gaSAmrynUVZBHVMkn9fmuDpgxvZx97g,,&typo=1]. Additional information is available at: www.dougcrandell.com [https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http%3a%2f%2fwww.dougcrandell.com&c=E,1,eqasTP-yovpzEnmb7r4DYkMI0Nl6S6DKX2zj2lFjoLGyNTxZa1ih2GHuLrTYcaIe3fRylRaHUO1hSWdGLzv25fmRClmKKLAW6_KEV0_fPv-7yNNNQw,,&typo=1]  and www.abolish14c.com [https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http%3a%2f%2fwww.abolish14c.com&c=E,1,zRiYg4EEuwV6d8g5e9VqPZukhFqSuEqM0DaTJLrVwekscwORBq8gXjyBvTw7ELQWvKruWcytZ3IB52IWPOI9kGa8ADAXEriIdVm0IOCW9l1SINMA4g,,&typo=1].