Caroline Kneeley, 2021
Series Scope and Content Summaries
This project involved collecting oral histories from graduating Disabled Barnard students talking about their complex relationships to their respective Disability identities, accommodations, and navigating them at an elite institution. Rebecca Sime Nagasawa in 2021, the director of CARDS, interviewed these graduates over Zoom. The CARDS office staff also summarized the five interviews they conducted. Olivia Newsome and Obden Mondesir, archives staff, interviewed Alexa Easter in 2023 to document the transition from ODS to CARDS and to highlight student activism which changed how CARDS administered their services.
The CARDS staff decided to complete these interviews as a way to document and preserve the stories of Disabled students on campus. Oftentimes, Disabled people are absent from archival records or have their lives told by non-Disabled people where they show up as nondescript names and numbers in institutional records. Oral history as a medium allows for the storyteller to share their own life from their own perspective; a radical assertion of agency and personhood.
Dates
- Creation: 2021
Access
Access to Alexa Easter's oral history recording is restricted until July 2025 at the request of the donor. Access to Caroline Kneeley's oral history recording is limited to Barnard affiliates. All other access must be approved by the donor.
Access
This collection can only be accessed by Barnard College affiliates for scholarly purposes.
Publication Rights
The copyright to the collection’s materials is retained by Caroline Kneeley. The interviewees present in the collection hold dual copyright. Individuals utilizing the collection who wish to reproduce, publish and/or profit monetarily from the materials in this collection must obtain permissions from the copyright owners.
Extent
From the Series: .07 Gigabytes (6 oral history audio recordings and 5 transcripts.)
Language
From the Collection: English
Overview
Caroline Kneeley (she/her), talks with Rebecca Sime Nagasawa via Zoom from New York about her journey with concussions, strabismus, and struggles with reading. This ultimately brought her to CARDS in her sophomore year, where she received reading accommodations, such as CAPTI and Bookshare. She describes her personal changes since sophomore year, in particular that she is no longer as “timid” and is able to stand up for herself with professors regarding her accommodations and needs. She also describes her transition from pre-med and EMS to studying history, and her forthcoming plans to teach English in Italy. She also mentions that self-love is important for incoming students, and reflects on the transition from being an “exceptional” student in high school to an “average” student at Barnard. Caroline also remembers needing to “buy out” of norms and expectations about how much time she should spend studying and working in consideration for the time spent managing her health and wellness. Rebecca then discusses “disability management” in the context of an elite school where one is expected to “burn the candle at both ends.”
Repository Details
Part of the Barnard Archives and Special Collections Repository