2024 Oral History Association Annual Meeting

This roundtable is a discussion with adults with disabilities who attended college many years ago, work in community employment, live independently, and plan for the future and retirement. As a marginalized group their life stories are rarely heard but they have much to teach us about their needs and contribution to the community via an oral history project recording their stories.

ABSTRACT: “Sharing Their Voices” is a long-range oral history project ongoing since 2019, recording the life experience of adults with intellectual disabilities (ID), a marginalized population whose stories are absent from past and present historical records. The project progressed from the past with initial concept and idea development, to actual implementation of oral history methodology interviewing adults; to the present collecting additional stories; while bridging the future when stories and research will be disseminated and archived. Past project history included qualitative university research initially funded through a faculty grant. It utilized oral history methodology and practices to video record interviews with 15 adults with ID who were the first to attend college years ago, to share their journey toward a full adult life in the community. Video recording was an essential accommodation to enable narrators to circumvent limitations in reading and writing due to their disabilities, and to speak freely in their own words, eliminating past tendencies of researchers speaking for them. The project echoes the words of pioneering oral historian Willa Baum: “The goal is a good historical account, firsthand, preserved, and available”, whose work serves as a guide for this project.Present activities include ongoing transcribing and analyzing interviews; conducting more interviews; and seeking additional funding. Future plans include creating a repository to develop and disseminate this unique oral history collection and make a substantial contribution to the fields of postsecondary education, disability studies, and oral history. The narrators are eager to share their past, present, and future with school-aged students with disabilities to impact their lives proving that everyone can contribute and influence the future.Audience discussion and questions with presenters, including adults with ID, are encouraged once presenters share their experiences with the project and priorities for future project goals.