Oral Histories

Interview of Ada Bravo

Interviewed for the UCLA Center for the Study of Women’s Chemical Entanglements: Oral Histories of Environmental Illness series. Experiences Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS). First exposed to dangerous chemicals as a factory worker in the 1980s. Housing that accommodates those with chemical sensitivities is a particularly important issue to her.
Series:
Chemical Entanglements: Oral Histories of Environmental Illness
Topic:
Social Movements
Environmental Illness
Biographical Note:
Interviewed for the UCLA Center for the Study of Women’s Chemical Entanglements: Oral Histories of Environmental Illness series. Experiences Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS). First exposed to dangerous chemicals as a factory worker in the 1980s. Housing that accommodates those with chemical sensitivities is a particularly important issue to her.
Interviewer:
Kim, Kelsey
Interviewee:
Bravo, Ada
Persons Present:
Bravo and Kim
Place Conducted:
The interview was conducted by telephone.
Supporting Documents:
Records relating to the interview are located in the office of the UCLA Library’s Center for Oral History Research.
Interviewer Background and Preparation:
This interview was conducted by Kelsey Kim, graduate student interviewer, for the Center for the Study of Women; PhD student in Anthropology, UCLA. Kim’s dissertation focuses on gender and racial inequalities in the Silicon Valley high-tech industry.
Processing of Interview:
The interviewer prepared for the interview by reading a pre-interview questionnaire completed by the narrator.
Length:
1.5 hrs
Language:
English
Copyright:
Regents of the University of California, UCLA Library.
Audio:
Series Statement:
Chemical Entanglements: Oral Histories of Environmental Illness is a collection of interviews with over seventy individuals living in the U.S. and Canada whose family history, occupation, art practice, or activism have brought them into direct contact with illness experience and disability related to chronic, low-dose exposure to toxicant chemicals. The procurement of this collection (from March 2019 through September 2020) was sponsored by the UCLA Center for the Study of Women under the directorship of Rachel C. Lee, with interviews conducted by six undergraduates, five graduate students, two career staff, and two faculty members at CSW.
Note:
In her review of the transcript, Bravo also inserted substantial new material. Because the transcript sometimes diverges greatly from the audio, the audio is accompanied only by a timed log and the transcript is available as a separate download.
Personal Background—Childhood--Started working at a young age--Hobbies before MCS--Navigating symptoms with social life--Process of figuring out she had MCS--Facing pushback for having MCS--Advocating herself in terms of housing--Getting exposed to chemicals at work--Trying to implement fragrance-free policy at work--People not believing her--Daily life with MCS--Having a therapist who specializes in people with MCS--Relationship between MCS and gender--How she think society will view environmental illness in the future