Series:

Chemical Entanglements: Oral Histories of Environmental Illness

Topic:

Environmental Illness

Social Movements

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). After years of having difficulties finding a place to live that didn’t trigger her MCS, she is now part of a vibrant van dwelling community.

Interviewer:

Tran, Christine

Interviewee:

Carvalho, Annie

Persons Present:

Carvalho and Tran

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 Christine Tran, an undergraduate student researcher, for the Center for the Study of Women; major in International Development Studies and Asian American studies, with a minor in Public Affairs. She was a member of the 2018-2019 Chemical Entanglements Undergraduate Student Group.

Processing of Interview:

The interviewer prepared for the interview by reading Environmental Working Group and Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, “Not So Sexy: Hidden Chemicals in Perfume and Cologne," Rachael Wakefield-Rann, “Chemical Showers: How Daily Routines Structure Our Exposures to Toxicants," and Brian Joseph, “Is ‘Fragrance’ Making Us Sick?", as well as a pre-interview questionnaire completed by the narrator.

Length:

1.25 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:

Under Legal Agreement, please delete file size 429969 as it is not countersigned.

Growing up in Hanford, California--Time in the Caribbean in the 1970s and family history--Memories of childhood homes--Experiences of scent sensitivity and exposure to chemicals--Family’s perception of Carvalho’s illness--Working as a certified nursing assistant and medical experiences as a patient--MCS as being a factor that affected relationships, long distance walking in Europe as a healing journey and moving into a van--Receiving an MCS diagnosis and exposure to chemo while working at the hospital--Quitting and filing for Disability and MCS’s impact on social relationships--Finding a doctor on an MCS chatroom--Journey through Camino, Santiago as mentally and physically healing--Applying for Disability and experiences of working with the attorney with MCS--Living arrangements--Discovering the vanning community online--Living in a vehicle and caring for mother--Difficulties with social relationships due to MCS--Gupta Program for mental healing and finding an online community--Future of MCS