East Midlands Oral History Archive
Health and disability
In the health and disability theme, we have the following collections:
British Red Cross Collection
This oral history collection comprises six interviews with small groups of people who were Voluntary Aid Detachments (VADs) for the Leicestershire Red Cross during and after the Second World War.
Chesterfield Listening Group Collection
This oral history project comprises 21 interviews with members of Chesterfield Library's Listening Group, a reading group for people with visual impairments. These interviews were carried out in 2009 and 2010 by members of the group and look at early childhood reading, reading equipment used for the visually impaired and the activities of the Listening Group.
Clive Harrison Collection
The Clive Harrison collection contains six interviews undertaken by Clive Harrison in 1997 as research for his book "In Sickness and in Health" which looks at health care provision in the city and county of Leicester and Leicestershire during the first half of the 20th century.
Mosaic: Our Lives Project Collection
This oral history collection comprises 87 interviews with people living with disabilities in Leicestershire, conducted between 2011-2013. They focus on the personal experiences of individuals who interact with Mosaic 1898 and their experience of disability.
Leicester Oral History Archive
This contains interviews with doctors, nurses, midwives and other health care professionals, often talking about health care before the National Health Service. There is also a series of interviews with staff at Leicester General Hospital.
Saffron Lane Health Collection
This collection comprises 28 interviews with current and previous residents of the Saffron Lane Estate, conducted between 1991-1992. Interviews explore health care for residents before the introduction of the National Health Service.
Special Olympics Collection
Comprises 28 interviews, five of these interviews do not have audio and are transcripts only. The interviewees are people connected to the Special Olympics in Great Britain, many of whom competed or worked on the Leicester Special Olympics in 2009.
The Silent Archive
Twelve personal recordings and 36 interviews with female interviewees describing their experience of menopause, recorded between 2020-2021. Interviewees discuss a wide variety of topics relating to menopause, including symptoms of menopause, social attitudes towards menopause and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on their experience.
There are two collections relating to Covid-19 that are waiting to be added to the catalogue.