Ableism is one of our society’s greatest failings
August 31, 2021 10:04 AM Subscribe
Death by a Thousand Words: COVID-19 and the Pandemic of Ableist Media [Refinery29] by Imani Barbarin.
When it comes to ableism, non-disabled people are fairly predictable and uncreative. So, watching as the media repeated over and over that the "healthy" had nothing to fear from the virus, my stomach was pitted with dread. We would never be free of COVID-19. While non-disabled people were willing to relax at the misguided belief that only the elderly and disabled would be affected by COVID, disabled people predicted it early: the coronavirus pandemic would be a mass disabling event.
When it comes to ableism, non-disabled people are fairly predictable and uncreative. So, watching as the media repeated over and over that the "healthy" had nothing to fear from the virus, my stomach was pitted with dread. We would never be free of COVID-19. While non-disabled people were willing to relax at the misguided belief that only the elderly and disabled would be affected by COVID, disabled people predicted it early: the coronavirus pandemic would be a mass disabling event.
Thank you for posting this.
I found it so enraging that so much of the early media coverage of the pandemic was along the lines of "don't worry about the virus because it's really only bad if you're elderly or have health issues." There were some wonderful responses to that on Twitter (I don't remember who said this, but one person wrote, "you know we can hear you."). And now I watch my friends getting vaccinated and getting their lives back some - and I'm happy for them - truly I am - but I just feel that there's not much acknowledgment that for immunocompromised people, there's no going back. So much is just not known. We can be tested for antibodies, but doctors don't even really know what those tests mean. So in the discussion of what's safe and whether the vaccines protect against severe illness and hospitalization, it's like there's a giant invisible asterisk for me that says "we have no idea if this applies to you or not and we don't care enough to acknowledge that that's an issue."
posted by FencingGal at 11:12 AM on August 31, 2021 [38 favorites]
I found it so enraging that so much of the early media coverage of the pandemic was along the lines of "don't worry about the virus because it's really only bad if you're elderly or have health issues." There were some wonderful responses to that on Twitter (I don't remember who said this, but one person wrote, "you know we can hear you."). And now I watch my friends getting vaccinated and getting their lives back some - and I'm happy for them - truly I am - but I just feel that there's not much acknowledgment that for immunocompromised people, there's no going back. So much is just not known. We can be tested for antibodies, but doctors don't even really know what those tests mean. So in the discussion of what's safe and whether the vaccines protect against severe illness and hospitalization, it's like there's a giant invisible asterisk for me that says "we have no idea if this applies to you or not and we don't care enough to acknowledge that that's an issue."
posted by FencingGal at 11:12 AM on August 31, 2021 [38 favorites]
I'm immunocompromised (diabetic) and so is my wife (diabetic and asthmatic). I knew, the moment I heard that line about "only the elderly or those with health issues" that the shithead brigade would leap on it as a "reason not to fear". And sure enough, Schmucker Carlson and everyone to his right politically would basically dismiss us as, basically, worth the sacrifice.
I was, therefore, surprised last July to read this article in Forbes that basically told people like him off.
They didn't listen, as I figured. Just as COVID was taking off but before the restrictions kicked in I went for (my last) haircut, and the local barber shop was all MAGA believers, and talking about how it was a Liberal Plot to Ruin Real Americans. And between them and the current set of antivaxxers and antimaskers, who I believe should be sent to a special place inHell a confined area of the Thunder Basin National Grassland to enjoy life without vaccines or most other science.
posted by mephron at 11:52 AM on August 31, 2021 [8 favorites]
I was, therefore, surprised last July to read this article in Forbes that basically told people like him off.
They didn't listen, as I figured. Just as COVID was taking off but before the restrictions kicked in I went for (my last) haircut, and the local barber shop was all MAGA believers, and talking about how it was a Liberal Plot to Ruin Real Americans. And between them and the current set of antivaxxers and antimaskers, who I believe should be sent to a special place in
posted by mephron at 11:52 AM on August 31, 2021 [8 favorites]
FANTASTIC article. Thank you for posting it.
posted by tiny frying pan at 11:53 AM on August 31, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by tiny frying pan at 11:53 AM on August 31, 2021 [1 favorite]
When it was made public Emanuel’s involvement in the Biden administration’s pandemic response team, his essay was once again public discourse as conservatives lambasted Biden’s decision for Emanuel to be on the team. Why was someone who didn’t believe in the value of life beyond the age of 75 involved on a response team for a pandemic that was, at least initially, slated to harm the elderly the most?
Nothing to see here, folks, move along.
posted by Sheydem-tants at 11:53 AM on August 31, 2021 [3 favorites]
Nothing to see here, folks, move along.
posted by Sheydem-tants at 11:53 AM on August 31, 2021 [3 favorites]
I'm immunocompromised (TNF-α blockers against an autoimmune disorder), and I feel very well accomodated in the pandemic. Immediately after the vaccinations started, the doctors at my hospital began investigating their effectiveness in immunocompromised people. Now that the results are in, I am getting a third shot. A significant part of society shut down, largely to protect the elderly and people like me.
I can't in any way invalidate what anyone else feels, but I do not see my own experience reflected in this article.
posted by Spiegel at 2:05 PM on August 31, 2021 [8 favorites]
I can't in any way invalidate what anyone else feels, but I do not see my own experience reflected in this article.
posted by Spiegel at 2:05 PM on August 31, 2021 [8 favorites]
Ableism in this context is definitely a big problem, but our complete inability to even consider or discuss the threat of long COVID in the context of our risk tolerance for COVID infections is incredibly depressing. We know people get post-viral illness, we know these can last for a long time or even for the rest of their lives, and we're clearly seeing significant numbers of people with long COVID, and yet we pretend it's all about hospital beds and deaths. So many people are going to suffer long-term consequences and we barely think this is worth mentioning. I'm not sure that's ableism exactly, but it's something in ourselves and our leaders that leads us to pretend that these kinds of illness and disability don't exist.
And we can already see the psychologization of long COVID starting to happen, especially in the UK. I hope we've learned not to dismiss people with post-viral illness as psychosomatizing, but I fear our medical establishment will take the easy way out, based on a long and sad history of doing exactly this.
posted by ssg at 2:15 PM on August 31, 2021 [29 favorites]
And we can already see the psychologization of long COVID starting to happen, especially in the UK. I hope we've learned not to dismiss people with post-viral illness as psychosomatizing, but I fear our medical establishment will take the easy way out, based on a long and sad history of doing exactly this.
posted by ssg at 2:15 PM on August 31, 2021 [29 favorites]
So many people are going to suffer long-term consequences and we barely think this is worth mentioning.
Before I was disabled, insofar as I thought about it at all I assumed it was something that happened to other people.
I guess it’s like being homeless or old.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 2:21 PM on August 31, 2021 [30 favorites]
Before I was disabled, insofar as I thought about it at all I assumed it was something that happened to other people.
I guess it’s like being homeless or old.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 2:21 PM on August 31, 2021 [30 favorites]
Incidentally, am I the only one who noticed several comments vanish from this thread? No mod note or anything.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 2:33 PM on August 31, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by ricochet biscuit at 2:33 PM on August 31, 2021 [4 favorites]
Thank you for this article. I’m leading my small campus book group discussion in a week on The Sound of A Wild Snail Eating and that will dovetail with this article and long COVID. Long Covid-19 can be referred to disability-inclusive processes with HR such as leave use when you cannot work, and reasonable accommodation for adapting work processes to enable continuing/returning to work. The Feds (HHS and DOJ) recognize that Long Covid may be classified as a disability.
posted by childofTethys at 2:33 PM on August 31, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by childofTethys at 2:33 PM on August 31, 2021 [1 favorite]
This framing and erasure of disabled people’s lives in a story about America’s disregard for the disabled is not unique to the Washington Post. Most ableist news would lead you to believe that disabled lives are burdens on the economy; our murders, though tragic, are understandable; our existence, disposable, and our deaths merciful. This narrow view of disability is only offset by the saccharine stories presenting people with disabilities as inspirational—an attempt at finding value in disabled bodyminds in a capitalistic society that ascribes none otherwise.
This brought to mind this piece that was posted by the Disability Visibility Project back in March of 2021 (it was originally a Twitter thread by the author).
What the Disabled Community offered the world this past year:
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 3:14 PM on August 31, 2021 [41 favorites]
This brought to mind this piece that was posted by the Disability Visibility Project back in March of 2021 (it was originally a Twitter thread by the author).
What the Disabled Community offered the world this past year:
- best ways to stay connected with friends and family from home
- hacks to stay productive while working remotely
- tools to manage and cope with health anxiety
- honest, raw conversations about death or hospitalization
- education on virus transmission or effectiveness of any “hack” to avoid COVID
- tips, commiserations and resources to navigate healthcare and insurance
- ways to save money in all ways, but especially on the essentials for life at home
- dark humor; relief knowing it could be worse
- infinite coping strategies and realistic tools for incapacitating isolation, depression, anxiety, and knowing the system will not protect you
- hospital and ER survival guides! (both in the fun way AND literal way)
- tips on how to best support a sick loved one in your life
- often giving lifesaving instructions on using an IV pump, insulin, feeding tubes, oxygen, central lines, catheters, etc for either yourself or a loved one bc Home Care was canceled, denied, unsafe, not set up yet, or the edu was just skipped altogether in the hospital crises
- resources, links, psycho-ed, numbers, etc for dealing w/ trauma alone. So. Much. Trauma.
- the same w/ grief (the disabled community knows death and loss like few others)
- directives to the most trusted scientific journals and research
- how-to’s for healthcare self-advocacy
- jokes, jokes and more jokes
- predicting what they call “long-haulers” now and putting together post-viral strategies for sufferers long before research or media even mentioned “long covid could maybe be a thing”
- clothing recommendations for at-home, sick or hospital life
- exercise guides when you can’t leave your front yard or afford/access in-home equipment
- sleep strategies for when time becomes an illusion
- so much more!
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 3:14 PM on August 31, 2021 [41 favorites]
Thanks for posting this, I have become disabled within the last year. Ableism is way worse in France than home in the UK, but even there 60% of all covid deaths were disabled people. The disabled community on Instagram has helped me feel so much less alone.
posted by ellieBOA at 3:53 AM on September 1, 2021 [6 favorites]
posted by ellieBOA at 3:53 AM on September 1, 2021 [6 favorites]
Nevermind death or illness, this severely hearing impaired guy has been having a *wonderful* time navigating this new world of masks and plastic barriers and muffled voices that are never, ever going away. I get it — they’re the best options — but jeez they’re not doing me any favours.
posted by Capt. Renault at 7:23 AM on September 1, 2021 [8 favorites]
posted by Capt. Renault at 7:23 AM on September 1, 2021 [8 favorites]
"One of the biggest misconceptions about long COVID is that it is entirely new. The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus may have emerged in 2019, but many infections can lead to similar long-term symptoms. Long COVID shares traits with chronic illnesses including ME/CFS, fibromyalgia, mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and dysautonomia including postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS). Although long COVID isn’t identical to any of them, the overlaps are substantial."
Long-haulers are fighting for their future from the always excellent Ed Yong in the Atlantic.
posted by ssg at 8:25 AM on September 1, 2021 [8 favorites]
Long-haulers are fighting for their future from the always excellent Ed Yong in the Atlantic.
posted by ssg at 8:25 AM on September 1, 2021 [8 favorites]
Nevermind death or illness, this severely hearing impaired guy has been having a *wonderful* time navigating this new world of masks and plastic barriers and muffled voices that are never, ever going away. I get it — they’re the best options — but jeez they’re not doing me any favours.
My partner is in the same boat and in health care to boot, where they are grimly resigned to masks being our collective new normal forever. I have less auditory processing issues, but I confess I still spend a lot of time guess-responding to people at the Costco or in grocery stores these days because hearing is really hard.
posted by sciatrix at 10:10 AM on September 1, 2021 [2 favorites]
My partner is in the same boat and in health care to boot, where they are grimly resigned to masks being our collective new normal forever. I have less auditory processing issues, but I confess I still spend a lot of time guess-responding to people at the Costco or in grocery stores these days because hearing is really hard.
posted by sciatrix at 10:10 AM on September 1, 2021 [2 favorites]
I'm not hard of hearing, but I have catastrophic auditory processing disorder, and yes, not being able to see what people are saying is...fun.
On the other hand, I think I'm the only person in the world who actively likes wearing a mask - it's so nice not having to constantly run what-is-my-face-doing.exe in the back of my head all the time.
I have so, so much to say about this subject and not enough spoons to marshall it all right now, so for the moment I'll stick to thank you for posting it, heatherlogan.
posted by BlueNorther at 11:08 AM on September 1, 2021 [6 favorites]
On the other hand, I think I'm the only person in the world who actively likes wearing a mask - it's so nice not having to constantly run what-is-my-face-doing.exe in the back of my head all the time.
I have so, so much to say about this subject and not enough spoons to marshall it all right now, so for the moment I'll stick to thank you for posting it, heatherlogan.
posted by BlueNorther at 11:08 AM on September 1, 2021 [6 favorites]
I'm at least one other and I'll probably continue to wear a mask at least part of the time as long as it is remotely acceptable. IE: as long as we don't start seeing no masks allowed signs at sane businesses.
posted by Mitheral at 1:12 PM on September 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Mitheral at 1:12 PM on September 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
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posted by kfholy at 11:03 AM on August 31, 2021 [2 favorites]